Mark 3:20-30 20 And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” 22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” 23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but [l]he is finished! 27 But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. 28 “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus has declared war on an established kingdom. He is healing the sick, bringing new authority and teachings, forgiving sins, breaking the oral tradition, "working" on the sabbath, overcoming temptation, and opposing the Jewish/religious leaders of his time. However, it is not the kingdom of Israel or the Jewish religion that is under attack but the Kingdom of Darkness. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17 that "He has not come to abolish the law and prophets but to fulfill them," but He says no such thing about the realm of Satan. In fact, He is in open opposition and has begun to attack this kingdom. It started in the desert when Jesus resisted the devil's temptations and continues as we see Jesus exert his power and authority over the demon possessed. In this passage we see Jesus’ power and authority come into question by two different groups in two different ways. It reminds me of a C.S. Lewis quote from Mere Christianity, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” This is exactly what we see play out in the passage and Jesus leaves the Pharisees with a very stern warning about the road they are headed down. Questions to consider:
5 Comments
Matthew 5:10-12
10 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. In the sermon on the mount Jesus says teaches us that those who are persecuted are those who have been wrongly treated because of their faith. God is pleased when his people show that they value him above everything in the world, and this happens when they courageously remain faithful amid opposition for righteousness’ sake. And just as Jesus experienced opposition and persecution, his disciples can expect the same. Their reward may not come on earth, but it surely will be theirs in heaven. so they persecuted the prophets. Throughout history, beginning with Cain’s murder of Abel (Gen. 4:8), there have been those who oppose God’s people. And this persecution can be seen in the world today. Are there areas in your life where you feel persecuted for being a Christian? During those times of persecution do you feel like rejoicing? Mark 3:6
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. Anger and hate can make strange bedfellows. In verse 6 we see the Pharisees who had a very different set of beliefs than the Herodians (supporters and associates of Herod Antipas of Galilee and the Herodian family dynasty). Although the Herodians and the Pharisees were adversaries in regard to many political and religious issues, they join forces here to combat the perceived threat to their power and status. Here's the takeaway; Jesus will upset the world balance of power and those in power will need to either acknowledge Jesus as the King of King and Lord of Lords or they are going to feel very threatened. Unrighteous threatened leaders will use the satanic powers to try and control the situation: lies, fear, deceit, isolation. Do these sound familiar? I have spoken to so many people including church leaders who have struggled with these elements over this past year. We must not choose these weapons, instead we choose the tools God gives us to fight the good fight in Ephesians 6. Have lies, fear, deceit, isolation affected your life? How? How has God walked you through those times? Mark 3:3-5
3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” 4 And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. 5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Jesus is not intimidated by his opponents; he performs a healing on the Sabbath in a public place (He is not subtle with confronting the Pharisees in a public forum), and what do His opponents do when he does this? Silence. The silence of his opponents displays their hardness of heart, and Jesus' anger shows that his question should have been answered! Jesus: 'Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?' Pharisees unrighteous answer: silence Possible righteous answer: 'To save life!' This answer would not violate the OT law, but it would violate the Pharisaic tradition. Their tradition misses the point of the Mosaic law: to love God and one's neighbor (Mark 12:29-31). Church we are called to war for God's law of love….. And not for church tradition. Where are areas in your life where you need to battle for God's law of love? What are traditions that have divided your own heart within the church? Ephesians 6:10-13
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the [b]wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. When a soldier goes into battle the volume and quality of gear is pretty impressive. Food rations, water, survival equipment, navigation tools, radio communications, explosives, ammunition and don't forget the riffle. But not only do these soldiers just carry this equipment with them, long before the fight they spends months or sometimes years learning in detail how to use all of this equipment. For out day to day battle as a Christian Paul gives us our fighting equipment list in Ephesians 6:14-17. Truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. That is quite a battle list As you look at that list individually let me ask you a question, have you learned how to use all these tools to fight the good fight? |
Archives
September 2022
Categories
All
|