Welcome to the Family Mark 3:20-35 April 26, Dr. Howard Batson First Baptist Church Amarillo, Texas

Transcription

1 Welcome to the Family Mark 3:20-35 April 26, 2015 Dr. Howard Batson First Baptist Church Amarillo, Texas What is your favorite kind of sandwich? I bet it s not bologna, but perhaps it s a BLT, or the classic club, or a sky-high Dagwood, or for those who really want to indulge -- a Monte Cristo. I ve only tasted a Monte Cristo once, and it must surely be what heaven is like -- deep fried, battered, powdered sugar... Need I say more? Or last but not least, a reuben. The Earl of Sandwich is credited with inventing the sandwich in But I know of a sandwich much older than Throughout this gospel, we have what is known as, not a Monte Cristo or a grilled cheese, but a Markan sandwich. A Markan sandwich works like this: Mark begins to tell one story (that would be the top piece of bread), then he changes to another story (that s the meat in the middle), and then he comes back to the first story (the bottom slice of bread) to make the Markan sandwich. Somehow, the total meaning is found, not in the first story alone or the middle story alone, but rather in the combination of the two stories together. As we go through Mark s gospel, we will see several Markan sandwiches -- hold the mustard, please -- and today we look at our first. In Mark chapter 3, verse 20, Mark begins with a story about the family of Jesus (top bread). He leaves that story and tells us a story about condescending scribes (middle meat), and then finishes up the sandwich by going back to family of Jesus (bottom bread). We ll see how it works as it goes along. The first thing I want you to see about this Markan sandwich is: I: Taking control of Jesus Mark deals with three groups that come to Jesus in this section. There is the awe-struck crowd which is chasing the Miracle Worker in Mark; there is now the second group, Jesus family -- his mother and his brothers; and then the third group, the scribes. Both the family and the scribes are trying to take control of Jesus. You can be sure that Mark is not making this up. It doesn t cast Jesus in a great light, nor Mary nor his brothers. Furthermore, it depicts our Lord as a lunatic. Verse 20 tells us that Jesus came home. Now, we don t know which house. Maybe it was that of Simon and Andrew in Capernaum, but we can t be sure. We do know that a large, demanding, even unruly, crowd gather around the rabbi, the miracle worker. Verse 20, notice the detail, to the extent that they could not even eat a meal. That s a common expression even

2 today, isn t it? Well, I ve been so busy I haven t even had time to stop and eat. The crowds are driving us so crazy, I haven t even had a chance to grab a bite to eat. No time to eat, taking care of the crowd. In verse 21, it s not just the crowd, it s that second group, and when his own people heard of this... The literal translation is, those from beside him... It is a reference to parents or other relatives. On the bottom piece of bread, the other side of the Markan sandwich, we find that those from beside him refers to his mother and his brothers. But notice why his family arrives. They went out to take custody of him. The NIV puts it this way, When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him. The ESV says, They went out to seize him. The New King James Version says, They went out to lay hold of him. Be careful what you try to capture; they are trying to capture the Christ. Taking control of Jesus. Be careful of what you try to get close to, what you try to control. It s a tragic story, and I m in no way making light of the death of Tim and Paul Samaras and Carl Young, who were killed chasing a tornado a couple of years ago. They were part of the Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers, the guys who run toward the tornado while the rest of us are taking cover. It was a Friday in El Reno, Oklahoma, when this team of storm chasers was going after a big one. After being torn apart by the tornado, the metal frame of their storm chasing vehicle was twisted beyond recognition. This particular tornado was described by CNN meteorologist Chad Myers as a wobbler...big! Before his death, Tim Samaras had told CNN that being near storms was part of his job. In order to get directly in the path, you have to be close, he said. Terry Garcia, from the National Geographic Society, said, Tim s death is a stark reminder of the risk encountered regularly by the men and women who work for us. Mike Bettes, an anchor and meteorologist for the Weather Channel, was in the same storm; he said that the tornado also picked up his truck, threw him and his crew 200 yards in the field and smashed the truck to the ground. I saw the people in my life; I say their faces flash right in front of me. It just seemed for a moment that everything was in slow motion, especially when we were floating in the air. In fact, so rattled was this storm chaser that he said he was quite unsure as to whether he will ever take out after a tornado again. Powerful storms leave a trail of damage and death. You can t control, predict, contain, seize, or lay hold of a tornado. It s too big, too powerful. Like so, the family of Jesus was sorely mistaken in thinking that they would be able to control the Christ. Why would they do such a thing? Notice what they say at the end of verse 21. He has lost his senses. The literal translation is He has stood outside. Translation -- he has stood outside of normal, human sanity. We might say it in a modern slang expression, He s beside himself or He s out of it. Congregation, despite what pious Christian traditions have sometimes said about Mary, at least at this stage of her faith journey, she clearly didn t have any idea what Jesus was up to. She brought the rest of the family down to Capernaum from Nazareth to capture Jesus and to take him away so he would stop behaving in such an outlandish, outrageous fashion, bringing dishonor to the family name. They thought the Lord was a lunatic.

