Mark 3:20-30
Accused of Working for the Enemy
20Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples could not even eat.
21When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”
22And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”
23So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
24If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand.
25If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand.
26And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come.
27Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
28Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter.
29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.”
30Jesus made this statement because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Berean Standard Bible
Jesus goes home, and the crowd packs in after him until he and his disciples cannot even eat. Two sets of people have a verdict on him, and neither verdict is kind.
His own family comes first. They have heard what is going on, and they set out to take custody of him, and Mark gives their reason without softening it: he is out of his mind. These are not enemies. They think he is ill and they mean to get him home before he does himself harm. Mark leaves them walking and turns to somebody else.
The somebody else is a group of scribes down from Jerusalem, which is not a trip a man makes by accident. They bring the heaviest charge they have.
“He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”
Nobody in that house says the power is fake. It was there to be said and not one person says it. His family thinks he is unwell, the scribes think he is dangerous, and both are working backward from something neither of them can deny happened. The disagreement is only ever about where it comes from.
He answers with arithmetic first. A kingdom at war with itself falls down. So does a household. If Satan has started throwing Satan out, the story the scribes are telling ends with the enemy finishing himself off, which is not the point they came to make.
Then he stops defending and starts claiming.
Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
He has put himself in that sentence, and not as a friend of the strong man. He is the one who broke in, tied him up, and is carrying the furniture out while these men stand there calling it the devil's work.
Isaiah had asked whether plunder could be taken from the mighty, or captives rescued from a tyrant. God answered it anyway: the captives would be taken back and the plunder recovered.
Then comes the sentence people carry away from this chapter, and the order matters. He opens with a promise that has no ceiling on it: every sin the sons of men commit will be forgiven them, and every blasphemy they speak, however many that turns out to be. The exception follows, and it is one sentence long. Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is never forgiven, and is guilty of eternal sin.
Mark does not leave that hanging. Verse 30 gives the reason Jesus said it. They were saying he has an unclean spirit.
How We Know
Beelzebul, the name the scribes use in verse 22, is not invented for the scene. Second Kings 1:2 records Ahaziah sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, and the name in Mark is a version of that one.
The accusation reaches for a name already in Israel's own scriptures rather than a generic charge. The overlap fits a charge drawn from material the scribes already had rather than one invented for the scene, and it settles nothing about which form of the name they used.
What Mark does not do is explain the name. He uses it, gives the scribes' second sentence as the gloss, and moves straight to the reply.
Questions
1 Two sets of people have a verdict on Jesus. What did each of them decide?
AnswerHis family decided he was ill, and came to take custody of him. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem decided he was possessed, and that his power over demons was borrowed from the prince of demons.
2 Nobody in the house says he is faking it. Why does that matter?
AnswerBecause it shows what was actually being argued about. Both sides could see something real happening in front of them and neither one tried to deny it. They only disagreed about where it was coming from.
3 Has anybody ever decided the worst about something you did for a good reason? What did you want to do about it? Then compare it with what Jesus does here.
AnswerHe does not go quiet and he does not sulk. He takes the accusation apart, and then he tells them who he actually is, which is a far larger answer than the charge deserved.
4 Jesus says the promise before he says the warning. What is the promise?
AnswerEvery sin and every blasphemy people utter will be forgiven them, however many there are. The warning in the next sentence is the exception to that, and taking them in the order he said them changes how the whole passage sits.
What This Means for Us
The warning at the end of this passage has kept people awake at night, and pretending it is not frightening helps nobody. Consider who is in it. Men who traveled a long way, watched somebody set other people free, then looked straight at it and said the devil did that, and went on saying it. Nobody in the account is worried about their soul. They are certain, and they came a long way to be certain.
The passage gives us no checklist for finding this in ourselves, and we will not invent one. What it gives us is the sentence he says first: every sin, every blasphemy, forgiven. Anybody here who is afraid tonight can put their weight on that.
Prayer
Father, thank you that you said "the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies" before you said anything else. Some of us are afraid of this passage, and you know it. Keep our eyes open enough to know your work when we see it, and keep us from ever calling your goodness something else. Amen.