3:1 Again he entered the synagogue, and there was someone with a shriveled hand.

3:2 Jesus was closely watched to see if he would heal on the Sabbath so they’d have an excuse to accuse him.

3:3 And he said to the one with the useless hand, “Step up here in front.”

3:4 Then he said to them all, “On the Sabbath, is it permissible to do good or to do evil, to restore a life or to destroy it?” But they were silent.

3:5 Jesus looked around at them angrily, irritated by their hard hearts. Then he said to the person, “Hold out your hand.” He did so, and it was instantly restored.

3:6 At this, the Pharisees went right out and convened a council with the Herodians, to concoct a plot to kill Jesus.

3:7 But Jesus and his disciples went to the sea. A huge crowd from Galilee followed,

3:8 along with people from Judea, Jerusalem, the area of Idumea, from the other side of the Jordan, and from around Tyre and Sidon.

3:9 They all came to him due to what they’d heard about him. And he told his disciples to keep a boat handy so the crowd wouldn’t crush him.

3:10 In fact, he had healed many, and they all were pressing in on him so that whoever had a physical problem could be healed.

3:11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out as they left, “You are the God-Man!”

3:12 But he sternly warned them not to reveal who he was.

3:13 Then Jesus went up into the mountain and picked out certain people to come to him, and they did so.

3:14 He made twelve of them official Ambassadors, who would stay with him and be commissioned to proclaim

3:15 and to have authority to expel the demons.

3:16 These were the Twelve: Simon (he called him Peter),

3:17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (he called them Boanerges, meaning “Thunderous Ones”),

3:18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddaios, Simon the Zealot,

3:19 and Judas of Kerioth, who would later betray Jesus.

3:20 He went into a house, but such a large crowd gathered that he couldn’t even recline to eat a meal.

3:21 When his relatives heard about it they came to take him by force, because they thought he’d lost his mind.

3:22 But the scripture scholars who had come down from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Beelzeboul!” and “It’s by the power of the ruler of the demons that he throws the demons out!”

3:23 So Jesus replied to them with a parable: “How can the Adversary throw out the Adversary?

3:24 A kingdom divided against itself won’t last long;

3:25 a house divided against itself cannot endure.

3:26 So if the Adversary rises up against himself and divides himself, he cannot endure but has met his end.

3:27 “No one can enter a strong person’s house to plunder their possessions unless they first tie up the strong one; then they can plunder their house.

3:28 I tell you truly that all people’s failures and slanders will be forgiven,

3:29 unless they slander the Holy Spirit. There is no acquittal for that in this age, and they are guilty of an eternal failure.”

3:30 (He said this because they had accused him of having an unclean spirit.)

3:31 Then his mother and siblings came and stood outside, and they sent someone to call for him.

3:32 The crowd was seated all around him, and they told him, “Look! Your mother and brothers and sisters are here looking for you.”

3:33 And he replied, “Who is my mother and who are my siblings?”

3:34 Then he looked at those sitting around him and said, “See? These are my mother and siblings,

3:35 because whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”