(Note: This is a guest post written by Erik. I am currently away and I am thankful for Erik for this guest post. If you have thoughts and questions, feel free to comment and when he has time he will respond.)
20 And He *came home, and the crowd *gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”
–Mark 3:20-21 from the NASB
Once again we see a strange behavior of Jesus to serve his followers with the word of God, even to His own detriment. This is not the first time Jesus has skipped a meal in preference to feed His people the word of God and heal the sick. We see many other examples of this throughout his ministry. (Mark 1:45, Mark 3:7, Mark 6:31) This is in contrast to the Pharisees and scribes of the period who often sought their own glory and praise from men, without sacrificing anything themselves. (Matthew 23) How sad and ironic, the place where Jesus so often based his ministry here in Capernaum, near those who saw Him grow into a young man and knew his family, that his family (most likely his brothers sent by his mother) would call him crazy or out of his mind to the crowds to seize Him and do what they thought was best for Him. Jesus calls for a different standard, a standard even more important than food.
God’s will is for us to preach the gospel, and to follow Him, and do his will. We see in Vs. 20-21 His family heard about what was going on, they try to take charge and take him away from the crowds to eat. But we know from scripture that God is in control and has authority over his followers’ lives. (Isaiah 55:8-9 “…my thoughts are not your thoughts…”, Jeremiah 18:1-17 “…I am the potter…”, Matthew 11:25-30 “…my yoke is easy and my burden is light…”) We should reflect upon this: Who is the Master? Who is in control?
Jesus places higher weight on spiritual needs than the needs of flesh. (Matthew 4:1-4 “Man shall not live on bread alone…” a reference to Duet. 8:3, John 4:31-38 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.”) In the very beginning, right after Jesus was baptized, he became tempted for 40 days, by Satan himself! Without any food! What was his response? How should this make us feel towards the importance of the Word of God? How much more so should we obey it, and do His will if it is that important? He has lived a perfect life for us, he has died for our sins, in response to this, do you love the LORD? Tend and feed his sheep! (John 21:15-17)
How often do we think we know better than God and that we know what is best for our lives, when we pray to God do we tell Him how He should be running things? How ironic that we say under our breath “Jesus, have you lost your senses?”
Ty for this
[…] A guest post from the bog The Domain for Truth deals with Mark 3:20-21. […]
The sheep are Christs. They do not belong to a denomination or a local church or a pastor. God knows when they are given poison with their food. Those who teach/feed will be judged more harshly.
Was looking for a post on these verses
Amen T.I. Miller!
Thanks
“How often do we think we know better than God and that we know what is best for our lives, when we pray to God do we tell Him how He should be running things?” Convicting question!
This post was written a year ago today but it is still fresh and true.
“God’s will is for us to preach the gospel, and to follow Him, and do his will.” Amen!
Jesus is amazing