[B-Greek] Mark 3:21 hOI PAR 'AUTOU
David Bielby
dbielby at bloomingtonvineyard.org
Tue Apr 12 22:10:54 EDT 2005
This question was brought to me by another pastor in our community. AT
Robertson explains the answer well in his Word Pictures, but Im wondering
if current
scholarship would concur. Does anyone here know the answer and where I
could find a current study on this?
AT Robertson clipped in here
Mar 3:21 - His friends (hoi par' autou). The phrase means literally "those
from the side of him (Jesus)." It could mean another circle of disciples who
had just arrived and who knew of the crowds and strain of the Galilean
ministry who now come at this special juncture. But the idiom most likely
means the kinspeople or family of Jesus as is common in the LXX. The fact
that in verse 31 "his mother and his brothers" are expressly mentioned would
indicate that they are "the friends" alluded to in verse 21. It is a
mournful spectacle to think of the mother and brothers saying, He is beside
himself (exestê). Second aorist active indicative intransitive. The same
charge was brought against Paul (Ac 26:24; 2Co 5:13). We say that one is out
of his head. Certainly Mary did not believe that Jesus was in the power of
Beelzebub as the rabbis said already. The scribes from Jerusalem are trying
to discount the power and prestige of Jesus (3:22). See on Mt 9:32-34;
10:25; 12:24 for Beelzebub and Beelzebul. Mary probably felt that Jesus was
overwrought and wished to take him home out of the excitement and strain
that he might get rest and proper food. See my The Mother of Jesus: Her
Problems and Her Glory. The brothers did not as yet believe the pretensions
and claims of Jesus (Joh 7:5). Herod Antipas will later consider Jesus as
John the Baptist redivivus, the scribes treat him as under demonic
possession, even the family and friends fear a disordered mind as a result
of overstrain. It was a crucial moment for Jesus. His family or friends came
to take him home, to lay hold of him (kratêsai), forcibly if need be.
Thank you!!
David Bielby
Pastor
<mailto:dbielby at bloomingtonvineyard.org> dbielby at bloomingtonvineyard.org
Bloomington, IL USA
<http://www.bloomingtonvineyard.org/> www.bloomingtonvineyard.org
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