Nothing Accidental in Scripture
When we study the Bible we must always remember that the individual words and the order of the words are also inspired. In other words, the Holy Spirit led the writers of Scripture to write specific words in a specific order. Nothing is accidental in sacred Scripture.
This means that we should pay careful attention to the words of Scripture and to the ordering of the material of Scripture. The Spirit of God intends to say something through even the way sentences and paragraphs and whole books are ordered and structured. For example, in Mark’s Gospel, we’ve seen Mark string together a series of accounts in which the religious leaders are increasingly opposed to Jesus (1:22. 41, 2:6-7, 10-11, 15-17, 18-19, 24, 27-28, 3:2, 4-5). The climax is 3:6.
Mark, under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, arranged his material in such a way that makes it clear that Jesus was provoking and confronting the religious leaders from the very beginning of his ministry. Mark wants his readers to see that the opposition Jesus faced came early and often. It didn’t start in Jerusalem during holy week. It started on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. The Pharisees wanted Jesus dead from the earliest days of his ministry.
The Sandwich Technique
The Spirit led Mark to say something through the way the accounts are arranged. Another way we see this happening in Mark’s Gospel is what scholars call the “sandwich technique.” What is the sandwich technique? It’s a “literary convention with theological purposes.”
That definition may not be helpful! So just think of a sandwich. What makes a sandwich awesome? What’s in the middle. We don’t order a sandwich for the bread, but for what’s in between the bread. The bread is important because it gives the sandwich shape, holds it together, and adds some flavor. But the point of a sandwich is what’s in the middle.
The “sandwich technique” is when a writer puts one story in between another story. It’s when the writer interrupts a story by inserting another seemingly unrelated story into it, only to resume the first story after the second story is told. Mark uses the “sandwich technique” nine times in his Gospel. An example is the story of Jesus healing Jairus’ daughter in Mark 5. On his way to Jairus’ house, Mark tells us that Jesus was interrupted by the woman with the flow of blood. Jesus heals her and then Mark picks up the story of Jesus at Jairus’s house.
The “sandwich” is one of Mark’s favorite literary techniques. But it’s not just Mark’s technique. The Spirit of God inspired Mark’s Gospel so that everything Mark does in this Gospel is a result of the Spirit’s divine leading and according to his purpose. There’s a reason why Mark so often stuffs one story in the middle of another story. It’s because the Spirit, through Mark, intends to teach us something. There are “theological purposes” in the sandwich.
The Sandwich of Mark 3:20-35
The passage we’re studying this morning is Mark 3:20-35. Let me read it in its entirety and see if you can spot the sandwich. Did you see the story stuffed inside the other story? Do you see how verses 22-30 are stuffed between verses 20-21 and 31-35? Mark is sandwiching these stories together to tell us that, not only is there a relationship between them, but that there’s a broader point that he wants to make as well.
I want us to us to look at each of these two stories, which at first glance appear unrelated, and then end by looking at what the Spirit, through Mark, is trying to say by ordering his material in this way.
We’ll first look at the bread of Jesus’ family intervention in verses 20-21 and 31-35. Then we’ll look at the filling of the scribe’s accusations in verses 22-30. We’ll close by discovering that Mark has made a great sammich in this text. The Urban Dictionary defines a sammich as “an exceptionally delicious sandwich, made with great care and planning.”
The Bread of Jesus’ Family Intervention
First, the bread of Jesus’ family intervention (vv. 20-21, 31-35). These verses have the same setting. Jesus is in a house and surrounded by a crowd (vv. 20, 32). So we know that they’re related.
Verse 20 says that the crowd was so intense this time that Jesus and his disciples couldn’t even eat. The continued mob-like frenzy around Jesus apparently led those close to Jesus to be very concerned. Verses 21 and 31 say that Jesus’ family came to see Jesus. Why did they come? They came to forcefully bring Jesus home. Verse 21 says that they “went out to seize him,” or “lay hold of him.” They weren’t there to just say hello. Jesus’ family had concluded that Jesus was “out of his mind.” So they came to get him and bring him home.
