Is It Lawful To Heal On The Sabbath? Jesus Heals a Man, Inflaming The Pharisees
3 And He entered again into the synagogue. And there was a man there having his hand having become-withered. 2 And they were closely-watching Him to see if He would cure him on the Sabbath, in order that they might accuse Him. 3 And He says to the man having the withered hand, “Arise into the middle”. 4 And He says to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do-harm[a], to save a life or to kill?” But the ones were being silent. 5 And having looked-around-at them with anger, while being deeply-grieved at the hardness of their heart, He says to the man, “Stretch out the hand”. And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 And having gone out, the Pharisees immediately were giving counsel against Him with the Herodians[b] so that they might destroy Him.
A Great Multitude Comes To Jesus To Be Healed
7 And Jesus withdrew[c] to the sea with His disciples, and a great multitude from Galilee followed. And from Judea, 8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea and beyond the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude hearing all that He was doing came to Him. 9 And He said to His disciples that a small-boat should be standing-ready-for Him because of the crowd— in order that they might not be pressing[d] Him. 10 For He cured many, so that they were falling-upon Him in order that all who were having scourges[e] might touch Him. 11 And the unclean spirits, whenever they were seeing Him, were falling-before Him and crying-out, saying that “You are the Son of God”. 12 And He was sternly rebuking them in order that they might not make Him known.
The Twelve Are Appointed
13 And He goes up on the mountain and summons whom He was wanting. And they went to Him. 14 And He appointed twelve, whom He also named apostles, in order that they might be with Him, and in order that He might send them out to proclaim 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons. 16 And He appointed the twelve, even Peter (He put the name on Simon), 17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James (and He put on them the name Boanerges, which means “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 Cananaean[f], 19 and Judas Iscariot, who also handed Him over.
Scribes Say Jesus Uses Satan’s Power. Such Blasphemy of The Spirit Will Not Be Forgiven
20 And He goes into a house[g]. And the crowd comes-together again, so that they were not even able to eat bread. 21 And having heard-of it, the ones[h] from Him went-forth to take-hold-of [i] Him. For they were saying[j] that “He lost-His-senses”. 22 And the scribes having come down from Jerusalem were saying that “He has Beelzebul”, and that “He is casting-out the demons by[k] the ruler of the demons”. 23 And having summoned them, He was speaking to them in parables: “How is Satan able to be casting-out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand; 25 and if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan stood-up against himself and was divided, he is not able to stand, but he has an end[l]. 27 But no one, having entered into the house of the strong man, can plunder his things unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder[m] his house. 28 Truly I say to you that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven to the sons of humans[n], whatever they may blaspheme. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit does not have forgiveness forever, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because[o] they were saying “He has an unclean spirit”.
Whoever Does The Will of God Is My Family
31 And His mother and His brothers come. And while standing outside, they sent-forth a message to Him, calling Him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around Him. And they say to Him, “Behold— Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside seeking You”. 33 And having responded to them, He says “Who is My mother and My brothers?” 34 And having looked-around-at the ones sitting in a circle around Him, He says “Look— My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God— this one is My brother and sister and mother”.
Footnotes
- Mark 3:4 The answer is that the day makes no difference. It is good to do good and wrong to do harm on all seven days. The Sabbath is a day of rest from one’s work, not from doing good.
- Mark 3:6 That is, those politically linked to Herod’s family. As a false prophet, being a Sabbath-breaker, Jesus is a religious and political problem for these leaders.
- Mark 3:7 Or, went-back.
- Mark 3:9 Or, crowding, squeezing.
- Mark 3:10 That is, ailments perceived as a scourge from God.
- Mark 3:18 That is, the zealot.
- Mark 3:20 Mark may mean ‘His house’, connecting this with the coming of His family in v 31.
- Mark 3:21 That is, the relatives of Jesus, who arrive in v 31; or, the friends or associates of Jesus. These people heard of the problem and went forth to solve it.
- Mark 3:21 Or, take charge of, seize, take custody of.
- Mark 3:21 This could be the statement of a well-intentioned mother or disciple who felt the need to rescue Jesus (Have some sense! Come and eat!); or, the misinformed statement of brothers who did not understand His mission or believe in Him (Jn 7:5); or, an impersonal statement meaning ‘people were saying’.
- Mark 3:22 Or, in union with.
- Mark 3:26 That is, he is finished; he is defeated.
- Mark 3:27 Jesus is binding Satan by casting out demons, and will plunder his house.
- Mark 3:28 That is, the human race.
- Mark 3:30 This is Mark’s explanation of why Jesus said this, and what Jesus meant by it. If Jesus does a miracle which you fully acknowledge but attribute to Satan, what more can be done? You have called the Spirit of God Satan. You have cut yourself off from God.