MarkChapter 3

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¹Another time Jesus went into the synagogue. A man was there whose hand was shriveled. ²Some people were watching Jesus closely. They wanted to see if he would heal on the Sabbath, so they could accuse him. ³Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up here in front of everyone." ⁴Then he asked them, "What does the law allow on the Sabbath? Is it to do good or to do evil? Is it to save life or to destroy it?" But they said nothing. ⁵Jesus looked around at them in anger. He was sad that their hearts were so hard. Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out, and his hand was healed. ⁶Then the Pharisees went out. They began making plans with the Herodians to kill Jesus. ⁷So Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea. A large crowd from Galilee followed him. People came from Judea, ⁸Jerusalem, Idumea, and the land across the Jordan. They also came from the area around Tyre and Sidon. This large crowd came to him because they heard about all the great things he was doing. ⁹Jesus asked his disciples to have a boat ready for him. That way the crowd would not crush him. ¹⁰This was because he had healed so many people. So everyone with a disease was pushing forward to touch him. ¹¹Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down in front of him. They shouted, "You are the Son of God!" ¹²But he strongly warned them not to tell who he was. ¹³Then Jesus went up on the mountain. He called the ones he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴He chose twelve of them and called them apostles. They were to be with him, and he would send them out to preach. ¹⁵They would also have authority to drive out demons. ¹⁶These are the twelve he chose: Simon, whom he named Peter, ¹⁷James son of Zebedee, and his brother John. He gave James and John the name Boanerges, which means "Sons of Thunder." ¹⁸The others were Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. ²⁰Then Jesus went home. Once again a crowd gathered. So many came that he and his disciples could not even eat. ²¹His family heard about this. They went to take charge of him. They said, "He is out of his mind." ²²Some scribes had come down from Jerusalem. They said, "Beelzebul lives in him!" They also said, "He drives out demons by the power of the prince of demons." ²³So Jesus called them over. He began to speak to them in parables. "How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom fights against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵If a family fights against itself, that family cannot stand. ²⁶If Satan fights against himself and is divided, he cannot stand. His end has come. ²⁷In fact, no one can go into a strong man's house and steal his things unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. ²⁸I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all their sins. They will be forgiven for every evil thing they say against God. ²⁹But whoever speaks evil against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of a sin that lasts forever." ³⁰Jesus said this because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." ³¹Then Jesus' mother and brothers came. They stood outside and sent someone in to call him. ³²A crowd was sitting around him. Someone told him, "Look, your mother and brothers are outside. They are asking for you." ³³Jesus answered, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" ³⁴He looked at the people sitting in a circle around him. "Here are my mother and my brothers!" he said. ³⁵"Anyone who does what God wants is my brother and sister and mother."