The Book of Mark
Jesus: Liar, Lunatic, or Lord?
Mark 3:20-35
When God designed and arranged the Bible, He ordained that there would be four testaments written down and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all have the same purpose. They are written so those who did not have the privilege of first-hand experience with Jesus could believe that Jesus is God and acknowledge Him as Lord and Savior.
We are studying Mark’s account and we’re in chapter 3. Tonight we're going to begin looking verses 20-35. What we find here is a story within a story and to deal with it within the time constraints of our Wednesday evening schedule, we’ll split it into two studies.
Mark 3:20-35
I think it was C.S. Lewis who first observed that Jesus was either a lunatic, a liar or Lord. I can’t be sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his conviction about that came from his study of Mark 3.
In verse 21 of this text it is his own family that calls him a lunatic. In verse 22 the the religious leaders, say He's possessed by Beelzebul and thus they call Him a liar who claims to be from God but, in fact, is from Satan. Then down in verse 29 we have the testimony of the Holy Spirit where it is implied that He is Lord.
Now obviously Jesus is not a lunatic. Lunatics don't heal sick people, raise dead people and dominate demons. Lunatics don't speak the way Jesus spoke, think the way He thought or act the way He acted.
Nor is Jesus a liar. You can lie if you want to, but lies don’t raise the dead and deal with demons the way He was able to. And typically, les die with liars and yet the teachings of Jesus are still around 2,000 years later.
So the only viable option and that is He is who He claimed to be. To admit that is to admit that He is God and therefore, Lord.
Now in fairness, I want to examine all three options and see how many came to deny Jesus was Lord and accuse him of being crazy or lying.
And keep in mind, at the time of these verses we are well into the ministry of Jesus. IN fact, He’s not far from where He was raised so He’s been in the area for 30-plus years.
He launches His ministry in Judea with the cleansing of the temple, has several months of ministry in the south in Judea and then goes to Galilee and has a long ministry in Galilee, probably extending over a year.
We're well into that Galilean ministry and Jesus has been obliterating illness and casting out demons and the evidence is piling up. But people are slow to respond and some are openly denying His divinity.
So let's look at the first option and see if it is a possibility that Jesus is
1. A Lunatic
Maybe Jesus was just a complete lunatic who just thought he was God. Maybe he’s like the guy in the mental institution lying in bed listening to his neighbor say over and over, "I'm Napoleon, I'm Napoleon, I'm Napoleon." So the guy says, "Who told you that?" He said, "God did." The guy said, "Oh no I didn't."
It’s interesting how many crazy people think they’re God or Jesus. I’m always amazed by that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one who says he is Buddha or Mohammed or Confucius. They all want to be Jesus. I guess there is a backhanded validation of the truth even in that. The one name Satan wants to corrupt and invalidate is Jesus.
But it is a possibility Jesus was like a lot of other would-be messiahs who just claimed to be God, yet was driven by a deranged mind.
His family thought so.
verses 20-21
The end of verse 19 tells us they are in a house. So wherever he is headquartering is where they are. It may have been the home of Peter but we don’t know for sure. But He comes to a house and the crowd gathered again. And on this occasion the crowd is so big and unruly that they can't even eat a meal.
The parallel passage of this account in Matthew 12 adds that Jesus heals a man who is demon-possessed, deaf, mute and blind. So all of His abilities are rolled into one massive miracle and that just added to the crowd that much more.
And now it’s starting to affect his family. The Good New Translation says, “Then Jesus went home. Again such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and his disciples had no time to eat. When his family heard about it, they set out to take charge of him, because people were saying “He’s gone mad.”
Don’t you know they were sick of all this activity and crowds and unable to have a family meal and Jesus stirring it up by continuing to heal? So they decide to take matters into their own hands. Enough is enough so they went out to “lay hold of him”.
They are going to take custody of him. The verb literally means “to seize”. It's used fifteen times in the gospel of Mark and eight of those times are referencing Jesus being seized, including his arrest.
So his family and friends decide to do an intervention and if they have to, they’ll use physical force to get this situation under control. I hope you see the humor in that. This Man is healing diseases and casting out demons and they’re going to go out and physically seize Him. Yea, right!
So his family, excluding Mary, thinks He's a lunatic. Mary knew exactly who He was. The angel told her before He was born. She knew she was a virgin. She knew He was her Savior. And whatever she might have said to the rest of the kids who were born to Joseph and Mary, they didn't believe it.
