Jesus: Lord, Liar or Lunatic

LORD, LIAR, OR LUNATIC

(Mark 3:20-21 & 31-35)

            The title to this lesson on Mark comes from C. S. Lewis who may have been looking at Mark 3:20-35 when he came up with this statement that Jesus was either Lord, a liar, or a lunatic.  As we look at the purpose of the four gospels in the New Testament we come to the same conclusion that John did when he penned these words in John 20:30 “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31  but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

            How would you feel if someone came up to you and told you that they were God?  You may want to stay away from them or call some help for them, which reminds me of a story that was told by John MacArthur.  Inside of a mental hospital was a man laying on his bed and as he was laying there he continued to say that he was Napoleon over and over and so it began to get on the nerves of another man who as there and he asked the first man who told him that he was Napoleon to which he replied God told me this.  The second man replied to the first with these words, “No I didn’t! 

            As we follow the life of Jesus in the New Testament we see that right from even before He was born that we see He is God.  We can even see this in different passages in the prophecies of the Old Testament that there would be born in the family of David the Messiah, and that according to Psalm 22, and Isaiah 52 and 53, and also Daniel 9:24-27 that the Messiah would die, be killed in order to save the world from sin.  “Isa 53:10 ¶  Still, it’s what GOD had in mind all along, to crush him with pain. The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin so that he’d see life come from it —life, life, and more life. And GOD’s plan will deeply prosper through him.”  (Message) 

            I want to begin to look at Mark 3:20-21, “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.’”

            We see in verse 20 that Jesus came home, which actually means to the “house,” and this very well could have been Peter’s house, for it may be that Jesus’ headquarters in His Galilean ministry was the home of Peter.  When he got there to the house there were many people there, in fact there were so many people there that they could not even eat as the text says.  There were a lot of people who were following Jesus, and we learned from the last lesson that of all those who were following Him He chose 12 of them to become His Apostles, while some of the others remained as His disciples.  But there were many others who were following Him in order to get a physical healing, and probably not a spiritual healing.

            We read in verse 21 the words “His own people” and as I began to study about this there are some who think that this was His family, those who were His half brothers and half sisters, and others think it may have been His friends from Capernaum.  They must have been thinking that Jesus was doing too much, and perhaps needed a rest, but they also said that He is mad “Lost His Senses.”  We also read that they came to take custody of Him, which is the same words that were used when John the Baptist was arrested, and then when Jesus was arrested.  These people thought that Jesus was a lunatic and if indeed it was His family as seen in the last part of this chapter, we know that it was not Mary who believed this and we also know from John 7:1-5 that the half brothers of Jesus did not believe in Him as Savior and Lord, “1 ¶  After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. 2  Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. 3  Therefore His brothers said to Him, "Leave here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. 4  "For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." 5  For not even His brothers were believing in Him.”  We know that later on His brothers did believe in Him for two of the NT letters were written by the half brothers of Jesus, Jude, and also James.  When you look at the beginning of each of these two letters it does not mention that they were physically related to Jesus, but that they were spiritually related to Jesus. 

            Now we will go to verses 31-15 and look at them:  “31 ¶  Then His mother and His brothers *arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. 32  A crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." 33  Answering them, He *said, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" 34  Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, "Behold My mother and My brothers! 35  "For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.’”

            I think that what Warren Wiersbe writes about these verses is worth quoting here:  “Our Lord was not being rude to His family when He remained in the house and did not try to see them.  He knew that their motives were right but their purpose was definitely wrong.  If Jesus had yielded to His family, He would have played right into the hands of the opposition.  The religious leaders would have said, ‘See, He agreed with His family—He needs help!  Don’t take Jesus of Nazareth too seriously.’  Instead of giving in, He used this crisis as an opportunity to teach a spiritual lesson:  His ‘family’ is made up of all those who do the will of God.  Or Lord’s half brothers were not believers and Jesus felt closer to the believing publicans and sinners than He did to James, Joses, Judah and Simon, His half-brothers.”

            “How does on enter into the family of God?  By means of a new birth, a spiritual birth from above (John 3:1-7); 1Peter 1:22-25).  When the sinner trusts Jesus Christ as Savior, he experiences this new birth and enters into God’s family.  He shares God’s divine nature (2Peter 1:3-4) and can call God ‘Father’ (Rom. 8:15-16).  This spiritual birth is not something that we accomplish for ourselves, nor can others do it for us (John 1:11-13).  It is God work of grace; all we can do is believe and receive (Eph. 2:8-9)”