Scripture. Prayer. Who is in the Family? Mark 3:20-35 Sunday, June 10, 2018 The Rev. Sharon Snapp-Kolas, preaching Opening. There s a delightful but disturbing story about a minister who returned to visit a church he had once served. He ran into Bill, who had been an elder and leader in the church, but who wasn't around anymore. The pastor asked, Bill, what happened? You used to be there every time the doors opened. Well, Pastor, said Bill, a difference of opinion arose in the church. Some of us couldn't accept the final decision and we established a church of our own. Is that where you worship now? asked the pastor. No, answered Bill, we found that there, too, the people were not faithful and a small group of us began meeting in a rented hall at night. Has that proven satisfactory? asked the minister. No, I can't say that it has, Bill responded. Satan was active even in that fellowship, so my wife and I withdrew and began to worship on Sunday at home by ourselves. Then at last you have found inner peace? asked the pastor. No, I'm afraid we haven't, said Bill. Even my wife began to develop ideas I was not comfortable with, so now she worships in the northeast corner of the living room, and I am in the southwest. (King Duncan, quoting Eugene Brice) That s how church splits happen. That s how new denominations get formed. And sometimes, that s how folks end up leaving the church altogether, using the divisiveness and the hypocrisy of those Christians as a reason or an excuse. I am on a 1
mission this morning, in search of another way of being. I just know Jesus can help. I. Family (vv. 19b-21). In Mark we read, Then he went home (v. 19b). Jesus has gone home, or entered a house. He goes home, after a tour of Galilee in which he preaches the gospel, heals the sick, cleanses lepers, casts out demons, forgives sins, calls his disciples, and feeds people on the Sabbath a big no-no. His own family calls him crazy. He has gone out of his mind, they say apologetically, as if embarrassed to admit they re related (v. 21). When I visit my father in Clare, Michigan, we often enjoy breakfast at a beautiful old restored Victorian house. A sign on the wall of this charming café caught my eye one morning as I sipped my coffee: You don t have to be crazy to work here. We will train you. Good description of the church, isn t it? Good description of family, too. I love my family, but the dynamics are forever just bouncin off the walls! I m the oldest at 61; my baby brother is a grampa three times over at 46. There are five of us total, three girls and two boys. All very much in the adult -- if not senior adult -- category. Still fighting over which one Mom or Dad loves best. Mom s been gone more than 20 years. Crazy people training other people to be crazy. Have you ever been embarrassed by someone in your family? Has your family ever been embarrassed to be seen with you? Jesus teaches us about family. He teaches us about his family of followers. Jesus teaches us about home. He teaches us about his home the Church. Who are the insiders and the outsiders? Who is in the family? Who is out? Jesus tells two stories: A House Divided, and 2
The Strong Man. He uses these stories to show us what the rules are in his house, in his family. II. Two parables (vv. 23-27). With the first story, A House Divided, Jesus answers his critics. The learned scribes from Jerusalem accuse him of being the ruler of demons (v. 22). So Jesus tells a very short story: How can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided cannot stand; a house divided cannot stand; Satan divided against himself cannot stand. The logic of the scribes makes no sense. If Jesus is Satan incarnate, why would he be casting out his own demons? Ridiculous. Then again, religious folk are not always logical. And the scribes are religious folk. Without waiting for them to respond I can picture the scribes scratching their heads, beginning to get angry, not quite sure why Jesus jumps in and tells another brief parable, the story of The Strong Man : No one can enter a strong man s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man (v. 27). Now The Strong Man is Satan in this story. But let s look back a moment at Mark 1:7. John the Baptist says of Jesus, The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. Satan may be the Strong Man. But Jesus is the More Powerful One. Jesus is stronger; he has already tied up the Evil One; now he plunders his house to take back what is his sinners, sick people, lepers, lost people, crazy people, lonely people, hungry folks, folks without a purpose, folks who think they have no reason for living! Jesus is at work, restoring his people, 3
