Mark 3:20-35

International Children’s Bible

People Say Jesus Has a Devil

²⁰ Then Jesus went back home. But again a crowd gathered. There were so many people that Jesus and his followers could not eat. ²¹ His family heard about all these things. They went to get him because people were saying that Jesus was out of his mind.

²² And the teachers of the law from Jerusalem were saying, “Beelzebul is living inside him! He uses power from the ruler of demons to force demons out.”

²³ So Jesus called the people together and used stories to teach them. He said, “Satan will not force his own demons out of people. ²⁴ A kingdom that fights against itself cannot continue. ²⁵ And a family that is divided cannot continue. ²⁶ And if Satan is against himself and fights against his own people, then he cannot continue. And that is the end of Satan. ²⁷ If a person wants to enter a strong man’s house and steal his things, first he must tie up the strong man. Then the thief can steal the things from the strong man’s house. ²⁸ I tell you the truth. All sins that people do can be forgiven. And all the bad things people say against God can be forgiven. ²⁹ But any person who says bad things against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He is guilty of a sin that continues forever.”

³⁰ Jesus said this because the teachers of the law said that Jesus had an evil spirit inside him.

Jesus’ True Family

³¹ Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent someone in to tell him to come out. ³² Many people were sitting around Jesus. They said to him, “Your mother and brothers^[a] are waiting for you outside.”

³³ Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Then Jesus looked at those sitting around him. He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ My true brother and sister and mother are those who do the things God wants.”