Daily Devotions

Mark

Mark 
Day 
Day 75

1 Peter 2:22 "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth."

Day 75 – Mark 3

“Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:22

THE DEFENCE OF THE LORD JESUS

Did the scribes of Jerusalem think that Jesus of Nazareth would be intimidated by their presence? Did they think that they had more formal education than Jesus and were thus able to cause the multitude to turn away from Jesus? They reckoned wrongly!

Between the attempt of His family members to take Him away from His public ministry, and that of the scribes casting aspersions, the latter was of course more serious. Since these remarks were made publicly, Jesus had to give a reply in public as well.

“So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:
‘How can Satan cast out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided,
he cannot stand, but has an end.'”
MARK 3:23-26

1. “He called them to Himself”

The following would be included:-

a) His disciples and the Twelve apostles
b) The multitudes
c) The scribes from Jerusalem

2. In Parables

Mark, together with the Synoptic Gospel writers note that Jesus used parables a lot. This seemed to be a definite choice of Jesus to speak in parables.

a) Not just Beelzebub but Satan himself
Why merely suggest the name of one of the overlords in the demonic world? Why not speak of Satan? Why did the scribes not accuse Jesus of being in league with Satan himself?
b) The kingdom of Satan
Any kingdom would have to be sustained by a system. What was the system that Satan employed? According to the scribes, Jesus was deploying the power of Beelzebub to cast out demons. If this was indeed the case, would not Satan be destroying his own kingdom? His demons had the power to possess human beings. Why would he now order his demons to lose their control of their victims?
c) Satan would never be so foolish as to cause his own kingdom to be destroyed
The scribes had not thought through this accusation hurled at Jesus. Had they been more thorough in their research, they would have realized that there were severe loopholes in their line of thought.