Chapter 33—Who Are My Brethren?
This chapter is based on
Matthew 12:22-50
;
Mark 3:20-35
.
The sons of Joseph were far from being in sympathy with Jesus
in His work. The reports that reached them in regard to His life and
labors filled them with astonishment and dismay. They heard that He
devoted entire nights to prayer, that through the day He was thronged
by great companies of people, and did not give Himself time so much
as to eat. His friends felt that He was wearing Himself out by His
incessant labor; they were unable to account for His attitude toward
the Pharisees, and there were some who feared that His reason was
becoming unsettled.
His brothers heard of this, and also of the charge brought by the
Pharisees that He cast out devils through the power of Satan. They
felt keenly the reproach that came upon them through their relation
to Jesus. They knew what a tumult His words and works created, and
were not only alarmed at His bold statements, but indignant at His
denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees. They decided that He must
be persuaded or constrained to cease this manner of labor, and they
induced Mary to unite with them, thinking that through His love for
her they might prevail upon Him to be more prudent.
It was just before this that Jesus had a second time performed
the miracle of healing a man possessed, blind and dumb, and the
Pharisees had reiterated the charge, “He casteth out devils through
the prince of the devils.”
Matthew 9:34
. Christ told them plainly that
in attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan, they were cutting
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themselves off from the fountain of blessing. Those who had spoken
against Jesus Himself, not discerning His divine character, might
receive forgiveness; for through the Holy Spirit they might be brought
to see their error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and
believes, the guilt is washed away in the blood of Christ; but he who
rejects the work of the Holy Spirit is placing himself where repentance
and faith cannot come to him. It is by the Spirit that God works upon
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