Mark 3
Encyclopedia
Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark
in the New Testament
of the Christian
Bible
. It contains a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, Jesus
' calling of the Twelve Apostles, and his conflicts with some scribes
and his own family.
. Mark uses the adverb
palin (again), indicating this is the same Synagogue as the one in . According to Mark "some" people were there specifically waiting to see if Jesus would heal someone on the Sabbath so that they could accuse him of breaking it. Rabbi
s of the time would allow healing on the Sabbath only if the person was in great danger, a situation his hand would not qualify for. The Jewish Encyclopedia
article on Jesus notes: "...stricter rabbis allowed only the saving of life to excuse the slightest curtailment of the Sabbath rest (Shab. xxii. 6)."
He asks the people "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil
, to save life or to kill?" They do not answer and he angrily looks around at the crowd and is "distressed at their stubborn hearts", . He tells the man to put out his hand which he does and then, seemingly instantaneously, it is healed. Many other stories of healing at the time involved the healer doing work in some way to effect a cure as compared to this quick almost effortless action here. Mark could be highlighting how great he viewed Jesus' powers as being. Jesus also equates not doing good with doing evil and says it is more important, even or perhaps especially, to not let evil and suffering occur through inaction.
According to Mark, this miracle
is what completely sets the Pharisees
, as well as the Herodians
, against him, having them go out after this and plot to kill him. Thus the reaction of a substantial number of Jews
has gone from being amazed to one of outright opposition. Mark has already begun to foreshadow Jesus' death, with this as well as the saying about the bridegroom and fasting in . Some find it improbable these two groups worked together, as the Pharisees opposed Rome
and Herod
was backed by and supported Rome, see also Iudaea Province
. Mark however may be highlighting the dual nature and seriousness of the opposition to Jesus.
This also occurs in Matthew
12:9-14, although Jesus asks about how one would save a sheep on the Sabbath and how helping a person is more important than helping a sheep. Luke
6:6-11 is almost the same as this section of Mark although Luke does not state that they planned to kill him, only that they were "furious" and talked about what to do about Jesus.
Jesus then "withdraws", anechōrēsen, and goes down by a lake, presumably the Sea of Galilee
, and people follow him there. Some see the word as meaning flight as it comes after Mark talks about the plot against Jesus, but it could just as easily mean leaving Capernaum
to go to the sea. Mark says the people had come from "...Judea
, Jerusalem, Idumea
, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon
." Mark thus shows that people are coming from many areas, not just Galilee
. Whether these people were non-Jews is unclear as the non-Jewish areas listed also contained Jewish populations. Another group of the time to consider is the Jewish Proselytes. He has the disciples
prepare a boat for him to avoid "crowding" because "... he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him." and then he heals many of the sick. Evil (or unclean) spirits in the people
brought before him fall down and call him the Son of God
, but he tells them not to tell people who he is, continuing the theme of the Messianic Secret
.
, whom he appointed Apostles, with the power to preach and "drive out demons
." Some manuscripts of Mark do not have Jesus call them Apostles in verse . Verse may be the only time he uses the word, which is most frequently (68 out of 79) used by Luke the Evangelist
and Paul of Tarsus
, see Strong's G652. It is perhaps symbolic that this occurs on a mountain, a height where people can be met by God in the Jewish tradition, such as Moses
talking to God on Mount Sinai
, see also the Sermon on the Mount
. Mark pictures Jesus as drawing large multitudes to his teaching, and shifts from mountains to lakes to houses at will, creating an evocative landscape that some find lacking plausibility, although the area contains such geographic features.
He appoints Simon, called Peter
, James, John
, Andrew
, Philip
, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, a second James
, Thaddaeus, Simon whom Mark calls a Zealot, and lastly Judas Iscariot
.
Luke's lists in Luke and Acts of the Apostles
do not list a Thaddaeus but instead list "Judas, son of James" or "Judas the brother of James
" in the KJV , which some have asserted are two names for the same person, Jude Thaddaeus. Luke also has the story of the Seventy Disciples
. Matthew's list is the same as Mark in , although a few western manuscripts
of Matthew have a Lebbaeus. This might also indicate that by the time of the writing of the Gospels the exact recollection of the "minor" Apostles had become uncertain, and that there is no "Jude Thaddaeus", a creation of later hagiography
. John
lists no Bartholomew, although John's Nathanael
is usually equated with him.
