Mark 3:7-35

Once again Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lakeside, but a massive crowd of people followed him from all around the provinces of Galilee and southern Israel. Vast crowds came from Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and from Lebanon. Large numbers of people swarmed in from everywhere when they heard of him and his wonderful works. The crowd pressed so closely to Jesus that he instructed his disciples to bring him a small boat to get into and keep from being crushed by the crowd. For he had healed so many that the sick kept pushing forward just so they could touch Jesus. And whenever a demon saw him, it would throw the person down at Jesus’ feet, screaming out, “You are the Son of God!” But Jesus would silence the demons and sternly order them not to reveal who he was. Afterward, Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to himself the men he wanted to be his close companions, so they went up with him. He appointed the Twelve, whom he named apostles. He wanted them to be continually at his side as his friends, and so that he could send them out to preach and have authority to heal the sick and to cast out demons. He appointed his Twelve and gave Simon the nickname Peter the Rock. And he gave the brothers, Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee, the nickname Benay-Regah, which means “passionate sons.” The others were Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, Jacob the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Nationalist, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then Jesus went home, but once again a large crowd gathered around him, which prevented him from even eating a meal. When his own family heard that he was there, they went out to seize him, for they said, “He’s insane!” The religious scholars who arrived from Jerusalem were saying, “Satan has possessed him! He casts out demons by the authority of the prince of demons!” Jesus called them to himself and spoke to them using parables. “How can Satan cast out Satan? No kingdom can endure if it is divided against itself, and a fragmented household will not be able to stand, for it is divided. And if Satan fights against himself he will not endure, and his end has come.” Jesus said to them, “Listen. No one is able to break into a mighty man’s house and steal his property unless he first overpowers the mighty man and ties him up. Then his entire house can be plundered and his possessions taken. I tell you this timeless truth: All sin will be forgiven, even all the blasphemies that are spoken. But there can never be forgiveness for the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, for he is guilty of an eternal sin!” (This is because they said he was empowered by a demon spirit.) Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came and stood outside and sent a message to him, asking that he come out and speak with them. When the crowd sitting around Jesus heard this, they spoke up, and said to him, “Jesus, your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” He answered them, “Who is my true mother and my true brothers?” Then looking in the eyes of those who were sitting in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my true family members. For whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and my mother!”