Introduction
Have you ever been misunderstood? Have you ever had people trying to silence you even though you knew what was right?
Being mischaracterized is a common event in our lives as people. We have this all the time. People want to silence any opposition that may hinder what they want accomplished.
Maybe that is even your family or friends because they do not believe in what you believe in.
As believers we face much opposition to our faith. We will face attacks and insults to us. We will be insulted and condemned as bigots, haters, arrogant, and many worse titles.
Some of this may even come from your own family. It may come from coworkers. It may come from once friends.
One thing is certain, hate and attacks will come for us if we are following Jesus.
We will be mischaracterized and insulted and attempts to silence us will occur from all arenas. Some attacks will come from the realm of “Christianity.” There are many within the umbrella term of Christian that want to silence anyone who believes the Bible and Jesus’ words.
Many people are like this salesman, “One dark rainy night a salesman had a flat tire on a lonely road. But to his dismay he had no lug wrench. Seeing a nearby farmhouse, he set out on foot. Surely the farmer would have a lug wrench, he thought. But would he even come to the door? And if he did, he’d probably be furious at being bothered. He’d say, “What’s the big idea getting me out of bed in the middle of the night?” This thought made the salesman angry. Why, that farmer is a selfish old clod to refuse to help me. Finally the man reached the house. Frustrated and drenched, he banged on the door. “Who’s there?” a voice called out from a window overhead.
“You know good and well who it is,” yelled the salesman, his face red with anger. “It’s me! And you can keep your old lug wrench! I wouldn’t borrow it if it was the last one in the county.”
That man made his mind up before ever talking to the farmer. He imagined what the man would say and how he would react.
He had a mischaraterization of the man and he did not even try to work with him but instead started out insulting him.
This is the world’s view of us who are in Christ. They follow stories and thoughts that others have made about Christians and then act on what they have heard.
The worst part is many Christians do the same to them and to other Christians. Too many think they are the correct ones and all against them must be condemned. And they do this all in the name of love and inclusivity all the while excluding anyone who is not like them.
That is what I want you to remember about today, insults will come and they will come from many who we think are our friends and loved ones. We see that many act in a certain way but deep down only want us to behave as they do.
We see this in the text today. We see that Jesus’ family did not understand, the religious people did not understand, but our family formed in the Lord will because in that we are all seeking to do the will of God.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.” 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. 28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” 31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:20–35 ESV
In the first two verses and again in 31-32 we see that…
Families May Not Understand (20-21, 31-32)
What is crazy about this aspect with Jesus is that Mary and Joseph had both been visited by an angel and told about Jesus’ birth and His greatness.
We do not see Joseph in this story but we do see Mary. She knew Jesus was more. She knew He was from the Lord because of the pregnancy and visit from the angel.
Yet, even with that we see her trying to stop Jesus from carrying on His ministry.
Many had begun to follow Jesus and many were becoming angry with Him, as the next section will demonstrate.
So, we see something in the text here that could indicate fear for Jesus and what may happen as why His family tried to stop Him.
I can understand this as a father myself but the text says they were saying He is out of his mind. Maybe they were saying that to help alleviate any struggle that may come from His ministry or maybe they thought he was insane.
Whatever the cause, they were not supporting Him and they were against Him by doing what they did. It seems that his family did not believe he was the messiah.
I do want to ask here, what would it take for one of your siblings to think you were the Son of God, the Messiah?
I doubt that any of our siblings would think we were the Messiah. So, even though the miraculous happened with Mary, she may have even begun to doubt.
They did not understand who Jesus was and they were trying to stop Him.
Just as I said in the intro, we will face this in our lives. We will be insulted and sought to be made to shut up. Many will, and do, say we are out of our minds. We speak of the savior of the world and we seek to make Him known to all we can.
People tried to stop Jesus, His family tried, people will try and stop us. They will attack and insult.
Many people who were close to us and may have thought we were great, will turn on us and reject us.
It will hurt it will be rough.
I am sure Jesus felt this from His family and all the others who rejected Him.
Yet we do not see this taking away from Him and what He was doing.
Mark (Religious Leaders Accuse Jesus of Being Under Satan’s Power / 3:20–30 / 74)
Family members require the most patience. They see us at our worst when our guard is down. Remember that Christ’s family rejected and ridiculed him. Jesus knows what you face by trying to be a witness for him in your own family. Stay true to your faith, and don’t respond negatively to the attacks that may come. Over time, your love for them will have a positive effect.
Jesus remained on point as we see in the next section where He confronted the religious people because…
Religious People Will Not Understand (22-30)
The Scribes were the experts in the Law. As Charles Swindoll explains, they were like a cross of today’s legal scholars and Bible Scholars.
They knew what the OT said and they were going to keep it as they read it.
They did not want this man who came in and stomped all over their beliefs to continue. So, they did what people who get insulted and are afraid of the truth do, they attacked and said He was possessed.
Now, not all do this today but they do say you are a heretic, a Christian nationalist, patriarchal, misogynist, oppressive, or many other names.
They want to ruin your credibility and your beliefs. These Scribes had seen the works of Jesus. They had witnessed many of His miracles, yet they said He was possessed. They did not want the truth or want to believe what they have seen. They only wanted to have what they said the text means to be what was.
People caught up in their religion will insult and attack. They do not care about the truth but what they say is true only.
And everyone is in a religion of some sort. We all have some set of beliefs we hold to be true.
The world has theirs and it is that you can do whatever you want as long as what you do does not offend another persons beliefs.
Other so-called Christians hold a worldly view mixed with some Christian beliefs. All of them condemn us who hold to Biblical Christianity and seek to follow Jesus and His apostles as He has lain out for us in His word.