3 That s the top piece of bread, and now to the meat in the middle. All of a sudden, without warning, Mark focuses on the scribes. Notice, they come down from Jerusalem. Jerusalem, in Mark s gospel, doesn t have positive connotations. In Mark, Jesus ascends to Jerusalem to be crucified. Mark 33 says he goes up to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit upon him and scourge him and kill him, and three days later, he will rise again (Mark 10:33-34). Jesus will later go up to Jerusalem to meet the scribes, leading to his death. For the moment, in Mark, however, they come down to him. In Biblical text, in general, a descent is often a bad thing. The Israelites descend into Egypt (Isaiah 32, 31:1, 52:4). And there s the descent or fall of Satan and his angels from heaven (Genesis 6:1-4; Isaiah 14:12; Luke 10:18). There s a second thing I want you to see in this Markan Monte Cristo. II. Labeling Jesus First of all, taking control of Jesus, but secondly, labeling Jesus. More specifically, they are labeling Jesus as satanic. The scribes who came down from Jerusalem are saying he is possessed by Beelzebul. He casts out demons by the ruler of demons. Their accusation is clear; they have labeled Jesus as being from the dark side. Now, remember last week, when they were in the synagogue waiting for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath, they didn t even question whether he could heal; it was only whether he would heal on the Sabbath. They didn t deny his power. Interestingly enough, blind as they are, the scribes still do not deny his power to cast out demons; they just say he casts out demons by the power of the chief demon. Wouldn t it strike them as possible, even probable, that this one who can unquestionably heal the sick and cast out demons might, indeed, be from God? Beelzebul is tracked down to Ugaritic texts from which the Canaanite god, Baal, is known as the exalted Baal; Baal is raised. The word became used of Satan himself. When do you say the nastiest things you possibly can about someone? When he is threatening you, you give a low blow in order to discredit him. The scribes, of course, don t like what Jesus is doing because it doesn t fit into their categories. Jesus isn t accredited; he must, therefore, be sidelined. Thus, he must be labeled, and what is the worst label you can possibly produce? He s in league with the arch-demon Beelzebul. Maybe this Jesus is even possessed by Beelzebul. And if they can convince the crowds that Jesus is in collusion with the crafty one, then they can do anything to control him. Remember: taking control of Jesus, first by his family and, now, taking control of Jesus by the scribes. Jesus doesn t lash back with ludicrous labels for the scribes; he simply points out the fallacy of their formula. Why in the world would the devil cast out demons? Look at what Jesus says. How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, the house will not be able to stand, and if Satan has risen up

4 against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished. No one can enter the strong man s house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. Which leads us to our third point -- III. Jesus taking control They try to control him, they try to label him, and now Jesus himself asserts his authority. Satan versus Satan, then Satan is sure to lose. A house cannot fight against itself and have any victories to celebrate. When civil war breaks out in a kingdom, it s the end of the kingdom. Satan, the prince of darkness, wouldn t allow demons to take on demons. Families do fall apart when they fight. We read about it all the time. I found an interesting story about Market Basket grocery stores, which have long been a fixture in Massachusetts. The late Arthur Demoulas was the grandfather of Arthur S. and Arthur T.; they re cousins. He was a Greek immigrant who opened the first grocery store about a century ago. Gradually, under Grandpa s hand, Market Basket became a regional powerhouse with 25,000 employees and 71 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. The feud in this family dates all the way back to the 1970 s, but the most recent round of in-fighting began a few years ago when Arthur S. Demoulas gained control of the board of directors and had Arthur T. Demoulas fired. Cousin cans cousin. You ll never imagine what happened. The workers were fiercely loyal to the fired Arthur T. Now when was the last time you heard about rank and file employees going on strike because their CEO was fired? That s usually cause for a celebration. He puts people ahead of profits, the workers said. He can walk through a store, and if he s met you once, he knows your name, he knows your wife, your husband, your kids, and what they re doing in school. Arthur S., who fired Arthur T., is more about the money, the profit margin. Arthur T. just wants to pay fair wages, and keep the prices low. As a result of this in-fighting between Arthur S. and Arthur T., 10,000 employees, customers, and reporters attended a protest rally at a Market Basket store on Friday. Traffic backed up Interstate 495 on Friday morning as thousands of people made their way to the rally. Striking and hurting your own company is sort of like breaking your favorite toy on purpose, an employee said. It hurts, but we ve got to do it. The workers are not asking for more money; they re not asking for better benefits; they re simply asking for Arthur T. back. The warehouse workers have refused to make deliveries, so the shelves at Market Basket stores have no fruit, vegetables, seafood, or meat. Customers are complaining, too, some actually taping their receipts from competitors stores to Market Basket windows as if to say, So take that, Arthur S. A tale of two Arthurs. A house divided will surely fall. Arthur against Arthur or Satan against Satan, no one wins. Your argument makes no sense, Jesus said. I can t be casting out demons by the power of Satan. Satan wouldn t fight himself. Jesus has a different explanation. There s a strong man, he says, and you can t plunder his property unless a stronger man first binds him. Put another

