Recreate Church, Pastor Michael Shockley—Service, Sunday, October 23, 2022

The Pharisees Didn't Get the Parable Memo! Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study of the book of Mark.  We pick up with Jesus’ ministry expanding quickly and the disciples were, at this point, getting hangry!  Add to this, his family, from Nazareth, was at his point in his ministry, thinking he was quite crazy! The family couldn’t get him to leave and there was another group that felt he was equally nutty; those were the scribes (the religious establishment of the day) and the Pharisees.  They did the most grown up thing they could do; they started rumors about Him. So what does Jesus do about it?  He called them together and talks to them face to face. Jesus goes into length with a message of how a house divided against itself cannot stand.  A kingdom divided cannot last.   He was using this to show that He was not using the power of the Devil to fight himself. However, let’s put it this way:  the scribes and the Pharisees didn’t quite catch the meaning of that parable! So for good measure, Jesus gives them another parable!  The parable of tying up the strong man before you can plunder his house.  Who is the strong man here?  The devil is the strong man.  The stronger man: Jesus.  Jesus has entered the strong man’s domain, here on earth.  But Jesus will bind the devil and has plundered the devil’s goods.  What are those goods?  Souls.  Jesus has come back to take the souls that he has divided our families, our churches, our nation. (ESV Study Bible Notes) Jesus uses two illustrations (parables) to show that the scribes’ accusations are false: (1) if the satanic sphere of power were internally divided, then it could not stand (vv. 24–26); and (2) Satan must be bound before his sphere of power can be challenged (v. 27; see note on Matt. 12:29). Verses can be found today in Mark 3: 20-27. Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.k