Shortly after Jesus Christ called the Twelve Disciples he entered a house. It says in Gospel of Mark, "Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples not even able to eat. When His (Jesus') family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind." (Mark 3:20:21). It struck me that Jesus' own family, his sisters and brothers via Mary and Joseph had come to rebuke him and call him crazy! Have you ever experienced this in your own family? Has the Lord called you in faith to do something and the reaction is exactly like this scripture, your family comes to "take charge" of you and claim with psychiatric authority that you "are out of your mind?"
If it was not enough for Jesus to have his relatives rebuke him, the good old 'pietistic' Pharisees show up on the scene and say, "He is possessed by Beelzebulb! Buy the prince of demons he driving out demons." (Mark 3:22). Now Jesus is not only be condemned by his family, but also by the religious leaders. The aim is to attack His (spiritual) authority and place a false identity on the Lord. Jesus' family take the approach of the mental health branch or Psychology, claiming Jesus is not mentally sound, and the religious leaders take the other approach of questioning his spiritual standing by saying He is casting out demons with the help of the devil.
This is two prong attack on our Lord and Savior, who responds by saying, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come." (Mark 3:23:26). Notice that Jesus addresses the attack on his authority and spiritual standing, but does not address his family and their mental health accusations. Jesus then follows up by saying, "In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and ever slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin. He said this because they were saying, "he has an impure spirit." (Mark 3:27-30 NIV).
Lets break this last response of Jesus into two parts. The first part about tying up or binding the strong man has to do with a high demonic power in someone one. Jesus is illustrating that Satan cannot bind Satan, for to deliver someone from demons means to caste out the devil and strong man of the demon horde. The second part talks about what both Jesus' family and religious leaders are guilty of; blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Many fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord fear they have committed this eternal sin, but to commit it requires you to call Jesus either mentally ill or to say he uses the Devil's power. Which are both lies, and attacks on Christ's character. This is the blaspheming of the Holy Spirit, to call what is of God mentally ill or of the devil.
Jesus illustrates through His response how to deal with both sets of people who dare to call the divine acts of the Holy Spirit or Christ Himself something He is not. If someone accuses Jesus or you for following Him mentally ill, ignore them. If they claim you are using the devil's power or delivering people with prince of demon's help, respond as Jesus Christ did that "How can Satan caste out Satan? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand..."
Finally, I want to reflect on how overwhelming the situation was for our Lord, Savior, and God Jesus Christ. Jesus had been followed by throng of people, in fact prior to these events He escaped by boat because people were pressing on Him for healing and He escaped to mountaintop to get away. Then we He enters a house, the people are so demanding that He and Disciples cannot eat. So Jesus is having tons of people encroach upon Him in a house, He's starved, He family comes to call Him crazy, and the religious leaders accuse Him of a lie that constitutes an eternal sin before God! Woah! Think on that! Have you ever been overwhelmed? Well Jesus certainly was and because He is the Christ He handled it perfectly, but lets not negate that it was distressing and I imagine hard on Him physically, emotionally, and even spiritually (He had to deal with unbelief, disbelief, and The Accuser/Satan himself speaking through the religious leaders). Jesus prevailed because He is the Son of God, is Very God of Very God. It should comfort us to know Christ our Lord was in circumstance that was overwhelming and that those who should have loved Him and treated Him with respect, His very family, called him crazy.
Do not worry if your family or friends are faithless or call you crazy for your devotion to Jesus Christ! For Christ himself was accused of the same thing, so you are in good standing! Also do not be surprised that church elders, leaders, priests, and scholars will come against you and revelations God has given you by calling it of the devil because of their own envy, jealousy, and bitterness. Stand firm in Christ Jesus and trust the Holy Spirit! He endured the accusations and lies, responded as the Father would have Him respond, and move on; not dwelling or entertaining the scoffers. Likewise we should respond with the words of the Holy Spirit (words of Wisdom) and dust off our feet and move on to where we shall be received.
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