Mark 3:34

There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. For the exposition, see the notes at ....

31-35 It is a great comfort to all true Christians, that they are dearer to Christ than mother, brother, or sister as such, merely as relations in the flesh would have been, even had they been holy. Blessed be God, this great and gracious privilege is ours even now; for though Christ's bodily presence cannot be enjoyed by us, his spiritual presence is not denied us....

See the notes at Matthew 12:46....

EXPOSITION This chapter begins with the record of another case of healing on the sabbath day; and it closes with the notice of a combination of the Pharisees with the Herodians to bring about the destruction of the Saviour. We may observe that he again chose the sabbath for a new miracle, that he might again and again confute the error of the scribes and Pharisees with regard to the observance of the sabbath. MARK 3:1 HE ENTERED AGAIN INTO THE SYNAGOGUE. St. Matthew (Matthew 12:9) says, "their synagogue" (εἰς τὴν συναγωγὴν) This would probably be on the next sabbath after that named at the close of the last chapter. And there was a man there which had a withered hand (ἐξηραμμένην ἔχων τὴν χεῖρα);_ _literally, which had his hand withered

AND HE LOOKED ROUND ABOUT ON THEM WHICH SAT ABOUT HIM,.... To find out his disciples among them, and point them out particularly, by stretching forth his hand towards them: and said, BEHOLD MY MOTHER AND MY BRETHREN: not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; his mother, because, in regeneration, he was formed in them; his brethren, because, by adoption, his God was their God, his Father their Father; Matthew 12:49....

CHAPTER 3 _ 1. In the synagogue. The man with the withered hand healed. (Mark 3:1. Matthew 12:9; Luke 6:6 .)_ 2. The Withdrawal of the Servant. Many healed. (Mark 3:7 .Matthew 12:15; Luke 6:17 .) 3. On the Mountain calling the Twelve. (Mark 3:13. Matthew 10:1;...

THE ANSWER OF JESUS TO THE VERDICT OF THE JERUSALEM SCRIBES AND THE INTERVENTION OF HIS FAMILY. The introduction of this section would naturally link with Mark 3:6. Jesus returns home (presumably, to the house of Simon in Capernaum) after the second scene in the synagogue in Mark 3:1. Mk. has broken the thread of the original tradition in order to insert the list of the apostles. He certainly divides Mark 3:20 f. from Mark 3:31 in order to associate with the judgment of the relatives of Jesus the still more outrageous verdict of the scribes from Jerusalem. The statement that the relatives of Jesus thought Him beside Himself (perhaps in a state of unbalanced ecstacy),

THE CLASH OF IDEAS (Mark 3:1-6)...

LOOKED ROUND ABOUT. after casting His glance round. ADivine supplemental detail. Occ, only in Mark. SAT. were sitting, BEHOLD. Greek. _ide._ App-133....

_looked round_ Another graphic touch peculiar to the second Evangelist. See Introduction, p. 18. Our Lord repeated the saying here recorded on another occasion, Luke 8:21....