Jesus tells a parable about spiritual growth.

There are a few different personalities involved in this story.  All represented by the seeds being planted in different circumstances. 

I think it is important to note at this point that every seed has the same initial purpose.  To grow.  It is only what surrounds each seed that determines the amount of growth.  The question is, what part do we play in our surroundings?  Is it our fault that we grow spiritually in the midst of good ground or rocky ground or thorny ground?

How do we help ourselves to the correct soil to grow in?

Or do we have a choice at all?

Does all of the seed in the good soil grow up strong?

        

Here, Jesus' family arrives on the scene to help Jesus out of a bind.  Jesus has been healing on the Sabbath day and the Scribes and Pharisees have been challenging Him.  There has even been a rumor that He is possessed by unclean spirits.  Enter, His family.

If Jesus is possessed by unclean spirits, then His family would be the ones to take care of Him and allow Him retreat and rest.

Instead, Jesus redefines family for us:

Whoever does the will of God is My brother, sister, mother...

Jesus is saying, not only am I NOT possessed by unclean spirits, but also I am under the Father-ship of One who accepts all into His family.

What does that say about our responsibility to do the will of God.  What rewards do we receive when we listen to God's instruction?

        

These statements are not easy to grasp hold of - nor are they easy to interpret.  They are so bold and so complete sounding, that we often try to interpret outside of context.  This is never a good idea.

We must realize that the statements Jesus makes here have a lot to do with the rest of chapter 3.  Verse 30 tells us "Because they were saying He has an unclean spirit..."

What does that have to do with forgiveness of sin?  What about the "unpardonable" sin?  Was Jesus just reacting to the Pharisees?

How are we to react to Jesus' prompting here?

Perhaps this statement is meant to be understood as, "all sins can be forgiven."  Maybe we should read it as, every man is free to do whatever he wants.

But if we are going to be true to the context, we should realize that the reason for Jesus' anger in verse 5 might be because of the sin He speaks of in verse 29.

The question might need to be, "Who knows our hearts except God?"

        

Jesus' family and close friends begin looking for Him.  They thought He possibly had a demon because of His massive popularity.  Crowds would gather to such an extent that He couldn't eat - It seemed the whole country was going after this Man.

Except His "people".  They thought He was possessed.

Was this jealousy?  Anger?  Fear?  What provokes us to be afraid of what is good for us?

Jesus goes on to explain - A house divided against itself will fall.  Jesus' house would not fall.  He would be true to the Father.  He would cling to the Father.  His strength was in the Father.

The last parable in this dialog is about a strong man's house.  If you want to rob the strong man's house, you must bind up the strong man first.

Jesus is telling those who doubted Him - if you want to be effective against Me, you must bind up the leader of the house.

No man can bind up God.

        

Mark uses a very interesting word in chapter 3 verse 13:  "Wanted"

Mark tells us that Jesus collects all of the people who are following Him.  He is going to choose disciples out of this crowd.  And He went up on a mountain and called those that He "wanted".

Doesn't Jesus want everyone?
What did Jesus see in these that made Him want them?
What does it mean to be wanted?
Did Jesus choose these men, or were they chosen to be disciples long before Jesus was on the scene?

Once He had chosen, Jesus commissioned them.

Verses 14 and 15 tell us about the disciples' job

What does God do when He chooses us?

        

In this section of Mark, we see a few reasons why people would want to come to Jesus.

Some saw the crowds - and wanted to be a part of the mob.
Some saw the miracles - they wanted to be a part of the "signs"
Some heard of the teachings - they knew a good thing when they heard it.
Some were healed of demons - they clung to the Restorer of life.

Verse 12 shows Jesus' response to all of this.  He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

Why?

What did Jesus want?  Why did He want to make contact with people instead of letting the crowd do all the work?

Who did He want to come near?


Why do you want to be near Jesus?

        

I wonder how Jesus expected the Pharisees to react.

Verse 5 tells us that after Jesus asked them the question about healing, that He looked around at the crowd with anger.  He was disgusted by their lack of compassion, grieved at their hardness of heart.  This looks like a test.  I wonder what Jesus was hoping the results would be.

How could the Pharisees show compassion and gentleness of heart?  What would I hope to do?  What is the "correct" answer to the question? 

Seems like the proper answer is "life".

Why are we afraid to say "life"?  What holds us back from giving life?  Spreading life?  Living life?  Enjoying life?

The Pharisees proved their hardness of heart by not speaking up - what about me?  What about you?

life

        

First there is the issue of the Sabbath.  The Pharisees see Jesus and His disciples eating on the Sabbath day - picking from the crops that were beside the road.  Here we see a point of interpretation.  The Pharisees interpreted the command to keep the Sabbath holy as meaning, no food should be eaten from fields, because that would be like work."

The Pharisees wanted everyone to obey their interpretation.

When Jesus was questioned, He reminded the Pharisees about one of their favorite kings - David - and how he had eaten on the Sabbath, even from the stores of food from the temple.

What Jesus was doing was allowing us to interpret God's word.  This is not to say that the Pharisees necessarily had it wrong, but that maybe they were concentrating on the Sabbath rules instead of the God who made them.

This is why the Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath.

Jesus completes this interaction by pointing out that God is in charge of all things.

Do you consider God's heart when interpreting the Bible?  Do you look to the wisdom of God first or the wisdom of commentators?  Who has the ultimate authority when it comes to your walk with God?

        

We need to realize what scenario Jesus is setting up for us.

Jesus talks about fasting with a parable about a wedding.  Some questions we might ask:  Why would a groom be taken from his attendants?  Would it be appropriate for us to fast after Jesus was removed from us?  Will Jesus ever be removed from our lives?  What is important about the difference between John's disciples and Jesus' disciples?

Jesus reminds us that while He is in our presence, we have opportunity for rejoicing - like a bridegroom's attendants.

So why were John's disciples fasting?  They were not fasting to see John - they were fasting to see God.

This is an essential difference between John's and Jesus' disciples.  Jesus' disciples recognized God's presence.

Will you look for Jesus' presence today?

        

Once again, we see the scribes miss the message.

The scribes see what is going on at a party.  Here is Jesus, sitting with tax collectors and sinners.  How did they see this?  The scribes were not invited to the party.  They were looking in to see the things that Jesus was doing.  They were interested in His life, but were surprised to see a Man of righteousness sharing time with people that were not righteous (at least in the scribe's eyes).

Jesus tells them the answer to the question in their hearts:  Verse 17 says, "It is not those who are healthy that need a physician, but those who are sick."  We often stop reading there, but this is not all that Jesus has to say on the subject.

To look at that sentence, we realize that Jesus is talking about His target audience.

Now, look at the last part of the sentence:  "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Jesus is speaking about more than just His target audience.  He is talking about His mission.

Jesus has done more in Mark 2 than just reach out to a sinner or tax collector - He CALLS a tax collector.

Are you reaching out to people that are lost in sin - or are you calling them to a better way of life?  After an encounter with you, where does the sinner want to be?  In sin or in Christ?  Who is the healthy?  Who is the sick?