Mark says that the brothers James and John were given the title Boanerges, which Mark tells us means "Sons of Thunder", although many modern scholars disagree with this translation. Many explanations have been given for this title but none commands a consensus. Why Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, meaning rock, Mark does not say. has his naming in connection with the church and has it relate to his character. It could also have an ironic meaning, as even Peter denies Jesus in the end.
Philip and Andrew are both Greek
names, also Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus. Some Jews, especially from places like Galilee where there were substantial non-Jewish populations, did have a Greek name as well as a Jewish name.
The second Simon is called a kananaios, probably derived from the Aramaic
word qan'ānā, meaning a Zealot, which might mean he belonged to a political movement in rebellion against Rome
, but might also mean he was religiously zealous. Luke uses the Greek term zēlōtēs.
Iscariot might be Judas' last name or might be a reference to where he came from, meaning "man of Kerioth
" It may also be derived from sicarii
. The fact that there are twelve Apostles is seen as being related to the Twelve tribes of Israel.
Jesus will "send them out", the Greek verb apostolien (Strong's G649) meaning to send out, to do the work he has been doing but without him being present. Many churches interpret this as his founding of the church, as he creates a special group to work in his name without him. See also the Great Commission
.
or describing what others had said about Jesus. Either way they go to assert their control over him, perhaps to stop him from embarrassing the family. Hearing Jesus is being followed by so many people does not seem to accord with their view of him. Whether it was Jesus teaching and attracting large crowds or not eating that disturbs them so much is not clear. A few early manuscripts have "the scribes and the others" instead of his family, but these are usually seen as alterations perhaps designed to tone down the impression of Jesus' own family toward him.
Scribes from Jerusalem, who Matthew says were Pharisees, come and accuse him of something worse than being crazy, using Beelzebub
, and/or the "prince of demons" to drive out demons. His power over the demons, they assert, comes from evil powers itself. Beelzebub is thought to mean perhaps "lord of the flies" or "lord of dung" or "lord of the height or dwelling", but no certainty exists as to its exact meaning. They do not dispute that he did in fact drive out the demons. They seem to believe Jesus' power is beyond human capabilities and must be supernatural
in origin. The charge of Jesus using evil powers was probably made against him to his followers for quite some time after his death. The Jesus Seminar
feels the version in is "red" ("authentic") and calls it "The Beelzebul controversy." is determined to be "pink" ("a close approximation of what Jesus did") and is called "Jesus' relatives come to get him" as are , , and Thomas
99:1-3 which are called "True relatives".
Mark often has Jesus using analogies
, metaphor
s or riddle
s, called parable
s by Mark. Jesus replies:
If Jesus is working against what is evil, such as the demons, then this cannot be the work of Satan, as Satan would be working against himself. Jesus then compares himself to a thief going into a "strong man's house", Satan's house, and binding him to "spoil his house", rob him. Satan, says Jesus, is strong and must be constrained in order to be robbed. He is robbing Satan of the possession of the people, or the house could be seen as the world itself. Jesus thus implies what he has been doing is directly against Satan and that his motives are Satan's utmost ruin. His power, he asserts, is good and so must also come from a good source, God.
Jesus also makes the claim that all sins can be forgiven, except for an eternal sin
, such as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
. Mark inserts his own explanation as to why Jesus said this, stating "He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit." , thus Jesus according to Mark is saying that accusing him of using Satan for his power is in effect calling the work of God evil and failing to see the work of God in Jesus' actions. The parallels in and and the Gospel of Thomas 44 call this the unforgivable sin. Unforgivable sins are also listed in Hebrews
and as well as 1 John
. There is also a possible link with 1 Corinthians
.. Come to conclusions the Pharisees had hardened their hearts to the point repentance became impossible.A believer is not qualified for this sin.
His first answer to the charge, that a "house divided" cannot stand, has become a common piece of wisdom
, the most famous modern example is Lincoln's
use of this phrase during the 1858 senatorial election campaign against Stephen Douglas. Lincoln used the metaphor of a "house divided" to describe the situation of the United States on the eve of the Civil War
.
