Mark 3:2  “…they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath…”
It is hard to understand the thought process of these people.  Whether He would heal on the Sabbath.  They would claim that only God could perform miracles, yet they hoped Jesus would perform one so they could accuse Him of doing work on the Sabbath.  The illogical, irrational line of thinking here blows my mind.  It all comes back to them.  God created the Sabbath, and only He could perform miracles.  Yet the aspect of God they were concerned with was the part they could control, whether to follow the letter of the law.  They didn’t concern themselves with the fact that God Himself was doing something among them or that He was actually among them.  They had made their own God and were no longer concerned with the real One.

4  “…they kept silent”
Of course they did.  They couldn’t defy the law they worshipped.

5  “…being grieved by the hardness of their hearts…”
He knew exactly what was going on and how bad off they really were.

6  “…Pharisees…plotted with the Herodians against Him…”
Couldn’t get a clear picture of exactly who the Herodians were, but most commentaries thought they didn’t get along with the Pharisees.  For the two groups to come together meant they thought they had a common enemy.

7-12  “…Galilee…Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea…beyond the Jordan…from Tyre and Sidon…”
Vast multitudes from all directions.

14  “…that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach”
He chose some to be closer to Him, to be more dedicated followers.  And it appears part of that first plan was to use them to go before Him to preach and prepare the way for Him to follow up.  Sometimes it’s hard to imagine that Judas Iscariot was one of those twelve, that he was one who went out and preached and performed miracles.  Was shown so much and participated in so much, yet still betrayed Jesus.

21  “…when His own people heard about this…”
Apparently His earthly family weren’t followers, but were concerned with all He was doing.  Thought He was crazy.  Will come up again later.

26  “…if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand…”
Argument was that His power was somehow derived from satan, that He used the power of satan to cast out demons in league with satan.  As though power was power.  That there weren’t connections in the spiritual world.  He acknowledges that there were connections, basically God and those opposed to Him.  You were either on one side or the other.  Therefore, you couldn’t be using the power of satan to defeat satan.  It would be self-defeating.

27  “…unless he first binds the strong man…”
Can’t plunder a man’s house if you’re in league with him.  You have to get rid of him first which means you’re not on his side.

29-30  “…he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness…He has an unclean spirit”
The work of the Holy Spirit of God is urging man to repentance and pointing to Christ for salvation.  If you deny the Holy Spirit, if you claim He is an unclean spirit and not who He actually is, if you don’t respond to His urging and reject His leading, those actions cannot be forgiven.  And He’s not talking about a single instance of foolishness, but a lifetime refusal.  Many have ignored the Spirit until later in life when they come to repentance.  Simplest way of looking at it is to say the rejection of Christ, the urging of the Spirit, is the only unforgivable sin.  All others may be forgiven so you may accept Christ.  All has been done to bring us back to God.  If we ultimately refuse that, all hope is gone.

35  “…whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother”
Family came to intervene thinking He was beside Himself.  He wasn’t being disrespectful to them.  He knew why He had come and was about His Father’s business.  The first thirty years of His life here was the normal human line.  Now He is moving on to the divine nature of His purpose.  His family has grown beyond simple earthly familial connections.  What He does from now on is for the whole world.

I hope you enjoy reading and studying His word.  May it accomplish what He desires.  Please feel free to comment or post questions.  Thanks for reading!

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.