Mark 3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

1 ¹He ²entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered.

2 ³They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, ⁴so that they might accuse Him.

3 He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward *!"

4 And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent.

5 After ⁵looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the ⁶Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

7 ⁷Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and ⁸a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea,

8 and from Jerusalem, and from ⁹Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of ¹⁰Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him.

9 ¹¹And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him;

10 for He had ¹²healed many, with the result that all those who had ¹³afflictions pressed around Him in order to ¹⁴touch Him.

11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are ¹⁵the Son of God!"

12 And He ¹⁶earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

The Twelve Are Chosen

13 And He went up on ¹⁷the mountain and ¹⁸summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him.

14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach,

15 and to have authority to cast out the demons.

16 And He appointed the twelve: ¹⁹Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter ),

17 and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave 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 Zealot;

19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

20 And He came ²⁰home, and the ²¹crowd gathered again, ²²to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

21 When ²³His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "²⁴He has lost His senses."

22 The scribes who came down ²⁵from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by ²⁶Beelzebul," and "²⁷He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

23 ²⁸And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ²⁹parables, "How can ³⁰Satan cast out Satan?

24 "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot * stand.

25 "If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

26 "If ³¹Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot * stand, but he is finished!

27 "³²But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless * he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

28 "³³Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever * blasphemies they utter;

29 but ³⁴whoever * blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never * * has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin "-

30 because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

31 ³⁵Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him.

32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You."

33 Answering them, He said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?"

34 Looking about at those who were sitting around * Him, He said, "³⁶Behold My mother and My brothers!

35 "For whoever * ³⁷does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother."

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Chapter 3

The withered hand healed. (1-5) The people resort to Christ. (6-12) The apostles called. (13-21) The blasphemy of the scribes. (22-30) Christ's relatives. (31-35)

Verses 1-5 This man's case was piteous; he had a withered hand, which disabled him from working for his living; and those that are so, are the most proper objects of charity. Let those be helped that cannot help themselves. But stubborn infidels, when they can say nothing against the truth, yet will not yield. We hear what is said amiss, and see what is done amiss; but Christ looks at the root of bitterness in the heart, the blindness and hardness of that, and is grieved. Let hard-hearted sinners tremble to think of the anger with which he will look upon them shortly, when the day of his wrath comes. The great healing day now is the sabbath, and the healing place the house of prayer; but the healing power is of Christ. The gospel command is like that recorded here: though our hands are withered, yet, if we will not stretch them out, it is our own fault that we are not healed. But if we are healed, Christ, his power and grace, must have all the glory.

Verses 6-12 All our sicknesses and calamities spring from the anger of God against our sins. Their removal, or the making them blessings to us, was purchased to us by the blood of Christ. But the plagues and diseases of our souls, of our hearts, are chiefly to be dreaded; and He can heal them also by a word. May more and more press to Christ to be healed of these plagues, and to be delivered from the enemies of their souls.

Verses 13-21 Christ calls whom he will; for his grace is his own. He had called the apostles to separate themselves from the crowd, and they came unto him. He now gave them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils. May the Lord send forth more and more of those who have been with him, and have learned of him to preach his gospel, to be instruments in his blessed work. Those whose hearts are enlarged in the work of God, can easily bear with what is inconvenient to themselves, and will rather lose a meal than an opportunity of doing good. Those who go on with zeal in the work of God, must expect hinderances, both from the hatred of enemies, and mistaken affections of friends, and need to guard against both.

Verses 22-30 It was plain that the doctrine of Christ had a direct tendency to break the devil's power; and it was as plain, that casting of him out of the bodies of people, confirmed that doctrine; therefore Satan could not support such a design. Christ gave an awful warning against speaking such dangerous words. It is true the gospel promises, because Christ has purchased, forgiveness for the greatest sins and sinners; but by this sin, they would oppose the gifts of the Holy Ghost after Christ's ascension. Such is the enmity of the heart, that unconverted men pretend believers are doing Satan's work, when sinners are brought to repentance and newness of life.

Verses 31-35 It is a great comfort to all true Christians, that they are dearer to Christ than mother, brother, or sister as such, merely as relations in the flesh would have been, even had they been holy. Blessed be God, this great and gracious privilege is ours even now; for though Christ's bodily presence cannot be enjoyed by us, his spiritual presence is not denied us.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)