When is a house not home? Disciples and family in Mark-III,13-35 (Redefining discipleship in terms of familial tribalisms within the Markan gospel narrative)

The paper provides a study of the disciples and family of Jesus in Mark 3:1 3-35. It argues, against the prevailing interpretations, that (1) Mark 3:13 -35 should be viewed as a subsection of 3:13-6:13, thus 3:20-35 should not be read in isolation from 3:13-19. (2) Recognising the connection of 3:13-1 9 to 3:22-35 by 3:20-21 points the way to identifying the twelve as those w ho sought to restrain Jesus. (3) On this basis an outline reading of 3:20-3 5 is given. Four groups fall under critique here: the twelve, the crowd, th e scribes from Jerusalem and the family, the last of these less severely th an the other three groups. (4) Family is redefined in terms of discipleship and discipleship in terms of family. (5) the study also argues that, accor ding to Mark, the households of supporters were the strategic centres of th e Jesus movement. These are contrasted with synagogues and Temple,which are places of opposition to the Jesus movement.