The question we need to ask ourselves is will we return insult for insult, attack them, or act as Jesus did here.
We do not see Jesus returning their charge with another insult or attack. No, rather, we see Him respond wisely and in a manner that made them think.
He turns the tables on them by responding with a story that made them think about their insults. They had lobbed a grenade at Him and it was nothing because if the work He was doing was from Satan then the work would be against itself. He tells them that the strong man of the house, Satan, was bound and hindered by the Messianic Son of God.
It is likely that when Satan was ejected from heaven (Isaiah 14:12–15), the rebelling angels (who became demons) were also ejected from heaven. They were able to influence the hearts and minds of people, but they could not control God’s people without God’s permission (Job 1:12; 2:6). Other rebellious angels have been bound until the last day of judgment (Jude 6).
Satan’s power was broken with the coming of Christ as demonstrated by Jesus withstanding Satan in the Temptation (Luke 4:1–13).
Satan still functions as “god of this age (world)” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he tries to exercise his lost lordship. But we can overcome Satan by identifying and uniting with Christ who holds the power to bind Satan (Romans 6:12–13; Ephesians 2:1–3; 3:10–12; 6:10–18; Colossians 2:15, 20).
The final “binding” will occur first in the bottomless pit and then in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10). (Bruce B. Barton, Mark, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1994), 90.)
He was not in cahoots with Satan but against Him. He also levels a severe charge at them that if they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit they are guilty of the eternal sin. They were saying the miracles performed were of Satan and therefore calling the H.S. evil. Also, “Whoever rejects the prompting of the Holy Spirit removes himself or herself from the only force that can lead him or her to redemption and restoration to God. Those who have seen the light and prefer the darkness are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Their stubborn refusal to believe can only lead to a hardness of heart that cannot be penetrated; thus, forgiveness never will be possible because it never will be sought. It is an eternal sin because the consequences last for eternity.” (Barton, Mark, 92).
So, when the world attacks us we need to remember they are lost and acting as lost people do and if we turn all pious or act as the world, we have lost them and run them off.
But if we act as Jesus did here, we may influence some even if they think we are evil. Lets continue to allow them to think that we are evil and prove them wrong through our passion for them, rather than act evil and prove them correct.
People are like this study I read about.
A group of white, middle-class New York City residents were presented with a picture of people on a subway. Two men were in the foreground. One was white, one was black. One wore a business suit, one was clothed in workman’s overalls. One was giving his money to the other who was threatening him with a knife. Now as a matter of fact it was the black man who wore the suit, and it was he who was being robbed by the white laborer. But such a picture didn’t square with the prejudices of the viewers. To them, white men were executives, black men were blue collar workers. Blacks were the robbers, whites the victims. And so they reported what their mind told them they saw–that a black laborer was assaulting a white businessman. As human beings who desperately desire our lives to be consistent and untroubled, we’ll go to great lengths to reject a message that implies we’re wrong.
That is why we need to respond like Jesus did and not take attacks personal. When we do, the barriers people have put up only become stronger.
But we have people who are like us and will embrace us and these are those who are genuinely family. They are family in the Lord and we are one so our…
New Family in The Lord Will Understand (31-35)
Again His family is trying to stop Him. They are wanting Him to stop teaching and come Home.
People tell Him that His family is present and asking for Him, but Jesus does something that was astounding in that culture, He says His family is the ones who do the Will of God rather than His flesh and blood.
He was counter-cultural and made an amazing impact upon the culture with this statement.
In the culture of Jesus and still in that culture, families were and are close-knit and multi-generational living together. They were very tight-knit and the family bond was an inviolate sacred trust. It was a bond that was not to be broken and if it was the person who did it was considered as despicable and vile.
So, this comment was quite astonishing for sure. But the rhetorical question need not be viewed as antifamily. “Close family ties were the norm in the culture in which Jesus grew up. While respecting his family members, Jesus had even higher priorities. He gave precedence to another family: the children of God the Father.” (Larsen, Dale; Larsen, Sandy. Questions Jesus Asks (LifeGuide Bible Studies) (p. 12).
He revealed that those who do the will of God are family.
This is an amazing blessing to all who have lost friends and family for following Jesus. Many people in America may not have faced this yet, but many in foreign countries have. Many have lost everything that they have ever known for following Jesus.
Some may have even fled due to the fact that they were going to be killed.
Jesus is telling you now that regardless what your family is like or what they have done, if you are a Believer, you are His family. You are a member of the family of God. You have the best family because you have a member who gave all for you and another who made this possible and another who is with you daily giving you strength.
Rest in the Lord and know that when you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you became a child of God and are in God’s family now.
No one and nothing can alter this fact now. You are His and He has you and nothing can remove you from Him.
As Rudyard Kipling once wrote about families, “all of us are we–and everyone else is they.” A family shares things like dreams, hopes, possessions, memories, smiles, frowns, and gladness…A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect. A family is shelter from the storm, a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild. No person is ever alone who is a member of a family.
In the family of God no one is alone and we all have support from Him if we do not have another believer with us.
The world will attack and insult us. It will try and bring us down. Even our own families will try this. Yet, with the Lord we have support and strength because when we are in Christ as believers we are Christ’s family. And as such, we have those who do understand us and what we face daily.
Let us always rest in one another. Let us always be here for one another because this world is only getting worse.
But let us also answer as Jesus did and not attack but answer with grace and concern for those who insult us.
Conclusion
I want you to know today that if you are with Jesus you have strength that no earthly family can give us. We have a family that always understands us and will never misconstrue what we say.
With Jesus you never have to worry about someone taking what you say out of context and using it against you. You have the Lord with you and with Him all things are possible.
Simply, with Jesus you have the strength to face every day in this cold hard world because He warms and brightens everything for those who are His.