Surely somewhere along the line Mary had said to them, "Be nice to your brother. After all, He’s God!"
Did you ever think about what family life was like with a perfect child in the house? You might visit with my brother about that some time! A perfect child would be alienated, ostracized, labeled odd, strange.
And according to the New Testament, He had brothers and sisters. In fact, Mark chapter 6:3 even names some of them.
Mark 6:3
So much for the perpetual virginity of Mary. Mary was not a perpetual virgin. She and Joseph had a whole family full of children.
And growing up with Him, they would have seen His perfection. It would be inescapable. But as He's growing up, He doesn't act in God-like ways. As far as we know, He doesn't create anything. He doesn't go into the shop where they're making a table and saying, "The easy way to do this is to say ‘Let there be a table!'"
He doesn't hold classes. He doesn't teach theology. And so, I think the best that could be said was the family probably thought of Him, at least the siblings, as odd. They definitely didn't believe in Him.
And now, this very odd child, this child whom they cannot relate, to whom they cannot connect, has gone over the edge, lost His mind and is now declaring Himself to be God with supernatural powers.
And He's going to get Himself killed because He's drawing a mob everywhere He goes. So they decide maybe the best thing to do is to rescue Him before His lunatic conduct brings any more embarrassment on the family or cost Him His life. So notice what happens at
verse 31-32
So His mother and His brothers arrived and stand outside and they’ve come to intervene. His brothers think He’s crazy. His mother loves Him and desires to protect Him. Someone sends word to Jesus that His family is looking for Him.
Verse 33
Why does He answer with this question? It’s obviously not because He didn’t know His family. From a human standpoint He knew exactly who His mother is and He knows exactly who His brothers and sisters are.
Nor is He showing disrespect for them. It isn’t that He doesn’t love them. While on the cross He will see to it that His mother is taken care of and HE will love His brothers and sisters into the kingdom. James and Jude both wind up pastoring churches and writing New Testament books.
Acts chapter 1:14 tells us Mary was there with His brothers in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost.
They may think He’s a lunatic now, but just a few months later they have confessed Him as Lord.
So this question is not about any of that. Jesus is saying something here that transcends that kind of consideration.
What He is saying is, "Who is it that really has a genuine relationship with Me? Then He answers the question in
verses 34-35
The Catholic Church would like to have us single out Mary and set her apart from the rest of humanity. I find it interesting that Jesus didn't do that. In fact, if anything, He set her over her with the rest of us. And what he says, in effect, is "That relationship isn't important. That relationship doesn't matter. The relationship that matters is the relationship of obedience to the will of My Father."
In fact, in Luke 11 Jesus is speaking about issues regarding demons and dealing with the accusation that He is from Beelzebul, and in verse 27 while Jesus is talking about this. And in that discussion, a women in the crowd speaks up and says, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed. Blessed is Your mother." That was a very kind gesture on her part. It was a Jewish way of giving honor to Him and to His uniquely privileged mother.
But listen to how Jesus responds. In verse 28 he says, "On the contrary, more than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and obey it." The only relationship with Jesus that matters is the relationship of the one who obeys the Word and will of God. Jesus said, “You want to know who I’m kind to, who’s a part of my family? Then find the ones who do the will of God.” The writer of Hebrews tells us that we are Christ's brothers and He's not ashamed to call us brothers.
It’s interesting when they write their letters, neither James nor Jude introduce themselves with their earthly relationship to Christ. James says, “a bondservant of God of the Lord Jesus Christ”. Jude says, “a bondservant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James”.
That earthly relationship doesn't matter. It has no value spiritually and is of no consequence eternally. Both of them are happy to introduce themselves as slaves of Jesus Christ because the only relationship that matters is the relationship that you have with Jesus Christ as a believer in Him that expresses itself by being obedient.
Now, go back to the story for a moment and we’ll finish up. I told you as I began there is a story within the story and it begins
verse 22
Their conclusion is Jesus is not just mentally deranged, He is empowered by hell. This is far more sinister. This is far more spiritually devastating. This can be terminal.
Drop down to verse 28
Here Jesus references a sin with eternal consequences. We call it the unpardonable or unforgiveable sin.
That’s what we’re going to look at next time as we see the second possibility and that was Jesus was just a liar.
Let’s pray
