Chapter 3 of Marks Gospel begins with the pharisees testing Jesus in the Synagogue during his early ministry and also he has just appointed the twelve apostles to be his inner circle and minister with him. Jesus has extended his authority to heal and exorcise demons to these twelve, following this returns to Caperanaum to continue his Synagogue service visits on the Sabbath to teach the crowds.
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Be-elzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Jesus has reached a certain point in his fame that scribes from the capital city have been sent to observe him. Scribes were Mosaic lawyers, experts in the Law of Moses who offered a service of consultancy on the Law. Think of it as hiring a lawyer when pursuing legal enterprises, the difference is, the entirety of the life of a Second Temple Jew was dictated by the Law, not just some aspects.
Previous to this Jesus has exorcised demons and extended this authority to his twelve apostles. Exorcism was not uncommon to Second Temple Jews but their methodology was dramatically different to what Jesus and his disciples were doing. Although specific examples are sparse, they do exist both the historian Josephus and the Dead Sea Scrolls witness to similar things.
- Invoking Sacred names, like that of God, Archangels or Prophets
- Incantations derived from scripture, reciting the Psalms (for example Psalm 91)
- Ritual objects like rings (See Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Book 8), roots and/or burnt offerings
This is not how Jesus or his disciples exorcise demons which to the experts of the Law, make them suspect of demonic association. They accuse him of doing these acts by Be-elzebul or Beelzebub. Beelzebub is a name derived from a title given to deity of the Philistines. Beel comeing from Ba’al which means Lord and zebub meaning Of Flies. So it means Lord of Flies. It became associated with the god of the Caananites Ba’al. It is hard to tell when exactly it became synonymous with the evil one but it is not too hard to see how the Hebrews saw the chief deity of their enemies as the chief evil cosmic force opposing God or at least having some association with each other.
23 And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?
Jesus responds to his critics with parables. A parable is a story that enables the listener to understand something invisible or complex with something simpler. They are not always one to one with the reality of the situation, it depends on the context.
First Jesus responds to the wording of their accusation, that the evil one is the leader or prince of the other demons. If we interpret this through the organic model, which is the typical outlook of ancient peoples the other demons are of the same “body” as the Satan who is the “head” of said body. Satan as the head of the body couldn’t cast out himself, his demonic minions are of his own evil “body.”
24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
Explaining further, beyond the organic model, Jesus turns to the kingdom model, which still appeals to the simplicity of the organic one but it is fitting since they consider Satan a prince. If he was attacking or divided against his own kingdom, it would fall which would actually benefit human beings, so why would they complain about what Jesus is doing if they truly believed that to be the case?
25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
He shrinks the kingdom model to the domestic model next, if a house is divided or fighting amongst themselves it will not able to to stand, it will fall. Jesus is explaining their own logic when applied to multiple scopes is stupid and makes no sense.
26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end.
Shrinking back to the organic model, seeing satan as the head of the demons who are of his body, if he rises up against himself he cannot win or stand and in fact, will destroy himself.
27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.
Thus begins the parable, a strong man has his own house and goods. Since he is strong it is impossible to seize what is his unless you bind him, tie him up. Once he is bound, you can plunder his goods. Some have difficulty with this phrasing as it portrays Jesus as a type of thief and Satan as a strong man who owns people but that is actually how it works, the point of the parable is that the “goods” are possessed people. From the moment of the Fall and the disinheritance at Babel, all peoples, including the Hebrews have been subject to a fallen nature. This allows us to be held captive by Satan and only baptism places a seal of ownership upon us. This is how we become members of God’s family and until we’re members of God’s family, we’re owned by Satan. Jesus comes to weaken and bind Satan, to conquer death and then we can be taken by him out of the grasp of Satan.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter;
29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—
To some this seems like an unrelated piece of dialogue that Mark has added to the Scribe vs Jesus interaction but they’re completely wrong. The Holy Spirit is kind of like the conduit by which salvific acts are done. Think of it as the wire between a power source and a component, obviously not in a literal sense, the Spirit is a person not just a connection but I am just trying to simplify things for my own brain and yours. All sins will be forgiven but blaspheming the Holy Spirit makes you guilty of an eternal sin. This is what the Scribes did, by Jesus authority, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is exorcising and they accuse this method of being demonic and are therefore rejecting the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is not just the conduit for exorcisms, it is the invisible conduit for the entire economy of Salvation. What binds you to Christ? Through what “channel” do you ask for forgiveness? It is through the Spirit, if you reject it, you reject forgiveness which paves the way for final impenitence. If you were to always reject the Spirit then you would necessarily reject forgiveness and be guilty of an eternal sin.
30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark clarifies in his own Gospel that this is not just a random addition of dialogue, the reason Jesus says this is because they accuse the Spirit that Jesus has (the Holy Spirit) of being a demonic one.
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