There is a lot going on in the third chapter of Mark. Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand on a Sabbath in the synagogue, prompting the Pharisees to plot against him. He withdraws to the Sea with the disciples, and a great multitude follows him. He heals the sick and drives out unclean spirits, who fall down before him and acknowledge he is the Son of God. In today’s reading, the scribes then come down from Jerusalem and accuse Jesus of healing by the power of the prince of demons.
Why This Approach?
Why would the scribes take this approach? Jesus had performed miracles of goodness for all to see, which the scribes did not refute.
Since they could not deny the miracles, they wanted to make it seem as if they were mere tricks, to discredit and ultimately silence him. Their explanation that Christ’s goodness as witnessed by the multitudes was really from Satan is “the very last resort of hatred so deep that it will father an absurdity rather than accept the truth.” The Scottish minister MacLaren observed, “Serpents’ eggs do not hatch out into doves. . . . It is more difficult to believe the explanation than the alternative, which it is framed to escape.” He continued, “The difficulties of faith are ‘gnats’ beside the ‘camels’ which unbelief has to swallow.” (MacLaren’s Expositions of Holy Scripture)
Joseph Benson observed in the early 1800s,
“How easily may a man of learning elude the strongest proof of a work of God! How readily can he account for every incident, without ever taking God into the question!” (Benson Commentary)
Benson and MacLaren might be surprised at how relevant their observations remain two hundred years later.
Very nice reflection. I loved all the visual images presented by it. Thank you.