Morning Light – Mark 3: When Your Family and Friends Flip Out

[Mark 3] When Your Family and Friends Flip Out: In Mark 3 we find Jesus being confronted not only by His enemies, but by His friends and family as well. If you are going to make your calling and election sure, you are going to have to decide how to respond when your friends and family flip out, thinking you have crossed a line and they must shut you down in God. Just as this happened in Jesus’ life, if you are ever to go out and obey God, it will happen in your own.

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[Mar 3:1-35 KJV] 1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched [it] out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6 And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. 7 But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea, 8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and [from] beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him. 9 And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him. 10 For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues. 11 And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God. 12 And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known. 13 And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth [unto him] whom he would: and they came unto him. 14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15 And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: 16 And Simon he surnamed Peter; 17 And James the [son] of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: 18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, 19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.

In verse 1 of chapter 3 we find Jesus resorting again to the synagogue in Capernaum. This is the second named synagogue that we know that Jesus ministered in early in His public life, the other synagogue being in Nazareth. As Jesus enters the synagogue, He encounters a man with a withered hand. The scribes and Pharisees have objected to Jesus healing on the Sabbath and are watching closely to find basis of accusation against Him. Why are these elders so obsessed with Sabbath keeping? Because they are casual about other aspects of the law, the weightier matters of the law, therefore they place more emphasis on these outward demonstrations of fidelity to God in order to mask their deeper rebellion against His Spirit. This is the indicator of whether you are dealing with a hypocritical, religious spirit. Proverbs tells us that as face answers to face, so the heart of man answers to the heart of man. Satan is the accuser, and when we are so minutely concerned about someone else’s compliance to what is right we are exposing what is in our own heart, we are establishing our own guilt. So, learn the lesson that by the degree we level blame, we establish our own guilt, and expose our own transgression.

Jesus, knowing the elders were lying in wait to accuse Him, asks is it wrong to do good on the Sabbath? Even in the law, it was allowable to rescue distressed livestock on the weekly holy day, yet these despicable leaders are offended that Jesus is about to help someone made in the image of God, of much more value than a lamb or an ox. Being grieved at their hypocritical silence, Jesus angrily turns from them and commands the man to stretch forth his hand. Immediately he is healed. One thing to know here, is that by healing the man, Jesus has now placed that man as well as Himself in the midst of controversy against some very powerful people. Bear this in mind: the miracle God does for you will very often garner opposition from others and make very powerful enemies. Some of the most powerful liberties and deliverance that God has wrought in my life and my wife’s have resulted in gaining lifelong enemies who had once been dear friends. These are the modern-day Pharisees and scribes. Just as these men confronting Jesus longed to have the power of capital punishment to put Him to death, so you can be thankful that the state does not give such authority to the churchmen and opposers who will resent God’s miracle in your life and hold you as an enemy for doing nothing other than allowing God to bring you into your blessing place.

Knowing that these men were now bent on destroying Him, Jesus withdraws from the synagogue and goes out to the seaside. Now, Capernaum was a seafaring town. What Jesus is doing is shifting from ministering in a religious venue to a marketplace ministry. Many of you reading this complain that there is no room or acknowledgement being made for you in the modern-day synagogue setting of the church, but you have neglected to consider that there is a big, wide world out there where ministry can take place. Stop thinking of the church house as the only place where ministry can occur. Go out and have a home group meeting, or rent a hotel conference room, and if your brothers and sisters in Christ will not come, find those that will and minister to them. If you have an unrecognized ministry gifting in your life, it is very unlikely that the existing church will ever make room for you or recognize you. Get over that. Refuse to be offended and just go out and obey God, whether they give you permission or not. Refuse to be born again, baptized, and branded. Step out in your anointing and as Jesus did in Capernaum, let everyone else just cope with your call. Stop apologizing, or waiting for the nod from people who have no respect for you, or love for you beyond the parameters in which your presence, or your donation support what they are intent on doing and not making room for the gift of God that is in your own life. Others will never tell you these things but it is time in your life to face up to the adult facts of church culture, set them aside and go out in love and make full proof of your calling.

Jesus is followed by a large throng of people, and things are getting so out of hand that there is no time to eat, they are in danger of being injured by the press of the people, and finally Jesus withdraws with the twelve to a mountain place of seclusion. Notice the nature of this call: He called them unto Himself. He ordained them (v. 14) that they should BE WITH HIM. If you do not respond to that aspect of the call of God – to BE WITH HIM first then nothing you do out there among the people or in the world will be of any lasting value. You are ordained FIRST to be WITH HIM, then afterward (v. 15) to have power to heal sickness and cast out devils. There are many who want to cast out devils and heal the sick and have little success because they didn’t make the main thing the main thing – they didn’t respond to the call to BE WITH HIM. Make that your first priority and healing the sick, casting out devils, etc., will be the natural outworking of the anointing of God in your life that originates out of your intimacy with Him.

20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 And when his friends heard [of it], they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. 22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. 23 And he called them [unto him], and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. 28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: 30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. 31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

After withdrawing in seclusion to a house in a remote location, the multitude finds them again, including certain friends of Jesus. Remember that Capernaum, as well as Nazareth was an area that Jesus was familiar with from His earlier life. People knew Him there as Mary and Joseph’s boy, the carpenter they called on to do repair work in their homes, and assist them in the masonry trade. In verse 21 several friends of Jesus come to forcibly lay hold on Him because He is in their opinion beside Himself. Have you ever had this happen to you? Have you ever stepped out in the things of God and had a friend or more than one friend come up to you and say “now, I love you – – – BUT….” These men only knew Jesus the carpenter, they were scandalized by the suggestion that Jesus could be anything other than Joseph’s and Mary’s boy. Listen, if you haven’t scandalized your friends, and caused your family’s eyebrows to go north of their hairline you probably aren’t doing what God has called you to do. Jesus ignores these men, and going about to cast out a devil, declares to the scribes and Pharisees there to accuse Him, that He is the one with greater that is there to cast out Satan and spoil His house. He warns all present who are struggling with the controversial things He is doing, that to attribute the works He is doing in God to the devil is tantamount to blasphemy which will not be forgiven. When your detractors, friends and family allow themselves to have an opinion about what God has called you to do, know that it is not you but they themselves that are being put in jeopardy. These people were concerned about the status quo, about their own reputation, about the inconvenience of having this young zealot in their synagogue and community stirring up such a ruckus, but there were much more weighty matters at stake, even their own souls.

Finally, Jesus mother and family members come seeking Him. Yes, Mary is there and several of His brothers who were born to Joseph and Mary naturally after His own miraculous birth. They just can’t take it anymore. Jesus has to be stopped. They bring Mary along because they are hoping that Jesus will listen to reason. What will you do, when your loved ones pull out the “big guns” trying to shut you down in God? They realize all hope of controlling Jesus is lost when He asks the question “who is My mother and My brethren?”. You might well make that determination yourself. Are you going to be so entrenched in the lives and affections of your natural friends and family that you never venture beyond their limited approval of what they are willing to find acceptable about your life and calling? Or are you going to cast your lot in with the fullness of God’s plan for your life and those who will be positively affected, and connect with your call and your anointing, knowing that they are the true family God has given you, where all other relationships are just a happenstance of biological connection and commonality?