Mark 3:16 / 1132
to have au thor i ty to drive out de mons.
16 These are the twelve he ap point ed: Simon
(to whom he gave the name Pe ter),
17 James son of Zeb e dee and his broth er
John (to them he gave the name Bo a-
nerges, which means “sons of thunder”),
18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew,
Thom as, James son of Al phae us, Thaddae
us, Si mon the Zeal ot 19 and Ju das Iscariot,
who betrayed him.
JESUS ACCUSED BY HIS FAMILY AND
BY TEACHERS OF THE LAW
20 Then Jesus en tered a house, and
again a crowd gath ered, so that he and
his dis ci ples were not even able to eat.
21 When his family
a
heard about this, they
went to take charge of him, for they said,
“He is out of his mind.”
22 And the teach ers of the law who
came down from Je ru sa lem said, “He is
pos sessed by Be el ze bul! By the prince of
de mons he is driv ing out de mons.”
23 So Jesus called them over to him and
be gan to speak to them in par a bles: “How
can Sa tan drive out Sa tan? 24 If a kingdom
is di vid ed against it self, that kingdom
cannot stand. 25 If a house is di vid ed
against it self, that house can not stand.
26 And if Sa tan op pos es him self and is divid
ed, he can not stand; his end has come.
27 In fact, no one can en ter a strong man’s
house with out first ty ing him up. Then
he can plun der the strong man’s house.
28 Tru ly I tell you, peo ple can be for giv en
all their sins and every slan der they ut ter,
29 but who ev er blas phemes against the
Holy Spir it will nev er be for giv en; they
are guilty of an eter nal sin.”
30 He said this be cause they were saying,
“He has an im pure spir it.”
31 Then Jesus’ moth er and broth ers arrived.
Stand ing out side, they sent someone
in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting
around him, and they told him, “Your
moth er and broth ers are out side looking
for you.”
33 “Who are my moth er and my brothers?”
he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seat ed in a
cir cle around him and said, “Here are my
moth er and my broth ers! 35 Whoever does
God’s will is my broth er and sis ter and
mother.”
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
4
Again
Jesus be gan to teach by the
lake. The crowd that gath ered around
him was so large that he got into a
boat and sat in it out on the lake, while
all the peo ple were along the shore at
the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many
things by par a bles, and in his teach ing
said: 3 “Lis ten! A farm er went out to sow
his seed. 4 As he was scat ter ing the seed,
a
21 Or his associates
MARK 3
“THIS SOUNDS LIKE A JOB for Superman!” You’ve
read that in comic books. Then Superman would come
in to save the day. Jesus was like Superman, but the men
called to work with him were not. They were just regular
guys like you. They came from different types of families and
did normal jobs such as fishing. They didn’t stand out as heroes
or leaders, yet along with Jesus they changed their world. The disciples’
only qualification was that they said, “Yes!” when Jesus called them. Then he
gave them the power to work for him.
It’s as though a sign in God’s window reads, “Wanted — any one. No ability,
background, or previous experience necessary.” The posting doesn’t ask for any
qualifications. Sounds like a job anyone can take.