GOODMORNING

Published April 2, 2011 | By

We have been called to stand together (as a family) (3:20-30)

3:20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 3:21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him,¹⁹ for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 3:22 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.” 3:23 So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 3:25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 3:26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come. 3:27 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.²⁰ 3:28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 3:29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin²¹ 3:30 (because they said, ‘He has an unclean spirit’).”

Note the opposition. The ones who oppose Jesus are precisely the ones who should have known better: The religious leadership and His own family. Note the parallel verses:

“ . . . [his family] said, ‘he is out of His mind.’” (3:21)

“ . . . [the experts in the Law] said, ‘he has an unclean spirit.’” (3:30)

Have you ever been falsely accused? How did it make you feel? In this passage, Jesus is accused by His family of insanity and accused by the religious leaders as satanic. He was neither.

The text here is rife with implied and stated division: Satan vs. Satan, Jesus vs. His family, Jesus vs. the scribes, kingdom vs. itself, house vs. itself. Jesus states that where there is division, a house or a kingdom will not be able to stand. He is emphasizing the necessity of standing together as a family—just when His very own family was divided! Typically, families seek to stick together. In fact, if a family does nothing else, it at least tries to stand together! Having four older brothers, I understand the necessity of standing together. Practically every day of my adolescence one or other of my brothers beat me up. The trade-off, however, was that I knew I would be protected should anyone outside of my family threaten to lay a finger on me. Why? Because families seek to stand together. My wife can talk bad about her parents from dawn until dusk if she wishes to, but the moment that I begin to agree with her . . . she turns on me! She can talk bad about her parents but I cannot. Why? Because families stand together.

If you have trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you are a child of God. We are a family, and families stand together. The following list was initially written by Tim & Diane Wulburn as rules to live by in their house. Yet I believe they apply just as well—if not better—to a church. Standing together as a church requires that we follow these rules:

In our church…

1. We obey our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. We love, honor and pray for one another.

3. We tell the truth.

4. We consider one another’s interest ahead of our own.

5. We speak quietly and respectfully with one another.

6. We do not hurt one another with unkind words or deeds.

7. When someone needs correction, we correct him in love.

8. When someone is sorry, we forgive him.

9. When someone is sad, we comfort him.

10. When someone is happy, we rejoice with him.

11. When we have something nice to share, we share it.