Then Jesus went home. That’s how our Gospel reading begins. After hearing from the Gospel of John throughout the Easter season we are back in the Gospel of Mark – which moves fast. It’s chapter 3 and Jesus has already been proclaimed the Messiah, baptized and prevailed over temptation; Jesus has healed those with physical and mental health conditions, preached to crowds with authority, sparred with the Scribes and Pharisees over the meaning of scripture and called his disciples, including Judas, who Mark reveals will betray Jesus.
That’s a lot. And so, perhaps it is not surprising that he goes home. Going home – there is something comforting about “going home.” As
poet Robert Frost wrote, “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” But…. home is not always as welcoming as we might imagine it will be.
Jesus goes home – but the crowd follows and so many people – people who are hurting, people who are seeking God, people with all kinds of needs are jam packed inside this house so tightly that there is no room to even raise your hand to your mouth – sounds like a rock concert.
But not everyone is there to hear the music. Mary and the rest of Jesus family are not sitting with Jesus – instead they are listening to the authorities and “people.” And the rumors they hear are not good. “People” are telling them Jesus is acting like a madman. Naturally, his family is concerned.
The Gospel of Mark often inserts one story inside another – the fancy term for this is “intercalating” – which basically means intertwining two seemingly unrelated stories – but which, when seen together – help to shine a light and explain one another. So, we take a pause from the family scene in which Mary and the rest of the family are seeking an intervention for Jesus and listen to Jesus’ words to the scribes and Pharisees who have called Jesus, “Beelzebul” which means, literally,
“Lord of the flies” and declare that Jesus is Satan – and it is by Satan’s power that Jesus is casting out demons.
So, setting aside the family crisis for a moment, let us look at what Jesus is saying. Jesus is speaking to the scribes who are trying to silence him. But Jesus will not be silenced. Instead, Jesus refutes their accusation by speaking in parables, saying, a kingdom, a house – divided against itself – cannot stand – and neither can Satan, the forces of evil. So clearly, Jesus, in casting out demons, is the one binding up Satan, the strong man, so that Satan’s house will fail.
And then, still speaking in parables and apocalyptically, Jesus accuses the scribes of committing the unforgiveable sin, blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. These are scary words – which Mark does not explain but it basically means that those who identify Jesus as Satan cannot receive forgiveness because if they identify Jesus as Satan, the evil one, they would not be willing to receive forgiveness from Jesus.1
Jesus is busy doing his Father’s business – and will not be delayed. So, when his family comes – notice that they are outside the house, not inside listening to Jesus’ words, they call on Jesus to come out. This is not just an invitation – hey Jesus, we miss you and want to hear about your ministry. No, this is an intervention based on false evidence. In calling Jesus out, they are calling Jesus to stop doing what he is doing – and instead obey the commandment to honor your father and your mother. But, instead of simply obeying his mother, as they probably assumed that he would, Jesus obeys his Father God. For this is his calling, this is his mission.
Jesus then redefines what it means to be “home” and who is his “family.” Looking at the people who are surrounding him, pressing in against him, yearning for wholeness, healing who are eager to hear the Good News of God, these, Jesus says, are his family. Jesus claims as family not only his biological mother and brother but also, Jesus says, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Whenever you do the will of God, you are acting as Jesus’ brother or sister or mother. So, the question then becomes, how do we act as Jesus’ brother? What choices do we make in our lives to act like Jesus’ sister?
When I worked at Augustana Lutheran downtown, I worked with a lot of inner city kids who we bussed into Sunday school. Worship was afterwards and sometimes the kids wanted to stay for worship. I was thrilled. I thought that that is exactly were kids belonged on Sunday morning. Except, that their parents were not there. So… they sat with me.
I don’t know why the kids liked to stay – perhaps they were hungry for the word of God. Perhaps it was better than the alternative of going home. Or maybe they just wanted to stay for the really delicious treats after worship. But whatever the reason, it was my job to manage these previously unchurched kids who were sitting with me. Augustana was an old Swedish congregation with very traditional church values of silence in worship when you were not singing. So, it was a challenge to maintain all of these kids in one or two or three pews all by myself and with the help of my boyfriend.
As you can imagine, we got a lot of looks whenever the kids got a little noisy or rambunctious – and the people giving the looks weren’t smiling. When some of the church elders started to complain to the pastor and to me, I knew that I had to do something different. But also believed that God was calling these kids to hear God’s word. They belonged in church.
So, I asked a few people, primarily couples, if they would “adopt” one of the kids as their “Pew Partner.” They agreed. I especially remember Liz and Ken who agreed to take a child. I gave them “Bobby” – who was one of the biggest instigators of “trouble” in the pew. He was a very wiggly, loud and somewhat naughty boy who was known to write in the hymnals and do other troublesome things. But when he met Liz and Ken, they invited him to sit between them. They mentored him and cared for him and suddenly, he became a stellar example to all of the kids – and probably some of the adults too.
When someone from the church came and said to me, “I think Bobbie has written graffiti on the church, Liz happened to be standing there and she was quick to say, “Well it couldn’t have been our little “Bobby.” Bobby had an advocate. And the person backed down.
Liz and Ken made a huge difference in Bobby’s life. And it was just by sitting in church with him, being a mentor to him and treating him as a child of God. This too is what it means to follow God’s will.
The question becomes, who is God calling you to befriend? How is God calling you to care for the person at your grocery store or a person at the care center who has no friends or the neighbor down the street? How can we do God’s will? That is a question for you – and for me.
Let us pray: Holy Spirit, open our hearts and our lives to follow God’s will and God’s way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
ITheologian C. Cliften Black acknowledges that Mark does not explain the unforgivable sin but, his “take” is that: “Identifying as diabolical the one endowed with God’s holy spirit (Mark1:8, 10) is a peculiar blasphemy, beyond the pale of remission, because one thereby drives oneself away from the true agent of forgiveness.” https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-10-2/commentary-on-mark-320-35-5