Mark - Lesson 4...Continued from page 41

Thomas Klock

 

2.  How disappointing and frustrating this would have been to Jesus!  But Mark’s recording this incident helps us to see the validity of this Gospel, for the church, or any writer most likely, wouldn’t invent a story putting Jesus’ family and He (or the hero of the story) in such a bad situation.[xvii]  We too may face such misunderstanding by our friends and family when we come to Christ.  What did Jesus later warn His disciples about this (John 15:18-21)?  How did Paul also warn how some may respond to our embracing Christ (1 Corinthians 1:18-29)?

 

3. So on one hand, His very friends and/or family thought He was behaving irrationally and was ready for a journey to the funny farm.  Even worse, what did the religious leaders say about Him (v. 22)?

 

NOTE:  Beelzebub wasn’t a name recorded in the Old Testament, but appears to have come from the name Baal, “the Lord of the Househ

old.” This was probably a corruption of his name into Beelzebub, “the Lord of the Flies,” or the fly god, or as some translate it, the dung god.  Beelzebub is named in Apocryphal literature (The Testament of Solomon), and was considered the head of the demons as another name for Satan used in the days between the Testaments.[xviii]