Mark 3
1 Jesus entered a synagogue again, and there was a man there with a withered hand.
2 They watched him to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so they could accuse him.
3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up and come into the middle.”
4 Then he asked them, “What is permitted on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil? To save a life or to kill?” But they stayed silent.
5 He looked around at them angrily, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
6 The Pharisees went out and immediately joined with the Herodians to decide how to kill him.
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the seashore. A large crowd from Galilee followed him, and also from Judea,
8 from Jerusalem, Idumea, across the Jordan, and the regions around Tyre and Sidon. A large crowd came to him, hearing all that he was doing.
9 He told his disciples to keep a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so they would not crush him.
10 He had healed many, so all who were suffering from illnesses pressed in on him to touch him.
11 Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
12 But he sternly warned them not to make him known.
13 Jesus went up the mountain and called those he himself wanted, and they came to him.
14 He appointed twelve, so they would be with him and so he could send them out to proclaim the message.
15 They would also have authority to drive out demons.
16 So he appointed the twelve, and he gave Simon the name Peter.
17 He called James son of Zebedee, and John, James’s brother, and gave them the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder.
18 He also called Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean,
19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
20 Jesus went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.
21 When his relatives heard about it, they went out to take charge of him, because they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22 The teachers of the law who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He has Beelzebul, and it is by the ruler of the demons that he drives out demons.”
23 Then Jesus called them over and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan?
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a household is divided against itself, that household will not be able to stand.
26 If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; he has come to an end.
27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
28 Truly I tell you, everything will be forgiven the children of humanity—their sins and all the blasphemies they utter.
29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; that person is guilty of an eternal sin.”
30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
31 Then his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out.
32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside, looking for you.”
33 He replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
34 Looking around at those seated in a circle around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.
35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and my mother.”
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