His Mother and brothers arrive and send someone in to get him. He replies, speaking to the crowd around him, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will
is my brother and sister and mother."
Jesus' answer to his family, that those who follow him are his family is, according to Kilgallen, Jesus' way of underlying "...the fact that his life has been changed to such a degree that family ties no longer come before those whom he teaches about the kingdom of God
." Jesus puts loyalty to God above loyalty to family. Family ties were considered very important in the society of the time, and some people even today are troubled by this seeming conflict between Jesus and his family. Jesus however states that his ties, and his respect and love due to his family, will go to those who obey God. Jesus' family is mentioned again in Mark . The story of Jesus and his family is also found in the Gospel of Thomas as saying 99. In Mark Peter says they have left everything to follow Jesus and he lists the great rewards as well as persecutions they will get for following him.
These incidents occur in all the Synoptic Gospels
. In Matthew they occur in 12:22-50, and in Luke they are split up between 8:19-21 and 11:14-28. Neither Matthew nor Luke though state that Jesus's family thought he was "... out of his mind." John, while mentioning none of these incidents, relates in chapter 7 how "...even his own brothers did not believe in him." because he would not go to the Feast of Tabernacles with them and perform miracles, although he later goes there in secret. says "many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." The negative view of Jesus' family
may be related to the conflict between Paul and Jewish Christians
.
There is much disagreement over whether these "brothers" referred to here are Jesus' actual brothers or merely stepbrothers or cousins. The official Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine is that Mary was a perpetual virgin
, and so could not have had any other children besides Jesus, thus making these Jesus's half brothers, sons of Joseph by another, unrecorded marriage, or cousins. Only Tertullian
seems to have questioned this in the early Church. Islam
also holds that Mary was a perpetual virgin as did many of the early Protestants, although many Protestants today do not hold to the doctrine of perpetual virginity, and would thus believe that these are Jesus' full brothers. A few early manuscripts also have "and your sisters" in verse .
This section gives a clear example of Mark's sandwich technique, where one story is interspersed into the center of another. Mark has highlighted two reactions to Jesus and his teaching and acts: One of faith, such as that of his followers, compared to disbelief and hostility. Jesus explains the nature of the effect of his teachings on others in the Parable of the Sower
in .
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. It contains a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
' calling of the Twelve Apostles, and his conflicts with some scribes
Scribes
Scribes is a minimalist and extensible text editor for GNOME that combines simplicity with power. Scribes focuses on ways workflow and productivity can be intelligently automated and radically improved...
and his own family.
Healings
Continuing the theme of the Sabbath from Mark 2, Mark 3 begins with Jesus healing a man with a shriveled hand on the Sabbath in the SynagogueSynagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
. Mark uses the adverb
Adverb
An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....
palin (again), indicating this is the same Synagogue as the one in . According to Mark "some" people were there specifically waiting to see if Jesus would heal someone on the Sabbath so that they could accuse him of breaking it. Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s of the time would allow healing on the Sabbath only if the person was in great danger, a situation his hand would not qualify for. The Jewish Encyclopedia
Jewish Encyclopedia
The Jewish Encyclopedia is an encyclopedia originally published in New York between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. It contained over 15,000 articles in 12 volumes on the history and then-current state of Judaism and the Jews as of 1901...
article on Jesus notes: "...stricter rabbis allowed only the saving of life to excuse the slightest curtailment of the Sabbath rest (Shab. xxii. 6)."
He asks the people "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
, to save life or to kill?" They do not answer and he angrily looks around at the crowd and is "distressed at their stubborn hearts", . He tells the man to put out his hand which he does and then, seemingly instantaneously, it is healed. Many other stories of healing at the time involved the healer doing work in some way to effect a cure as compared to this quick almost effortless action here. Mark could be highlighting how great he viewed Jesus' powers as being. Jesus also equates not doing good with doing evil and says it is more important, even or perhaps especially, to not let evil and suffering occur through inaction.
According to Mark, this miracle
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
is what completely sets the Pharisees
Pharisees
The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews during the Second Temple period beginning under the Hasmonean dynasty in the wake of...
