Mark 3:20-30
Jesus and Beelzebub
20Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
22And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."
23So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. 27In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house. 28I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. 29But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
30He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."
Jesus had just appointed His disciples...He had large crowds that followed Him...As He entered a house, the crowd was so large and it was so crowded that He and His disciples could not eat...The large crowds were so excited to learn about Him, learn from Him, be blessed that He (and His Twelve) had no time to eat...Plus the crowded house brought little opportunity to eat.. His popularity grew so quickly...
As His popularity grew, and His enthusiasm for the Father became more and more focused, His family became concerned...His family seeing the crowds, knowing He was working so diligently putting together a ministry, a large following might bring not only raise the Jewish official's attention, but also the Roman authority's attention...His family wanted to protect Him, as families do...Jesus was changing everyone's comfort level...
His opponents, the teachers of the law, tell the crowd, His power is not by God, but by the prince of demons...The two powers at work in our world are good and evil...The respected teachers of the law were trying to diffuse His momentum and ever increasing large crowds and followings..They were telling His followers, it was evil giving Him this power...
.Jesus knew that this type of verbal attack is hard to defend...Jesus does admit that evil is organized around a leader and that one is satan...
Jesus explains why would evil drive out its own evil...Secondly, if satan's kingdom is divided he becomes weak...If satan opposed himself and his house cannot stand the he loses its power of stealing men's souls, which is his goal...
Jesus tells us satan is organized and strong and if He does not tie up the strong man (satan) He cannot win...But here Jesus is telling us He is more powerful than satan and has tied him up and good has triumphed over evil, and His power for driving out evil spirits comes from God...His power to defeat evil, gives Him credibility... The miracles He has been doing comes from God...
There are two kingdoms, one good, one evil...We cannot call our Father evil, or the Holy Spirit evil...Both are good...Once men cross the line and do not return those sins are irreconcilable...
We learn from Jesus that all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven, but (He) does not say all men will be forgiven...
St. Mark summarizes that Jesus said these things, because the Pharisees, had said He had and evil, unclean spirit...The Pharisees who challenged Jesus were overcome with the truth...Good has triumphed over evil...