Daily Devotional For Monday, October 5, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional for today comes from the words of Jesus found in Mark 3:20-35. This section of Scripture has to do with Jesus’ biological family and who really is His family. Let me ask you a question: Have you ever thought Jesus was a madman, or insane or mentally compromised? Our passage for today begins this way.
You probably have never heard of a man by the name of Olive Staples Lewis who was born in 1898 in England, but you do know his pen name, C.S. Lewis. Though raised a Protestant Irish home, by the age of 15 Lewis abandoned His Christian faith for atheism. He stated that he was “angry with God for not existing” (Source: C. S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy, p. 115). But God was not going to let Lewis live in peace for his decision. While teaching at Oxford University, some of his Christian friends would not leave him alone.
In 1929, C.S. Lewis says he knelt by his bed and gave everything of himself to Jesus Christ. He characterizes his profession of faith in Christ this way: “. . . that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England” (Source: C. S. Lewis, Surprised By Joy, pp. 228-229). Lewis would go to write the monumental 7-books series called, The Chronicles of Narnia. This former atheist now Christian apologist would go on to write other books such a Mere Christianity. In this book, he writes this about Jesus:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. . . . Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God” (Source. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christanity, pp. 54-56).
Why this long introduction to our text today? Well, the people of Capernaum, which included his family who traveled there, were left with 3 options when it came to believing Jesus was God in human flesh. They could discount Him as delusional, denounce Him as demonic, or declare Him to be divine. There was no middle ground (Matt. 12:30; Mark 9:40; Luke 11:23).
The crowds that flocked to hear Him would either embrace Him as the Son of God and the Savior of the world (Mark 8:29; John 6:69; John 20:28), or they would reject Him as a dangerous and possibly insane megalomaniac who must be silenced (Mark 3:6; John 11:53). The New Testament books were written to prove that Jesus was not a flipped out mentally, a fake (con artist) or a feign (the devil in human flesh). There seems to be such concern by all that they attempted to “seize” Jesus. The Greek New Testament word used here is [κρατέω; krateō]. It is used in many ways in the New Testament but when this word is used of people like Jesus and John the Baptizer, it means “to use necessary force to subdue to arrest.” Of the 15 times Mark uses this word, 8 are used by him to refer to Jesus’ arrest and seizure by both the Jewish and religious leaders.
We would say, “He’s crazy!” His own family, those for whom he had been caring as the eldest son since the death of Joseph, had traveled from Nazareth to Capernaum thinking and believing that Jesus had lost His mind. They wanted to use some kind of “family intervention” to carry Jesus off to some safe place in Nazareth where He could indulge His delusions without doing any harm to Himself. This might seem odd considering no one ever denied the miracles Jesus did. Many of them were taught and believed it was only possible to be done by the Messiah.
Mark gives us 3 reasons Jesus’ family wanted to do some kind of intervention. First, they really cared and loved Him. If Jesus was home in Nazareth, He would be no threat to anyone in His delusions. Second, they feared His religious fervor would ruin His health (Mk. 3:20-21). Third, they believed His religious fervor was too radical. It is one thing to be religious and devout, but it is another thing to be radical with those beliefs such as radical Islamists today. They had heard of Him staying up all night to pray (Lk. 6:12). And by the end of His ministry, His family no longer believed Jesus was the Messiah (John 7:5).
In our story, the people accused Jesus of being demon possessed by Beelzeubub. They believed Beelzebub was the prince over all the demons. This was the name they gave to the devil. Jesus showed them how weak their argument was and by the time He was finished, they knew He was right. Then Jesus gave a statement that haunts me in Mk. 3:28-30). Jesus said that is a sin called “the unforgivable sin.” What in the world is this? Many Christian denominations and churches have a doctrine called “The Doctrine of the Unforgivable Sin.” So, what sin is never forgivable by the Lord?
First, it is not using the Lord’s name in vain, though that is a vile sin. It is not adultery or some sexual perversion. It is not murder nor being a serial killer. It is not genocide. It is not aborting innocent babies. So, what is it? It is the persistent, continual rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit to the Divinity and Savior-hood of Christ. It is the perversion in the heart which chooses to call light darkness and darkness light. It is the perpetual rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit, whether that witness be a quiet witness in the conscience from the Holy Spirit, the rational witness of the Word of God, or even miracles and wonders.
Do you know anyone who believes in God but denies the lordship of Jesus in their lives? They are guilty of the unforgivable sin. They believe that because they are good people, believe in God, have done some charitable things, maybe attended church a few times, they get to go to heaven. Jesus says, “Absolutely no!” Even if they acknowledge intellectually Jesus might be who He claimed to be, until He is Lord in their heart and lives, they are guilty of the unforgivable sin. C. E. B. Cranfield, the eminent New Testament scholar and theologian writes this:
“It is not the ignorant blasphemer on the street who is in danger of committing the unforgivable sin, but the man or woman in the Church who knows the Scriptures, has heard the Word held forth with accuracy, has seen something of the miraculous power of God in changed lives, and yet rejects it all, even identifying what he has seen with the power of Satan. He calls light darkness and good evil, in testimony to a massive perversion of spirit (cf. Isa. 5:20). The warning is particularly to those who have grown up in the Church and may even have some theological education, but have willfully rejected it and in their heart of hearts attribute supposed Christian reality to evil” (Source. C.E.E.B. Cranfield, The Gospel According To Mark, p. 143).
Reflection Assignment: Do you have any family, close friends, who grew up in the church, hearing the Word of God, and have now denied their faith because Jesus is not Lord over their lives? It is possible they were never regenerated, or saved at all. It is possible that what they thought was “fire insurance” was really only an emotional reaction void of a lifetime commitment. These words of Jesus should scare us deeply to make sure those in our family and friends realize that being good is not good enough. Coming to church is not the same as coming to Christ. There is a huge eternal difference here. So, what will you do now?
Scripture To Meditate On: Luke 12:10, “Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, thank You for loving me. Thank You for saving me. Lord, I have family and friends who are guilty of the “unforgivable sin” or the “unpardonable sin.” I do not want them to die and go to hell. Would You please engineer circumstances in their lives to get their attention to cry out to You like the thief on the cross? Thank Jesus. I love You. Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly