There are all kinds of obstacles to ministry. Resource obstacles, like a lack of needed financial resources. External obstacles, like governmental regulations. People are sometimes obstacles, too. Sometimes those are the hardest obstacles to overcome.
Especially when the people who are an obstacle are those closest to us.
Jesus had to face that kind of obstacle in his ministry. Jesus had to make some choices about how to deal with those obstacles, and get on with his ministry.
Mark has already told his readers that Jesus is the Son of God, and he’s done a pretty good job of backing that up in what he showed in Chapter 1. John the Baptist pointed the way to him. God himself said Jesus was his son. Even the demons knew who he was and called him the Holy One of God. Then there’s the healing, the authoritative teaching, and the power over the demons.
Not everyone that Jesus encounters accepts who he is, though.
In Mark Chapter 2 and the first part of Chapter 3, there are five stories, all of which show growing opposition. In the course of that opposition, Mark poses another question that we need to consider.
