Mark
3:20-35
Doing
the Will of God
There are some extremely disturbing
things being said about Jesus in today’s Gospel Reading.
There is a “crowd” following Jesus,
or with Jesus. We would assume them to
be supporters or supportive. But in the
opening verses we read that even they were beginning to speak ill of him. The accusation they level is that he “has
gone out of his mind.”
What is the old saying – “With
friends like that, who needs enemies?”
Jesus does have enemies. Last week,
it was the Pharisees. Today we realize
that the scribes are also eager to pounce.
When they join the mix, the ante
is ramped really high. The “authority”
with which Jesus does these things is attributed to Beelzebul – the prince of
all the demons.
Jesus’ family enter the
picture. No words are put in their mouths. It is noted that they do not enter the place. They “sent to him and called him.”
What is going on? What is Jesus doing or saying that gives rise
to such an upheaval? Before these words
can impact our lives we need to find the parallel to our lives. So I will ask again, “What could possibly
create such an uproar?”
If you have your bible, you can
flip back through what has happened thus far.
Most significant is the story of his temptation and his announcement of
a planned preaching tour through Galilee.
Then, there are the healing stories (Sabbath healing stories) which got
him into the dispute with the Pharisees addressed in last week’s Gospel and
Sermon.
What is going on? What is Jesus saying which would lead to
Pharisees, the crowd, the scribes, and Jesus’ own mother attempting to bring Jesus
down?
The answer might be simple. Jesus is speaking the Word of God.
We are inclined to want to believe
that whenever the Word of God is present, there will be an absence of
conflict. What is true is when the Word
of God reigns, there is such an absence.
Getting to the place where the Word is heard and accepted will inevitably
take us through contentious encounters.
The Word of God brings out the gap
between the wishes of God and what we might prefer.
We typically don’t like to talk
about money, and there is a reason. None
of us are doing with our money what the bible says to do with our money. It is not the lack of trust in God, spoken of
in the parable of the birds or the air having no barns for storage, which
results in our 401(k) accounts and our stock portfolios?
Now, those resources are good, and great, and appreciated as the offering
plate is passed. They make it possible
for us to have this beautiful house of worship.
This is a nice place, right? But used
for only a few hours a week. It sits empty
while sisters and brothers struggle to find shelter from the heat and
cold. When asked why we don’t just leave
the doors open on wet and dreary nights, the answer usually comes back to the impossibility
of trusting those folks who might slip in and sleep here.
These are very real concerns. And each is valid. But they do expose places where what we might
prefer is at a distance from what Jesus tells us. The Word of God leads to actions which many if
not most would associate with one who has “gone out of his mind.”
So here Jesus is. Speaking the Word of God. The Pharisees come at him. The crowd begins to suspect him. The scribes add some real heat to the conversation
and finally Jesus’ own mother comes to speak with him.
We are much too inclined to listen
to those whom others listen to. We even
do it in church. When a skilled orator
becomes a popular preacher, we flock to her and take his messages to
heart. The endless surveys do not merely
inform us of what others are thinking, they tend to enlist and bring along
those who were previously undecided. I
sometimes wonder if we fear being alone in our opinions more than we fear being
wrong in our convictions.
Maybe I should say that again: I sometimes wonder if we fear being alone in
our opinions more than we fear being wrong in our convictions.
The upward call of our Lord and
Master will separate us. The commandment
that we love one another as he has first loved us will inform our actions. The world may teach us that blood is thicker
than water, but Jesus clearly says blood is no match for the oneness which
exists among “Whoever does the will of God.”
The blasphemy which Jesus so
opposes in these verses from Mark 3 is the untruth spoken whenever we ignore
the gaps between the Word of God and what we might prefer. The “eternal sin” happens when we protect the
ways which preserve our patterns and ignore the cries of those who have become marginalized
by our strength.
With friends like that, who needs
enemies? The followers of Jesus are too
easily lead into paths which minimize the conflict present anytime the Word of
God is spoken. It is at our own peril
that we failing to identify where and how our lives have become as comfortable
as those of the scribes and Pharisees.
It is our own shame when we too seek to silence the call from God to
love neighbor, welcome the stranger, and pray for our enemies.
Amen.