, as well as the Herodians
Herodians
The Herodians were a sect or party mentioned in the New Testament as having on two occasions — once in Galilee, and again in Jerusalem — manifested an unfriendly disposition towards Jesus .In each of these cases their name is coupled with that of the Pharisees...
, against him, having them go out after this and plot to kill him. Thus the reaction of a substantial number of Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
has gone from being amazed to one of outright opposition. Mark has already begun to foreshadow Jesus' death, with this as well as the saying about the bridegroom and fasting in . Some find it improbable these two groups worked together, as the Pharisees opposed Rome
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
and Herod
Herod Antipas
Herod Antipater , known by the nickname Antipas, was a 1st-century AD ruler of Galilee and Perea, who bore the title of tetrarch...
was backed by and supported Rome, see also Iudaea Province
Iudaea Province
Judaea or Iudaea are terms used by historians to refer to the Roman province that extended over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Israel...
. Mark however may be highlighting the dual nature and seriousness of the opposition to Jesus.
This also occurs in Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
12:9-14, although Jesus asks about how one would save a sheep on the Sabbath and how helping a person is more important than helping a sheep. Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
6:6-11 is almost the same as this section of Mark although Luke does not state that they planned to kill him, only that they were "furious" and talked about what to do about Jesus.
Jesus then "withdraws", anechōrēsen, and goes down by a lake, presumably the Sea of Galilee
Sea of Galilee
The Sea of Galilee, also Kinneret, Lake of Gennesaret, or Lake Tiberias , is the largest freshwater lake in Israel, and it is approximately in circumference, about long, and wide. The lake has a total area of , and a maximum depth of approximately 43 m...
, and people follow him there. Some see the word as meaning flight as it comes after Mark talks about the plot against Jesus, but it could just as easily mean leaving Capernaum
Capernaum
Capernaum was a fishing village in the time of the Hasmoneans. Located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It had a population of about 1,500. Archaeological excavations have revealed two ancient synagogues built one over the other...
to go to the sea. Mark says the people had come from "...Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
, Jerusalem, Idumea
Edom
Edom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
." Mark thus shows that people are coming from many areas, not just Galilee
Galilee
Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...
. Whether these people were non-Jews is unclear as the non-Jewish areas listed also contained Jewish populations. Another group of the time to consider is the Jewish Proselytes. He has the disciples
Disciple (Christianity)
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...
prepare a boat for him to avoid "crowding" because "... he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him." and then he heals many of the sick. Evil (or unclean) spirits in the people
Demonic possession
Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
brought before him fall down and call him the Son of God
Son of God
"Son of God" is a phrase which according to most Christian denominations, Trinitarian in belief, refers to the relationship between Jesus and God, specifically as "God the Son"...
, but he tells them not to tell people who he is, continuing the theme of the Messianic Secret
Messianic Secret
In Biblical criticism, the Messianic Secret refers to a proposed motif primarily in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus is portrayed as commanding his followers to silence about his Messianic mission...
.
Choosing of the Twelve Apostles
After highlighting the growing crowd following Jesus, Mark says Jesus went up a mountain and called twelve12 (number)
12 is the natural number following 11 and preceding 13.The word "twelve" is the largest number with a single-morpheme name in English. Etymology suggests that "twelve" arises from the Germanic compound twalif "two-leftover", so a literal translation would yield "two remaining [after having ten...
, whom he appointed Apostles, with the power to preach and "drive out demons
Exorcism
Exorcism is the religious practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or place which they are believed to have possessed...
." Some manuscripts of Mark do not have Jesus call them Apostles in verse . Verse may be the only time he uses the word, which is most frequently (68 out of 79) used by Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist
Luke the Evangelist was an Early Christian writer whom Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles...
and Paul of Tarsus
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
, see Strong's G652. It is perhaps symbolic that this occurs on a mountain, a height where people can be met by God in the Jewish tradition, such as Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
talking to God on Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai
Mount Sinai , also known as Mount Horeb, Mount Musa, Gabal Musa , Jabal Musa meaning "Moses' Mountain", is a mountain near Saint Catherine in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. A mountain called Mount Sinai is mentioned many times in the Book of Exodus in the Torah and the Bible as well as the Quran...