freeing them from bondage to sin and death, welcoming them home as family! III. Inside-outside (vv. 20-22 & 28-35). Mark writes to a church that is oppressed by both religious and governmental authorities. He reminds them, in v. 28, that God will forgive all sins and blasphemies. God s mercy is wide; God s capacity for forgiveness is endless. The one thing that cannot be forgiven, according to Mark, is the choice of a person, who is beloved by God, to reject God. Mark says in v. 30, For [the scribes] had said, He has an unclean spirit. Mark is trying to make sense out of the scribes rejection of Jesus. He and his community are angry at that rejection, which ended in levels of extreme, abusive, deadly violence against Jesus and his followers in the early church. No one should leave this place today worried that they may have committed the unforgivable sin. V. 28 makes it clear God s forgiveness is all-inclusive. Says Jesus: Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. Even for the scribes -- whom Mark condemns with this idea of an eternal sin God has room for the scribes, as well, if they decide they want to be in God s house, a part of God s family. I like the way David Rogne explains it: There is a positive message to be learned from these words of Jesus. The lesson is that we must keep ourselves alert to the way God is working in the world. Remember that those who were seeking to discredit Jesus were religious people. Their problem was that they just didn't expect God to be acting as Jesus said he was acting, so they missed the movement of God in their midst, and in fact, they called it evil. Today God may be speaking to us in causes that are unpopular, or in political events that cause us to feel threatened and insecure. The cries for justice and fairness in the world may come from quarters that we are not accustomed to listen to. We need to exercise diligence so that we don't miss the voice of God today just because it 4
happens to be spoken by unfamiliar lips. Rogne continues: I once sat in on a class my wife was taking in music appreciation. The instructor was asking the class members to listen for the recurring theme as it was passed from one instrument to another and was modified. I quickly lost it, but others in the class, who had benefited from their training, were able to keep track of the theme and even state which instrument was playing it. It is a law of life that we hear what we have trained ourselves to hear. What we must do is to train ourselves to listen for the voice of God in areas where we have not expected to hear it. We hear that voice only by attentive listening: by asking ourselves whether there is a valid message in those things which make us uncomfortable. Jesus spoke of an unforgivable sin, not because any act is unforgivable, but to warn us that our own hardness of heart can close the channels through which God's forgiveness flows and, as a consequence, leave us feeling alienated. Let us, therefore, affirm the good that is in others, so that our own hearts become generous and accepting of others, even as God is generous and accepting of us. (David G. Rogne) We don t want to take one verse out of context. We want to remember the focus of the whole passage, which is that Jesus is throwing wide the doors of God s house and saying, you are my mother and sister and brother, if you want to be. We are all one family, and God is our father. Who is my mother? Who is my brother? All those who gather round Jesus Christ. Here is my mother here is my brother, Kindred in Spirit, through Jesus Christ. We said these words during the Call to Worship this morning. They are taken from the 5
hymn, Who Is My Mother; Who Is My Brother (The Faith We Sing, #2225). This is Jesus teaching to the scribes, and to the crowd gathered outside his family home. We are all brothers and sisters through Jesus Christ, if we choose to be. Sadly, the scribes reject God s generous, gracious invitation to join the family. Closing. M. H. Schubert reminds us that we are gathered round Jesus Christ, not by our own perfection, but by his love and forgiveness. Schubert shares the story about a group of fishermen in the Scottish highlands. They gathered for tea and discussed the day's catch. As a waitress set down a cup of tea, a hand accidently knocked it against the wall. It left an ugly stain. One of the guests got up, went to the wall, and began sketching around the stain with a crayon. What emerged was a stag with magnificent antlers. The man was Sir Edwin Landseer, England's foremost painter of animals. If an artist can transform an unsightly stain into a beautiful masterpiece, think what God can do with our sins. He absolves them and, in their place, refashions us toward full maturity. (James Weekley, Tilted Haloes). Who is in the family? You are, if you want to be. God accepts, loves and forgives everyone who will let him. It s your choice. God doesn t force us into his family. We are in the family by choice, by our own choice. God has flung wide the doors of his house. Jesus defines his family in v. 35: Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. As we worship together this morning, may we know that we are family. May we recommit ourselves to seeking and bringing in other members of the family who have wandered afar off. Amen. 6