This was a family intervention. Jesus had stirred up great hostility and been a source of great controversy with the religious leaders and his family feared what would happen to him, and probably themselves, when the hammer dropped and the wrath of these leaders fell on Jesus. They were concerned that when the authorities cracked down on Jesus, they’d also crack down on everyone close to him.
They thought that Jesus was literally crazy for standing up to the Pharisees and scribes. They were pleading insanity for Jesus because they didn’t want him to face the full force of their wrath. Like any good family, they wanted Jesus to be okay. He was family and they loved him. But they failed to understand who he really was. The root of their attitude here is unbelief. They didn’t believe that he was who he said he was.
Religious Fanatics
This scene should encourage us. How? Because it tells us that even Christ was called a religious fanatic. What happened to Jesus has happened to his followers throughout church history and even today. Anyone who takes the Word of God seriously and lives out their faith will at some point be accused of fanaticism. This is what people mean you they call you a “Bible thumper,” “holy roller,” “super Christian,” “fundamentalist,” or “religious zealot.” The terms vary, but the accusation is the same: “You take your faith way too seriously.”
I love what R. C. Sproul says about this. He asks, “Has anyone ever called you a religious fanatic? If you answer that question in the negative, my next question is, ‘Why not?’” It’s not that we should be obnoxious and intolerable to be around. Paul says that we should “show perfect courtesy toward all people” (Tit. 3:2). But why is it that we’re known for how excited we are about our favorite sports team, band, musician, skater, writer, movie franchise, or Netflix show but not Jesus Christ? People won’t remember much of what we say or even do. They will remember what we were excited about. May it be clear to all that Jesus is our highest joy.
Jesus’ True Family
One of the things that gives us courage to live out our faith is understanding our family identity. Look at what Jesus says when his family come back to speak with him in verses 31-35. They earlier wanted to take Jesus home by force. Now it looks like they just want to talk to him.
What does Jesus say to their request? His response was essentially, “My true family is already speaking to me. They’re the ones here listening to me and obeying me and doing the will of God.” Jesus isn’t saying that he hates his family or wants nothing to do with them. He isn’t nullifying God’s command to honor our parents and love our families. When he was hanging on the cross, he told John to take care of his mom (Jn. 19:26-27).
Jesus is saying that there’s a more profound family that his followers are part of. Those who “do the will of God” are in Jesus’ family. They’re in a familial union with Christ that is closer than the blood relationships between parents, children, and siblings. Those who’re in Christ are part of God’s family. All the kids in God’s family are accepted, loved, cherished, protected, nourished, disciplined, enjoyed, instructed, interceded for, and valued by Christ. You may not have received these things from your parents, but for those in Christ, God becomes your Father who’ll give you this and so much more.
Spiritual Family More Important than Physical Family
An implication of the text is that our relationship with other Christians is a more fundamental part of our identity than our relationships with our families. Our church family is more important than our biological family. Our blood-bought kin are closer to us than our kin by blood.
Jesus saves us and brings us into a new family that we’ll live with forever. This new family should reflect their life together in heaven while they’re still on earth. We should love and serve and honor and submit to and respect and forgive and encourage one another as we get closer to heaven.
This kind of family life most naturally happens in a local church, called “God’s household” in the New Testament (Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15). Family members of God’s house should gather regularly to listen to the family story, sing the family songs, serve family members, give to family causes, and eat the family meal. Jesus’ family members prioritize the things that are important to Jesus. They know that being a member of Jesus’ heavenly family means being a member of his earthly family by joining a local church.