, see also the Sermon on the Mount
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew...
. Mark pictures Jesus as drawing large multitudes to his teaching, and shifts from mountains to lakes to houses at will, creating an evocative landscape that some find lacking plausibility, although the area contains such geographic features.
He appoints Simon, called Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
, James, John
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
, Andrew
Saint Andrew
Saint Andrew , called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. The name "Andrew" , like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him...
, Philip
Philip the Apostle
Philip the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Later Christian traditions describe Philip as the apostle who preached in Greece, Syria, and Phrygia....
, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, a second James
James, son of Alphaeus
Saint James, son of Alphaeus was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. He is often identified with James the Less and commonly known by that name in church tradition....
, Thaddaeus, Simon whom Mark calls a Zealot, and lastly Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
.
Luke's lists in Luke and Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles , usually referred to simply as Acts, is the fifth book of the New Testament; Acts outlines the history of the Apostolic Age...
do not list a Thaddaeus but instead list "Judas, son of James" or "Judas the brother of James
Jude, brother of Jesus
Jude was the brother of Jesus, according to the New Testament. He is traditionally identified as the author of the Epistle of Jude, a short epistle which is reckoned among the seven General epistles of the New Testament and considered canonical by Christians.-Sources: and write of Jesus family:...
" in the KJV , which some have asserted are two names for the same person, Jude Thaddaeus. Luke also has the story of the Seventy Disciples
Seventy Disciples
The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples were early followers of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke . According to Luke, the only gospel in which they appear, Jesus appointed them and sent them out in pairs on a specific mission which is detailed in the text...
. Matthew's list is the same as Mark in , although a few western manuscripts
Western text-type
The Western text-type is one of several text-types used in textual criticism to describe and group the textual character of Greek New Testament manuscripts...
of Matthew have a Lebbaeus. This might also indicate that by the time of the writing of the Gospels the exact recollection of the "minor" Apostles had become uncertain, and that there is no "Jude Thaddaeus", a creation of later hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
. John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
lists no Bartholomew, although John's Nathanael
Nathanael
Nathaniel is a male name and surname. It comes from the Hebrew name נְתַנְאֵל/Nethan'el meaning "God has given"...
is usually equated with him.
Mark says that the brothers James and John were given the title Boanerges, which Mark tells us means "Sons of Thunder", although many modern scholars disagree with this translation. Many explanations have been given for this title but none commands a consensus. Why Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, meaning rock, Mark does not say. has his naming in connection with the church and has it relate to his character. It could also have an ironic meaning, as even Peter denies Jesus in the end.
Philip and Andrew are both Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
names, also Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus. Some Jews, especially from places like Galilee where there were substantial non-Jewish populations, did have a Greek name as well as a Jewish name.
The second Simon is called a kananaios, probably derived from the Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
word qan'ānā, meaning a Zealot, which might mean he belonged to a political movement in rebellion against Rome
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, but might also mean he was religiously zealous. Luke uses the Greek term zēlōtēs.
Iscariot might be Judas' last name or might be a reference to where he came from, meaning "man of Kerioth
Kerioth
Kerioth - cities. #A town in the south of Judea . Judas Iscariot was probably a native of this place, and hence his name Iscariot. It has been identified with the ruins of el-Kureitein, about 10 miles south of Hebron. ....
" It may also be derived from sicarii
Sicarii
Sicarii is a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, to an extremist splinter group of the Jewish Zealots, who attempted to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea using concealed daggers .-History:The Sicarii used...
. The fact that there are twelve Apostles is seen as being related to the Twelve tribes of Israel.
Jesus will "send them out", the Greek verb apostolien (Strong's G649) meaning to send out, to do the work he has been doing but without him being present. Many churches interpret this as his founding of the church, as he creates a special group to work in his name without him. See also the Great Commission
Great Commission
The Great Commission, in Christian tradition, is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples, that they spread his teachings to all the nations of the world. It has become a tenet in Christian theology emphasizing missionary work, evangelism, and baptism...
.
