Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with the Jerusalem scribes and a meeting of Jesus with his own family.
Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 35 verses.
Textual witnesses Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (325–350; complete) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360; complete) Codex Bezae (~400; complete) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440; complete) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete).
Healing on the Sabbath
Continuing the theme of the Sabbath from the previous chapter, Mark 3 opens with Jesus healing a man with a shriveled or withered hand on the Sabbath in the Synagogue. The word ἐξηραμμένην (exērammenēn) is translated as 'paralyzed' in the International Standard Version.: International Standard Version Mark uses the adverb πάλιν (palin, again), indicating this is the synagogue in Capernaum, the same as the one in ,Brown et al. 603 although the New American Standard Bible reads "a synagogue".: NASB The event took place on a subsequent Sabbath to the one mentioned in Mark 2:23–28, possibly the next Sabbath: the American Bible Society's Contemporary English Version interprets the passage this way: The next time Jesus went into the synagogue ...,: CEV as does the biblical commentator George Maclear.
"Some people", probably the Pharisees,Longman, T., Strauss, M. and Taylor, D., : Expanded Bible (2011) who were mentioned in Mark 2:24, 27, were there specifically waiting to see if Jesus would heal someone on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him of breaking it. Rabbis of the time would allow healing on the Sabbath only if the person was in great danger, a situation his hand would not qualify for. The Jewish Encyclopedia article on Jesus notes: "... stricter rabbis allowed only the saving of life to excuse the slightest curtailment of the Sabbath rest (Shab. xxii. 6)". In Luke's parallel account, it is "the scribes and Pharisees" who "watch Him closely".: New King James Version
Jesus asks the people "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" () They do not answer and he angrily looks around at the crowd and is "distressed at their stubborn hearts" (). Methodist founder John Wesley suggested that his adversaries were already seeking occasion to kill him.Wesley, J., Wesley's Notes on Mark 3, accessed 5 June 2017 Jesus tells the man to stretch out his hand, which he does and then, seemingly instantaneously, it is healed. Many other stories of healing at the time involved the healer doing work in some way to effect a cure as compared to this quick almost effortless action here.Kilgallen 63 Mark could be highlighting how great he viewed Jesus' powers as being. Jesus also equates not doing good with doing evil and says it is more important, even or perhaps especially, to not let evil and suffering occur through inaction.Kilgallen 66–67
According to Mark, this miracle is the spur which sets the Pharisees, as well as the Herodians, against Jesus, having them go out after this and plot to kill him. Thus the reaction of a substantial number of Jews has gone from being amazed to one of outright opposition. Mark has already begun to foreshadow Jesus' death, with this as well as the saying about the bridegroom and fasting in .Kilgallen 67 Some find it improbable these two groups worked together, as the Pharisees opposed Rome and Herod was backed by and supported Rome, see also Iudaea Province. The Herodian party was not a religious grouping, but according to Maclear it did hold Sadducean opinions. Christopher Tuckett observes that a partnership between the Pharisees and the supporters of Herod Antipas would have been historically "implausible".Tuckett, C., 57. Mark, in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary , p. 893 Mark, however, may have been highlighting the dual nature and seriousness of the opposition to Jesus.Kilgallen 68–69
This event is also reported in Matthew 12:9–14, although Jesus asks there about how one would save a sheep on the Sabbath and how helping a person is more important than helping a sheep. Luke 6:6–11 is almost the same as this section of Mark, although Luke does not state that they planned to kill him, only that they were "furious" and talked about "what they might do to Jesus".: NKJV
Movement of the crowd Jesus then "withdraws", ἀνεχώρησεν (anechōrēsen), and goes down by a lake, presumably the Sea of Galilee, and people follow him there. Some writers, such as the American commentator Albert Barnes, see the word as meaning flight, as it comes after Mark talks about the plot against Jesus, "... to the lonely regions which surrounded the sea, where he might be in obscurity, and avoid their designs against his life",Barnes, A. (1832), Barnes' Notes on Mark 3, accessed 18 June 2021 but it could just as easily mean leaving Capernaum to go to the nearby sea. Mark says the people had come from "... Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon". () Mark thus shows that people are coming from many areas, not just Galilee. Whether these people were non-Jews is unclear as the non-Jewish areas listed also contained Jewish populations. Another group of the time to consider is the Jewish proselytes.
