thoughts on Mark ch.3

3:1-6 Sometimes the letter of the law contradicts the heart of the law. The sabbath was meant to restore and repair-it is a day of restoration. The ultimate goal of the kingdom of God is to love others. To leave in suffering when healing is available is un-loving. When we condemn those living a gay lifestyle instead of loving them as Christ does, we are using the letter of the law to destroy those we are supposed to love.

3:22&29 Jesus did not use His God-head, His personal authority to heal and cast out demons, but rather it was the Holy Spirit doing the work. When the teachers of the law accused Jesus of casting out demons by beelzebub, they were calling the Holy Spirit satan,since it was the Holy Spirit doing the work. That is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

3:31-35 One of the earliest reasons that the religious leaders had to hate Jesus is that He claimed to be the son of God. Calling yourself the son of in their culture was the same as being equal to, so He was essentially claiming to be God. Here He is going much further and saying that anyone who does the will of God becomes a daughter or son of God thru being brother or sister to Jesus. This was incredulous heresy to the religious leaders. Up to this point, the best one could hope for is to be a slave or servant of God. Moses was a friend of God and King David was a man after God's own heart but now we get to be son's and daughter's.  How much more intimate is that? Also, up to this point there is much talk about tribes and the lost tribe (which is the gentiles [me]) being returned. This was the only metaphor Jews could understand. But we have so much more than tribes and land, we have a royal king who is our brother, and a god, the God, who is our father.