A house divided
Jesus goes to someone's house and a large crowd follows him there. According to Mark this prevented Jesus and his disciples from being able to eat. "When his family (hoi par' autou) heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'" , or "beside himself", exestē (Strong's G1839), which could be read as Jesus' family accusing him of being crazyMental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
or describing what others had said about Jesus. Either way they go to assert their control over him, perhaps to stop him from embarrassing the family. Hearing Jesus is being followed by so many people does not seem to accord with their view of him. Whether it was Jesus teaching and attracting large crowds or not eating that disturbs them so much is not clear. A few early manuscripts have "the scribes and the others" instead of his family, but these are usually seen as alterations perhaps designed to tone down the impression of Jesus' own family toward him.
Beelzebub
Beelzebub -Religious meaning:Ba‘al Zəbûb is variously understood to mean "lord of flies", or "lord of the dwelling". Originally the name of a Philistine god, Beelzebub is also identified in the New Testament as Satan, the "prince of the demons". In Arabic the name is retained as Ba‘al dhubaab /...
, and/or the "prince of demons" to drive out demons. His power over the demons, they assert, comes from evil powers itself. Beelzebub is thought to mean perhaps "lord of the flies" or "lord of dung" or "lord of the height or dwelling", but no certainty exists as to its exact meaning. They do not dispute that he did in fact drive out the demons. They seem to believe Jesus' power is beyond human capabilities and must be supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
in origin. The charge of Jesus using evil powers was probably made against him to his followers for quite some time after his death. The Jesus Seminar
Jesus Seminar
The Jesus Seminar is a group of about 150 critical scholars and laymen founded in 1985 by Robert Funk under the auspices of the Westar Institute....
feels the version in is "red" ("authentic") and calls it "The Beelzebul controversy." is determined to be "pink" ("a close approximation of what Jesus did") and is called "Jesus' relatives come to get him" as are , , and Thomas
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel According to Thomas, commonly shortened to the Gospel of Thomas, is a well preserved early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945, in one of a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library...
99:1-3 which are called "True relatives".
Mark often has Jesus using analogies
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
, metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
s or riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
s, called parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
s by Mark. Jesus replies:
- How can SatanSatanSatan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
- 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.
- Verily I say unto you, All sinSinIn religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
s shall be forgivenForgivenessForgiveness is typically defined as the process of concluding resentment, indignation or anger as a result of a perceived offense, difference or mistake, or ceasing to demand punishment or restitution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all...
unto the sons of men, and blasphemiesBlasphemyBlasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy GhostHoly SpiritHoly Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternalEternityWhile in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existence for a limitless amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside time. By contrast, infinite temporal existence is then called sempiternity. Something eternal exists outside time; by contrast,...
damnationDamnationDamnation is the concept of everlasting divine punishment and/or disgrace, especially the punishment for sin as threatened by God . A damned being "in damnation" is said to be either in Hell, or living in a state wherein they are divorced from Heaven and/or in a state of disgrace from God's favor...
If Jesus is working against what is evil, such as the demons, then this cannot be the work of Satan, as Satan would be working against himself. Jesus then compares himself to a thief going into a "strong man's house", Satan's house, and binding him to "spoil his house", rob him. Satan, says Jesus, is strong and must be constrained in order to be robbed. He is robbing Satan of the possession of the people, or the house could be seen as the world itself. Jesus thus implies what he has been doing is directly against Satan and that his motives are Satan's utmost ruin. His power, he asserts, is good and so must also come from a good source, God.
Jesus also makes the claim that all sins can be forgiven, except for an eternal sin
Eternal sin
Eternal sins or unforgivable sins or unpardonable sins, are a concept in Christian theology of sins which cannot or will not be forgiven, whereby salvation becomes impossible...
, such as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
. Mark inserts his own explanation as to why Jesus said this, stating "He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit." , thus Jesus according to Mark is saying that accusing him of using Satan for his power is in effect calling the work of God evil and failing to see the work of God in Jesus' actions. The parallels in and and the Gospel of Thomas 44 call this the unforgivable sin. Unforgivable sins are also listed in Hebrews
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews is one of the books in the New Testament. Its author is not known.The primary purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews is to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. The central thought of the entire Epistle is the doctrine of the Person of Christ and his...
and as well as 1 John
First Epistle of John
The First Epistle of John, often referred to as First John and written 1 John, is a book of the New Testament. This fourth catholic or "general" epistle is attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the Gospel of John and the other two Epistles of John. This...