Obedience is Evidence that We Are In Jesus’ Family
Notice also that those who obey God are the ones who give evidence of being members of Jesus’ family (v. 35). This isn’t teaching salvation by works. That would contradict the rest of the New Testament. It’s teaching that those who “do God’s will” reveal themselves to be in God’s family (cf. Matt. 7:21; 28:19-20). Obedience to God isn’t legalism. It’s evidence that we actually belong to God. It’s also a sign of love. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15). Loving Jesus means obeying Jesus. It means doing the things that he’s revealed in his word. Things like loving our enemies and our neighbors, serving one another, walking in purity, living generously, walking in humility, and making disciples.
One of the hardest places to obey Jesus is probably at work. We spend most of our waking hours at work, so we’ll have more opportunities to “do the will of God” there than perhaps anywhere else. Paul actually makes this connection for us in Ephesians 6:5-9. We should “do the will of God from our hearts” at work. We don’t have to obnoxious “Bible-thumpers” at work to obey Jesus at work. Obeying him at work means realizing that our work is about serving and blessing others. It means doing things with excellence so that God’s glory shines through our work. It means submitting to our boss just as we do to Jesus. It means doing the things no one else wants to do, knowing that “whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord” (v. 8).
Obeying Jesus is hard work, especially at work. But it’s one of the clearest evidences that we’re in Jesus’ family.
The Filling of the Scribe’s Accusations
We’ve seen the two pieces of bread that make up the outside of Mark’s sandwich, each focusing on the opposition of Jesus’ family to Jesus’ ministry. Now let’s look at the filling of the sandwich, verses 22-30, and see what Jesus’ opponents accuse him of.
Jesus’ family questioned his sanity. The scribes question his spiritual allegiance. The fact that these scribes “came down from Jerusalem” tells us that news of Jesus’ ministry had reached the highest levels of leadership. The tension we’ve seen building between the religious leaders and Jesus has now turned into official opposition from the leadership in the nation’s capital.
Notice what the scribes aren’t saying. They aren’t saying that Jesus isn’t doing miracles and casting out demons. They admit that he is doing these things. There’s a mistaken view among evangelicals that says that if people saw miracles, then they’d believe. No they wouldn’t. The scribes saw the evidence of Jesus’ power and didn’t believe. Faith in Jesus isn’t an automatic result of witnessing miracles or acts of God. The creation of faith in our hearts is an act of God.
Verse 22 says that the scribes were accusing Jesus of casting out demons by “Beelzebul.” Who is that? It’s a reference to the ancient god Baal, who was considered the ruler of the demonic realm. “Beelzebul” is thus a reference to Satan. Their accusation is that Jesus casts out demons by Satan’s power, that he’s colluding with the devil to do his acts of power.
How does Jesus respond to their charge? In verses 23-26, he essentially says that their logic is deeply flawed. These “parables,” or short figurative statements, pointed out the logical absurdity of the scribe’s theory. Why would Satan cast out Satan? The devil wouldn’t use his own power against himself. Why would the devil fight against himself? Those opposed to Jesus will sometimes resort to this kind of illogical nonsense in order to avoid the truth that’s right in front of them.
In verse 27, Jesus is alluding to his ministry. He’d “broken into” Satan’s house, his domain, and was binding him and rendering him ineffective to stop Jesus from plundering his house. Jesus’ power over the evil spirits makes it clear that he was working against Satan, not with Satan.
The Unforgiveable Sin
Jesus doesn’t stop there. In verses 28-30, he gives these scribes a stern warning that what they are saying may send them straight to hell. The way Jesus introduces this statement tells us how serious it is. “Truly, I say to you” is Jesus’ way of emphasizing the truth of what he’s about to say. “Truly” is the word “amen.” We usually say “amen” after we hear something. Jesus has the audacity to say it before he says something. He boldly declares his authority to speak truth and lets us know that we shouldn’t take what he’s about to say lightly.
He goes on to talk about the unforgiveable sin. Many Christians wonder if they’ve committed an unforgiveable sin. Many think that divorce or adultery or murder or child abuse or sexual assault or suicide are unforgiveable sins. But Scripture never teaches that. This passage even says, “all sins will be forgiven the children of man” (v. 28). Forgiveness is offered to anyone who commits any of these sins.
