Mark 3:20–35

Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law

3:23–27pp—Mt 12:25–29; Lk 11:17–22 3:31–35pp—Mt 12:46–50; Lk 8:19–21

²⁰Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered,^h so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.^{i 21}When his family^b heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”^j

²²And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem^k said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul!^l By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”^m

²³So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:ⁿ “How can Satan^o drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house.^{p 28}Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, ²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”^q

³⁰He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

³¹Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived.^r Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

³³“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

³⁴Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”