#16 Who Is Jesus?—2 Opinions, 1 Truth Series

#16 Who Is Jesus?—2 Opinions, 1 Truth

Series: Mark

May 3, 2020

Chuck Sligh

TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Mark 3:20.

NOTE: PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives

TEXT: Mark 3:20-35 - And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils. 23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. 27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house. 28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: 30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – A few months ago some guy about my age walked up to me in the PX and said, “Hey, man! It’s been a long time. How are you?”

I’m thinking, Who in the world is this guy? I usually remember faces, but I drew a blank on him. But I meet so many people at church and on my job that I can forget a few. He knew me, so I figured, Well, I must know him.

So I updated him on Susan and me and the church, and right there he stopped me.

He said, “Wait, you’re a pastor of a church?”

I said “Yes.”

He said, “Is your name Dave?”

I said, “No, it’s Chuck Sligh.”

Suddenly he broke out laughing and said, “Sorry, I thought you were my old drinking buddy Dave Davenport. I thought your voice sounded different.”

Then I broke out laughing and we went our separate ways.

It was a case of mistaken identity. In our text, two groups of people knew Jesus’ name, but they did not know His identity. A proper identification of Jesus is necessary because who you think He is has eternal consequences.

Let’s look at our story of these two cases of false identification of Jesus and how Jesus handled it:

I. THE OPINION OF JESUS’ FAMILY WAS THAT HE WAS INSANE – Verses 20-21 – “And the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his own people heard of it, they went out to seize him: for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

When Jesus returned home to Galilee, probably to Peter’s home, the crowds gathered as usual and Jesus and His disciples were so busy, they couldn’t even find time to eat.

Verse 2 says that when “his own people” heard of it, they went out to seize him. The word translated “his own people” was a Greek idiom for kinsmen or family. The term “seize” is regularly used by Mark in the sense of attempting to bind someone and deprive him of freedom, which is the sense here. The reason they went to do this was because they said, “He is out of his mind.”

How could His own flesh and blood think Jesus was crazy and be willing to humiliate Him by forcibly seizing Him and dragging Him bound back to Nazareth?

• For one thing, they thought His religious fervor would ruin His health and future.

The text itself says that Jesus was so busy ministering to peoples’ needs that He couldn’t even find time to eat. In a culture where food was scarce, this was considered insane!