. There is also a possible link with 1 Corinthians
First Epistle to the Corinthians
The first epistle of Paul the apostle to the Corinthians, often referred to as First Corinthians , is the seventh book of the New Testament of the Bible...
.. Come to conclusions the Pharisees had hardened their hearts to the point repentance became impossible.A believer is not qualified for this sin.
His first answer to the charge, that a "house divided" cannot stand, has become a common piece of wisdom
Wisdom
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
, the most famous modern example is Lincoln's
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
use of this phrase during the 1858 senatorial election campaign against Stephen Douglas. Lincoln used the metaphor of a "house divided" to describe the situation of the United States on the eve of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
.
His Mother and brothers arrive and send someone in to get him. He replies, speaking to the crowd around him, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will
Will (philosophy)
Will, in philosophical discussions, consonant with a common English usage, refers to a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally performed. Actions made according to a person's will are called "willing" or "voluntary" and sometimes pejoratively "willful"...
is my brother and sister and mother."
Jesus' answer to his family, that those who follow him are his family is, according to Kilgallen, Jesus' way of underlying "...the fact that his life has been changed to such a degree that family ties no longer come before those whom he teaches about the kingdom of God
Kingdom of God
The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...
." Jesus puts loyalty to God above loyalty to family. Family ties were considered very important in the society of the time, and some people even today are troubled by this seeming conflict between Jesus and his family. Jesus however states that his ties, and his respect and love due to his family, will go to those who obey God. Jesus' family is mentioned again in Mark . The story of Jesus and his family is also found in the Gospel of Thomas as saying 99. In Mark Peter says they have left everything to follow Jesus and he lists the great rewards as well as persecutions they will get for following him.
These incidents occur in all the Synoptic Gospels
Synoptic Gospels
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes exactly the same wording. This degree of parallelism in content, narrative arrangement, language, and sentence structures can only be...
. In Matthew they occur in 12:22-50, and in Luke they are split up between 8:19-21 and 11:14-28. Neither Matthew nor Luke though state that Jesus's family thought he was "... out of his mind." John, while mentioning none of these incidents, relates in chapter 7 how "...even his own brothers did not believe in him." because he would not go to the Feast of Tabernacles with them and perform miracles, although he later goes there in secret. says "many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." The negative view of Jesus' family
Desposyni
The term Desposyni refers to alleged blood relatives of Jesus. The term was coined by Sextus Julius Africanus, a writer of the early 3rd century. Some scholars argue that Jesus' relatives held positions of special honor in the Early Christian Church...
may be related to the conflict between Paul and Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians
Jewish Christians is a term which appears in historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with Gentile Christians, both in discussion of the New Testament church and the second and following centuries....
.
There is much disagreement over whether these "brothers" referred to here are Jesus' actual brothers or merely stepbrothers or cousins. The official Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox doctrine is that Mary was a perpetual virgin
Perpetual virginity of Mary
The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary, expresses the Virgin Mary's "real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to Jesus the Son of God made Man"...
, and so could not have had any other children besides Jesus, thus making these Jesus's half brothers, sons of Joseph by another, unrecorded marriage, or cousins. Only Tertullian
Tertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
seems to have questioned this in the early Church. Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
also holds that Mary was a perpetual virgin as did many of the early Protestants, although many Protestants today do not hold to the doctrine of perpetual virginity, and would thus believe that these are Jesus' full brothers. A few early manuscripts also have "and your sisters" in verse .
This section gives a clear example of Mark's sandwich technique, where one story is interspersed into the center of another. Mark has highlighted two reactions to Jesus and his teaching and acts: One of faith, such as that of his followers, compared to disbelief and hostility. Jesus explains the nature of the effect of his teachings on others in the Parable of the Sower
Parable of the Sower
The Parable of the Sower is one of the parables of Jesus found in three out of the four Canonical gospels and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas In this story, a sower dropped seed on the path, on rocky ground, and among thorns, and the seed was lost; but when seed fell on good earth, it...
in .