| HOW TO UNDERSTAND MARK CHAPTER THREE
Read Mark 3, verses 1 to 5. Jesus again wanted to teach the Pharisees that they must not use God’s law forbidding work on Saturdays as a reason to refuse to help people. Read 6. Herodians were backers of King Herod, the man whom the Romans had appointed to be ruler of the Jews. Read 7 & 8. Idumea was the province south of Judea. Tyre and Sidon were cities on the seacoast, north of Israel. Read 9 to 11. Unclean spirit means the same as evil spirit or demon. They are not people who have died. Rather they are evil angels who assist Satan in fighting God. Read 12. Jesus did not want the demons to say who He was. That would not bring honor to him. Jesus would have His own ways to tell people who He was. Read 13 & 14. Jesus had many disciples, which means those people who followed him, believed in him, and learned from him. Jesus selected twelve of them and gave them the special name “apostles”. “Apostles” means people who are sent out on a mission, to do something for the one who is sending them. Read 15. Since Jesus has power over demons, He can give that same power to those who believe in Him. Read 16 to 19. About Judas Iscariot: His name was Judas, and he came from a small village called Kerioth. After three years he will betray Jesus., when Jesus’ enemies wanted to kill Jesus, and Judas brought these enemies to arrest Jesus. To see more details, you can look at Mark chapter 14, starting at verses 10. Read 20 to 21. Jesus relatives thought Jesus was not sane, because He put so much of his effort into his work that He did not do ordinary things like taking time to eat. Read 22. Beelzebul is another name for Satan. Read 23. In the Bible, a “parable” uses everyday things to make a spiritual point. Read 24 to 27. Jesus then uses three parables to show the real reason why He is able to drive out demons. Jesus makes comparisons using “kingdom”, “family”, and “strong man”. In the first two, Jesus shows that it does not make sense to say “Jesus drives out demons by the prince of demons (Satan)” , because Satan would not take action against himself. In the third comparison, Jesus means that He is stronger than Satan. Jesus is able to defeat Satan. This will become complete when Jesus dies on the cross. Read 28 to 30. Why did Jesus warn the people so strictly not to say that the spirit in Him was an evil spirit? Because the spirit in Jesus was actually the Holy Spirit. These people then were saying that the Holy Spirit is an evil spirit. Why is this dangerous? Because it is only the Holy Spirit who moves people to have faith in God. (see I Corinthians 12:3.) If people reject the Holy Spirit, how could they become Christians, and if they are not Christians, how can their sins be forgiven? Read 31 to 35. Jesus means, “People’s relationship with me is close, similar to the relationship in a family.” Not only that, but in fact, the relationship that people have with God that Jesus gives to us is closer than family relationships.
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