Mark 3
The withered-hand healing on the Sabbath produces the plot to kill Jesus: the Pharisees and Herodians conspire immediately after Jesus' question — which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or evil, to save life or kill? — silences his questioners with the weight of their own answer. A vast crowd from the entire extended territory of Israel and beyond presses in from every direction, communicating the kingdom's magnetism before the appointment of the twelve establishes its inner structure. Jesus goes up the mountain, calls those he wants, appoints twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach and cast out demons — the new Israel gathered around the Messiah, with Judas listed last and always identified as the betrayer. The Beelzebul controversy begins with the Jerusalem scribes' accusation that Jesus casts out demons by the prince of demons; Jesus' logical refutation (a divided kingdom cannot stand, a self-fighting army cannot win) leads to the strong-man parable — he has entered the strong man's house by binding him first — and the blasphemy-against-the-Holy-Spirit saying, which defines the unforgivable sin as the persistent attribution of the Spirit's work to Satan. The chapter ends with the most radical redefinition of family in the Gospels: the physical family stands outside trying to seize Jesus (they think he has lost his mind), the spiritual family sits inside in a circle around him, and Jesus declares — whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.