Jesus says in verse 29 that there’s one sin that will never be forgiven. “Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” is an “eternal sin.” The person who commits it will never be forgiven. They’ll bear their guilt for it forever.
What is “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?” “Blasphemy” refers to slandering or defaming, or “speaking a word against” (Lk. 12:10), God. Blasphemy is a verbal sin, committed by saying or writing words. It involves insulting, mocking, and dishonoring God. It’s the opposite of praising God. We come awfully close to blasphemy when we use God’s name casually or flippantly and say things like “Oh, my God.” God’s name is holy and must never be used flippantly. But if this were the unforgiveable sin, there’d be no hope for any of us because we’ve all done this.
The context of this passage and Mark’s editorial comment in verse 30 make it clear what “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” is. The scribes just accused Jesus of doing his work in the power of the devil rather than the power of God. They accused him of being motivated by evil rather than by good. They said that he cast out evil spirits by an evil spirit rather than by the Holy Spirit. Mark comments in verse 30 that Jesus’ warning about blaspheming the Holy Spirit came as a direct result of what the scribes were accusing him of.
What is the “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”? It’s attributing the works of Jesus to the devil, to evil spirits rather than the Holy Spirit. Mark tells us that Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit (1:10), so to conclude that he was empowered by demons means that a person is unable to distinguish between darkness and light, good from evil, Satan from God, and is therefore beyond repentance. The prophet Isaiah gave a similar warning to Israel, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (5:20).
It’s likely that those who’ve wondered if they’ve committed the unforgiveable sin have not because they haven’t done what Jesus describes here. Even these scribes hadn’t yet committed it. They were slandering Jesus not the Spirit’s work through Jesus. But Jesus gives this warning because they were coming perilously close to the point of no return. He was telling them that they were on the precipice of hell. One more step and they’d be forever lost.
If you fear that you’ve committed this sin, you probably haven’t committed this sin. Worrying that you may have is good evidence that you haven’t because someone who has committed it is so hardened in their hearts that they don’t care if they’ve committed it.
A case can be made that a Christian can never commit this sin. If God has sealed us with his Holy Spirit, we know and recognize that Jesus did what he did in the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in us testifies to the authenticity of his work in Jesus. There is great comfort for us, then, because the sin that is unforgiveable is a sin that God will not allow his children to commit.
The Binder is Unbound
Mark’s “sandwich” in this text has shown us opposition and accusation from Jesus’ family and opposition and accusation from the scribes. Why did the Spirit of God lead Mark to write this text in this way?
He’s drawing a contrast between what Jesus’ family was trying to do and what Jesus was actually doing. Jesus’ family was trying to bind Jesus, to stop him from doing what he was doing (vv. 20-21, 31-35). This is in contrast to what Jesus was actually doing. The middle part tells us that Jesus was binding the strong man, Satan (vv. 22-30).
The point is that Jesus has power to bind Satan but cannot himself be bound. He binds the strong man but cannot himself be bound. He is the Strongest Man, the Strong Son of God who has power over the devil and who won’t be pulled away from his mission, even by his own family.
Jesus’ true family are with him and do the will of God. Everyone who attempts to sidetrack him or redirect his mission or falsely accuse him, is not part of his family and is in league with the devil (8:33).
Are you with Jesus and doing the will of God? Or are you skeptically accusing him of not being who he said he is? Are you inside his house, part of his family? Or are you outside, expecting him to bow to your will?
Jesus is the Strong Son of God who is unbound, but he is seeking to bind to himself all whom he desires, “that they might be with him and he might send them out” (3:14).
Have you bound yourself to the unbound Jesus through faith and repentance? Being bound to Jesus is to be in the family of the One who isn’t bound by anything. There’s great safety and comfort and courage that comes to those bound to the unbound One.