Protestant commentator Heinrich Meyer divides the movement of the crowds into two sections: verse 7b: a great multitude from Galilee followed him (from Capernaum to the sea); verses 7c and 8: a great multitude from Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan, and those (the Jews) about Tyre and Sidon, heard how many things He was doing, and came to him.Meyer, H. A. W. (1880), Meyer's NT Commentary on Mark 3, translated from the German sixth edition, accessed 4 March 2023
Jesus has the disciples prepare a boat for him to avoid "crowding", because "... he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him" () and then he heals many of the sick. Evil (or unclean) spirits in the people brought before him fall down whenever they see him, or as soon as ever they catch sight of him, and call him the Son of God, but he tells them not to tell people who he is, continuing the theme of the Messianic Secret.
Choosing of the Twelve Apostles
After highlighting the growing crowd following Jesus, Mark says Jesus went up a mountain and called twelve, whom he appointed Apostles, with the power to preach and "drive out demons". Some manuscripts of Mark do not have Jesus call them Apostles in verse . Verse may be the only time he uses the word, which is most frequently (68 out of 79) used by Luke the Evangelist and Paul of Tarsus, see . It is perhaps symbolic that this occurs on a mountain, a height where people can be met by God in the Jewish tradition,Kilgallen 71 such as Moses talking to God on Mount Sinai, see also the Sermon on the Mount. Mark pictures Jesus as drawing large multitudes to his teaching, and shifts from mountains to lakes to houses at will, creating an evocative landscape that some find lacking plausibility,Miller 19 although the area contains such geographic features.
Verse 16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
He appoints Simon, called Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, a second James, Thaddaeus, Simon whom Mark calls a Zealot, and lastly Judas Iscariot.
Luke's lists in Luke and Acts do not include a Thaddaeus, but instead list "Judas, son of James" or "Judas the brother of James" in the KJV,: KJV which some have asserted are two names for the same person, Jude Thaddaeus. Luke also has the story of the Seventy Disciples. Matthew's list is the same as Mark in , although a few western manuscripts of Matthew have a Lebbaeus.Brown 130 This might also indicate that by the time of the writing of the Gospels the exact recollection of the "minor" Apostles had become uncertain, and that there is no "Jude Thaddaeus", a creation of later hagiography. John's Gospel lists no Bartholomew, although John's Nathanael is usually equated with him.
Mark says that the brothers James and John were given the title Boanerges, which Mark tells us means "Sons of Thunder", although many modern scholars disagree with this translation.Kilgallen 70 Many explanations have been given for this title but none commands a consensus.Brown et al. 604 Mark does not explain why Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, meaning rock. has his naming in connection with the church and has it relate to his character. It could also have an ironic meaning, as even Peter denies Jesus in the end.Miller 20
Philip and Andrew are both Greek names, also Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus. Some Jews, especially from places like Galilee where there were substantial non-Jewish populations, did have a Greek name as well as a Jewish name.
The second Simon is called a kananaios, probably derived from the Aramaic word qan'ānā, meaning a Zealot, which might mean he belonged to a political movement in rebellion against Rome, but might also mean he was religiously zealous. Luke uses the Greek term zēlōtēs.
Iscariot might be Judas' last name or might be a reference to where he came from, meaning "man of Kerioth" It may also be derived from sicarii. The fact that there are twelve Apostles is seen as being related to the Twelve tribes of Israel.
Jesus will "send them out", the Greek verb apostolien () meaning to send out, to do the work he has been doing but without him being present. Many churches interpret this as his founding of the church, as he creates a special group to work in his name without him. See also the Great Commission.
A house divided
Jesus goes to someone's house (or "the house", possibly Peter's house, verse 19 in some versions, verse 20 in others),Verse 19 in the Textus Receptus and Westcott and Hort, verse 20 in the SBL Greek New Testament, "[the] house" in John Nelson Darby's translation, "probably Peter's house" according to the Amplified Bible Classic Edition, "home" in the Revised Standard Version and others, all sourced from BibleGateway.com texts for Mark 3:19–20 and a large crowd follows him there. According to Mark, this prevented Jesus and his disciples from being able to eat. "When his family (hoi par' autou) heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'" (), or "beside himself", exestē (), which could be read as Jesus' family accusing him of being crazy or describing what others had said about Jesus. Either way they go to assert their control over him, perhaps to stop him from embarrassing the family. Hearing Jesus is being followed by so many people does not seem to accord with their view of him.Kilgallen 72 Whether it was Jesus teaching and attracting large crowds or not eating that disturbs them so much is not clear. A few early manuscripts have "the scribes and the others" instead of his family, but these are usually seen as alterations perhaps designed to tone down the impression of Jesus' own family toward him.