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Mark

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Then Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 They watched Jesus closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him. 3 So he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Stand up among all these people.” 4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or evil, to save a life or destroy it?” But they were silent. 5 After looking around at them in anger, grieved by the hardness of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6 So the Pharisees went out immediately and began plotting with the Herodians, as to how they could assassinate him. 7 Then Jesus went away with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. And from Judea, 8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan River, and around Tyre and Sidon a great multitude came to him when they heard about the things he had done. 9 Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him so the crowd would not press toward him. 10 For he had healed many, so that all who were afflicted with diseases pressed toward him in order to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 But he sternly ordered them not to make him known. 13 Now Jesus went up the mountain and called for those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed 12 so that they would be with him and he could send them to preach 15 and to have authority to cast out demons. 16 To Simon he gave the name Peter;⁠ 17 to James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee, he gave the name Boanerges (that is, “sons of thunder”); 18 and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. 20 Now Jesus went home, and a crowd gathered so that they were not able to eat. 21 When his family heard this they went out to restrain him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” 22 The experts in the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the ruler of demons he casts out demons!” 23 So he called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom will not be able to stand. 25 If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan rises against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand and his end has come.⁠ 27 But no one is able to enter a strong man’s house and steal his property unless he first ties up the strong man.⁠ Then he can thoroughly plunder his house.⁠ 28 I tell you the truth, people will be forgiven for all sins, even all the blasphemies they utter. 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven,⁠ but is guilty of an eternal sin” 30 (because they said, “He has an unclean spirit”). 31 Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came. Standing outside, they sent word to him, to summon him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 He answered them and said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”⁠ 34 And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!⁠ 35 For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Mark 3:33 and Luke 8:21 and Gospel of Thomas 99

New Testament · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Mark, Jesus asks who his family is and looks around before answering. In Luke and the Gospel of Thomas, he identifies his family without those actions, preserving the teaching in a shorter, less dramatic exchange.

Passages

Mark 3:33

New Testament
31 Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came. Standing outside, they sent word to him, to summon him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 He answered them and said, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking at those who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
60–75 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Mark

Luke 8:21

New Testament
19 Now Jesus’ mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not get near him because of the crowd. 20 So he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” 21 But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
75–85 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Luke

Gospel of Thomas 99

Nag Hammadi
98 Jesus said, “The Father’s kingdom is like a man who wanted to kill a powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stabbed it into the wall to find out whether his hand would go in. Then he killed the powerful man.” 99 The disciples said to him, “Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.” He said to them, “Those here who do the will of my Father are my brothers and my mother; they are the ones who will enter the kingdom of my Father.” 100 They showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, “Caesar’s men demand taxes from us.” He said to them, “Give Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; give God the things that are God’s; and give me what is mine.”
135–200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Gospel of Thomas

References

“... Luke 8:19–21 severely abbreviates the Marcan pronouncement story, while at the same time adding the explanation that the mother and brothers could not reach Jesus “because of the crowd” (v 19). After the announcement of this fact to Jesus (v 20), Luke omits Jesus’ gesture and rhetorical question and jumps immediately to Jesus’ climactic response (v 21): “My mother and my brothers, these are the ones who hear the word of God and do [it].” This identification of Jesus’ mother and brothers with the ones who hear the word of God stands in sharp contrast to the Marcan form of the story, where Jesus, upon being told that his family is seeking him, first asks rhetorically, “Who is my mother and my brother?,” and then looks at those sitting in a circle around him, affirming, “Whoever does the will of God, this is my brother and sister and mother.” [...] As happens elsewhere in Thomas, we find CGT 99 pushing Luke’s abbreviating tendency even further: “The disciples said to him: ‘Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.’ He said to them: ‘Those here who do the will of my Father, these are my brothers and my mother. They are the ones who shall go into the kingdom of my Father.’” [...] (4) However, Thomas agrees with Luke in mentioning only the mother and brothers (or vice versa) in the final pronouncement, while in both Mark and Matthew the pronouncement includes brother, sister, and mother. (5) Mark and Matthew also agree in using the singular form for all three persons listed in the final pronouncement; both evangelists begin with the singular form of the relative pronoun (“who[ever] does . . .”). Once again, Thomas’ form of the pronouncement agrees with Luke’s in speaking in the plural of “those who . . . do.” ...”
John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 5:109–111.

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Mark 3:33 and Luke 8:21 and Gospel of Thomas 99

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