This week's readings are all from Mark chapter 3. Click here to see a list of each day's readings. Each day's segments of the readings will be posted on this site during the week.
Today's Reading:
Now Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. To Simon he gave the name Peter; to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons!” So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can thoroughly plunder his house." (Mark 3:13–27 NET)
The previous translation is from the NET Bible translation. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible® copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
Some notes:
When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
There are two possibilities in terms of this passage either "they said" refers to Jesus' family or it refers to the crowd. In the first case, Jesus' family thought he was 'out of his mind.' In the second case, his family had heard that the crowd was saying this about Jesus. In either case, his family was coming to forcefully get him (krateō). On the Greek word used for 'out of his mind' (existēmi): "...the Greek term is a strong one, and often does signify complete mental derangement..." Greek term is a strong one, and often does signify complete mental derangement..." UBS Translator’s Handbooks: New Testament (Mark)
He is possessed by Beelzebul
This is a very interpretive translation of rather simple Greek. There really is no instance of someone being "possessed" in the New Testament. Possession indicates ownership. Instead, the Greek is almost always either someone is "demonized" (daimonaō) or someone "has" (exei) an unclean spirit or demon(s). It is the latter case here. They say about Jesus, very simply: "He has Beelzebul."
In my commentary, they characterized the statement about being “out of his mind” as concern Jesus’s family had for Jesus’ safety…it went on to say that when Jesus found himself ministering to large crowds, Jesus would not eat and they were concerned for his health
@okiebull13 That may be true. But this explanation should not minimize that members of Jesus' family (or those close to him) also thought he might be 'out of his mind' (more exactly: crazy). There is a theme in Mark (highlighted strongly by Jesus in Mark 8:31 and 12:10) that Jesus is the Rejected One. This is a theme in all four gospels, including John: "He came to his own, but his own did not receive him" (John 1:11). Also in John, Jesus' brothers sort of mock him as someone who wanted to be famous:
'So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” (For not even his brothers believed in him.)' (John 7:3–5 NRSV)
Here in Mark 3, Jesus is shown as being rejected or questioned by both family and by the scribes: members of his family think he is crazy and the scribes think he has a demon. At the end of the chapter, while Jesus' family is waiting at the door, he declares his new family: those who do the will of God. This could be contrasted with both members of his family and the scribes who had rejected God's work and will.
The Message put it interestingly…more like today’s “labeling”
“Jesus came home and, as usual, a crowd gathered—so many making demands on him that there wasn’t even time to eat. His friends heard what was going on and went to rescue him, by force if necessary. They suspected he was believing his own press.”
Mark 3:20-21 MSG
What is the significance of Jesus renaming Simon, James and John? Why “sons of thunder”? Why not all of the disciples?
@mallary-malwick wrote:
What is the significance of Jesus renaming Simon, James and John? Why “sons of thunder”? Why not all of the disciples?
Mallary, the Gospels do not tell us directly why these nicknames were given nor why some received them and some did not. The renaming of persons in Jewish culture with nicknames seems to have been somewhat common. A famous example would be the Maccabees. The name Maccabee itself is a nickname: "hammer" (so, Judah the Hammer). Each of Judah Maccabee's brothers also had nicknames.
Without explaining why, John clarifies that Jesus gave Simon the Aramaic nickname, Kēfa, which means "rock" or "stone", which is why in some places in the New Testament his name is simply Cephas (the Greek transliteration of Kefa, and actually pronounced in Greek Kēphas not Siphas). Peter (Petros) is the Greek word for "rock"/"stone", so it is a translation of the nickname:
“He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).” (John 1:42 NRSV)
Some have assumed that the name Peter refers to him being the foundation or bedrock of the Church, however, both Kefa and Petros mean "rock" or "stone' like one you could pick up, not a large stone or foundation stone.
The nickname for James and John seem to indicate that they were tempestuous and fiery—and maybe loud. There is no real equivalent that scholars have found in Hebrew or Aramaic of Mark's "Boarnerges." Mark tells us it means "Sons of Thunder" but there is no word for "thunder" which matches. The closest may be either Hebrew "Benay Regesh","sons of roaring" or "Benay Regez", "sons of wrath." In relation to thunder (and lightning), wrath, and perhaps their own fiery nature, Luke tells his readers that James and John, when seeing that Jesus was rejected by a Samaritan village, said:
“Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” (Luke 9:54)