Bad Theology

Text for today: Mark 3 xxi-xxxv

As Jesus begins to expand His cult, His family worry about His sanity. Some scribes from Jerusalem claim that Jesus is possessed and that His power to cast out devils comes from the prince of devils. Jesus responds that Satan cannot cast himself out and that a divided kingdom must inevitably be defeated. He further states that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven except for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is an eternal sin. He says this because people are saying that He has an unclean spirit, and when His family arrive He proclaims that anyone who does the will of His Father in heaven is His family.

In responding to the scribes' diagnosis, Jesus answers a charge which has not been made, and even the answer He gives is hardly convincing. The claim of the scribes is merely that lesser devils can be induced to depart by the power of a greater devil: rather like a centurion's subordinates going where he tells them, regardless of their own preferences, because the centurion has a more complete idea of how the battle is going. Furthermore, if Satan can enter a person at will, then presumably he can also leave at will; therefore he can certainly "cast himself out" should a tactical retreat be necessary.

The scribes' diagnosis is the same as that of Jesus' own family, who are afraid He is out of His mind and have just tried to remove Him from the crowd of His followers. As usual when anyone argues with His claims of divinity (cf. Mark 8 xxxiii), Jesus responds by lashing out viciously at His interlocutors, first consigning the scribes to eternal damnation through their unforgivable sin of failing to share His own exalted opinion of the spirit that possesses Him, and then disowning His family in favour of anyone who follows His doctrine.