5 way, I am the stronger one, and I have arrived, and the strong one (that is Satan) finds his house being burglarized. Jesus casts out Satan s demons, Satan s sidekicks, when he expels the demons of hell. Oh, there s a new kingdom here, and it s more powerful, and with my arrival, so it is. There s a fourth thing I want you to see quickly -- IV. Crossing the line Mark 3: Jesus says whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. The popular phrase for this passage is the unpardonable sin. I ve sat with people in my office for hours who are so afraid that somehow they have crossed the line, they have committed the unforgiveable. First of all, let me say, if you are afraid that you may have committed the unpardonable sin, you have not committed it. Those who have committed it have no moral conscience or worry about their attitudes or actions. So what is Jesus talking about? The unpardonable sin has a history in the ancient Jewish traditions. Judaism knew of sins that were unforgiveable. Let me sum up the attitude in early rabbinic literature: God has appointed a means of atonement for every transgression except the intention to reject God and his covenant. Thus, all sins are forgivable except the blaspheming against the Spirit, that is rejecting the ultimate revelation of God s will in Jesus. In the Markan story, blasphemy against the Spirit means the sort of total, malignant opposition to Jesus that twists all the goodness of his life-giving power into evidence that he is demonically possessed. In verse 30, they were saying he has an unclean spirit. And those guilty of such blasphemy are so blinded as to never be able to return to sight. Jesus is God. He liberates people from demon possession like God liberated the ancient Israelites from Egypt. Far from being in league with Satan, Jesus is the one who liberates us from Satan s control. His exorcisms are a sign that God s new age is dawning and he is the appointed agent for its advent. And when you call good evil and evil good, you ve crossed a line from which you cannot return. To misconstrue the liberation that Jesus brings as a deed of the devil is to demonstrate that there is no future possibility of rescue for you. Now here s the irony: it s actually Jesus enemies, the scribes, who accuse him of demonic collusion who are permanently wedded to Satan. Now we have to finish our sandwich. We had the family calling the Lord a lunatic, for the first piece of bread. Then we had the middle meat, with the scribes accusing him of being empowered by darkness. And now we finish by coming back to the family of Jesus. Look at the closing verses. And his mother and his brothers arrived; standing outside they sent word to him and called him. The multitude was sitting around him. They said, Behold, your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you. And Jesus answered them, Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about on those who were sitting around him, he said, Behold, my mother and brothers; whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. This last lesson from Mark is

6 V. Understanding family a new way. I wish I could make you understand how shocking these words really were. As Westerners, the words of Jesus are mildly shocking, but not nearly as shocking as they would have been in the first century. We, in the Western world, develop a circle of friends who know us, sometimes, better and spend more time with us than our parents and siblings. How many of you have all of your children still living in Amarillo? And often in an obituary, we will see the naming of an unrelated grandchild or someone we treated like a son or a daughter. But in Jesus world, the idea was absolutely scandalous. The family bond was tight and long-lasting. Children lived close to their parents, maybe even in the same house. They worked together, lived together, did everything in common. Loyalty to one s own family was a local and specific outworking of loyalty to Israel as the people of God. Family solidarity was up there with Sabbath keeping. It was just part of the Jewish identity. But Jesus redefines family; God is starting a new family, a new holy people. He s doing so with total disregard for ordinary human family bonds. Unless you re totally shocked when Jesus says, I ll show you my mother, my sisters, my brothers by those who do the will of God, you ve missed the mark. Jesus family, instead of responding to Jesus call, they try to call him away from his mission. When they say Jesus has gone mad, lost his mind, and then try to control him, they are much like the enemies of Jesus. Do you remember how Mark s gospel began? In Mark 1:20, when the sons of Zebedee, John and James, are called, it says they left their father Zebedee in the boat and went away to follow Jesus. Or in chapter 10, a few chapters from now, in verse 28, Peter says, Lord, we have left everything and followed you. And Jesus says, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brother or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for my sake and for the gospel s sake, but that he shall receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. Jesus is saying if you leave your family for the sake of the gospel, you receive a new family, albeit with persecution. Some disciples will be betrayed to death by their own relatives, persecuted by their own people for following Jesus. It is no coincidence that the early church referred to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. God s starting a new family; it s called church. In the end, we must say that the mother and brothers of Jesus, and the scribes were right about one thing. You can t take a middle ground with this Messiah. Either he is a lunatic, out of his mind, or he is the Christ of the cosmos. I m happy to say that though many of the scribes never got it right, remember they crossed the line, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers believe in him following his resurrection. You, too, have to make a choice. He s not just a good teacher; he was either a crazy man, or he s the resurrected Christ of the cosmos. So who do you think he is? If you think he is the Christ, he has called you into a new family.