Through Chaos and Confusion (Sermon on Mark 3: 20-35)

“Then Jesus entered the house, and the crowd gathered again, so that he and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take responsibility for him, because they said: “He came out of His opinion. “And the teachers of the law who came from Jerusalem said:“ He is possessed by Beelzebub! Prince of demons, he expels demons. " (Mark 3: 20-22)

This begins the passage of the Holy Scriptures transmitted to us this morning, and it does not begin well, in the sense that it is not a happy scene. As history progresses, things are no better. The conflict between Jesus and the teachers of the law is intensifying, as is the tension between Jesus and his family.

I do not know when you are planning this scene, if a certain word or emotion comes out on you. For me, when I read this paragraph again this week in preparation for this sermon, one word immediately occurred to me - & # 39; & # single 39; ,

This is the word that came to mind, although he who really lived Alone life is hard to say. Jesus divided the mind of God in such a way that we do not share it in the mind of God, and therefore, I think, it is impossible to truly enter into the mind of Jesus. However, what clearly appeared to me in this scene was that if it were me in Jesus, the situation, I would feel insulation very intense!

I see that my life is divided into several areas — the church, the campsite, the fight club, the websites, and my family — both of which are very important to me. In general, I believe that something always goes wrong, at least in one of these key areas, but, fortunately, they never all falling apart at the same time.

When, many years ago, my first marriage fell apart, and I could not cope on my own, it was a church community that helped me overcome this with their love. When, at another time, I was in suspense with the church community or struggled with other external gifts, I usually had to return to my family, and the Fight Club was always there to help relieve stress. It becomes very difficult for me when I have to fight on several fronts. It seems to me that this is exactly what Jesus did. all the time !

As the story opens in Mark 3, we see Jesus in a dizzying confrontation with demons and at the same time He fights with religious authorities. Does he receive support from his family to help support him in this conflict? Not by chance! On the contrary, his family, as we are told, is part of the problem. Instead of encouraging Jesus, they agree with the assessment that His opponents made and concluded that He is crazy! Indeed, by the end of the story, Jesus’s family is in the house where He teaches, with the goal of closing Him and taking Him home.

Jesus and # 39; The answer to this, although even more shocking: "

"Who is my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those that were indicated in the circle around him, and said: “Here is my mother and my brothers! Who will be God is my brother, sister and mother. ” " (Mark 3: 32-35)

It reminds me of the second word - namely, dysfunctional ,

Yes, I mean the family of Jesus - the Holy Family, which is usually held for us as some kind of ideal, to which we are all invited to try and imitate.

"Christian children should all be

Gentle, obedient, kind as He "

So say the words to Christmas Carol ( "Once upon a time in Royal David," ), but even if it were fair for Jesus as a young man (and there are many good reasons to think that it is not), this is hardly a good description of Jesus, as we see Him here, where Jesus is neither gentle nor obedient , and where He seems to be repudiating his own mother!

“Here is my mother and my brothers! Whoever God does is my brother, sister and mother ", (Mark 3:35).

It was a very positive statement word for people who were surrounded by Jesus — identified as Jesus. real family. At the same time, however, it was a destructive attack on those who NOT His family is rare, His flesh and blood relatives who are waiting for Him outside (and who must have kept waiting)!

It's strange, isn't it, that Jesus is so often called the author and protector of the nuclear family, to the extent that Christian values ​​& # 39; and Family values ​​& # 39; are considered synonymous, and yet the scenes in the Gospels, where we see Jesus interacting with His earthly family, are very similar to episodes The Waltons !

The earliest interaction we see in the Gospels between Jesus and His earthly parents is associated with them. loss He, only to find their boy after three days in the temple, saying: “Did you not know that I should be in my Father's house?” (Luke 2:49). At the other end of the gospel story, we have Mary watching her son die on the cross! (John 19). Between these two extremes is a series of meetings between Jesus and his mother and brothers and sisters, and yet they are all tense and difficult!

“What are you doing to me, woman?” we hear Jesus speak to his mother in John, the second chapter, and here, in the third chapter of Mark, and in parallel pass where - “Who is my mother?

As I said, this is a statement that needs to be said to those whom you recognize as your new family, and nevertheless not escape an escape. It is a destructive thing to say to your mother and mother and brothers and sisters:

You are not my mom! You are not my brother! You are not my sister! & # 39;

I do not know if there is another word that can sum up the struggle between Jesus and the teachers of the law. conflict, violence, or even & # 39; a curse. ?

I suspect that we are all familiar with this section of the text, because these are well-known verses (Mark 3: 22-30) and well-known, because this is the only case in the New Testament where we have ever heard Jesus say someone who they are NOT forgiven - indeed, that they cannot be forgiven, never!

This link to unforgivable sin for many years has been the subject of much debate. More importantly, it was the cause of a lot of unnecessary suffering, I think, because many people over the years decided for one reason or another that they did & # 39, and unpardonable sin. ,

I remember that Soren Kierkegaard’s father was one of them. If I remember the story correctly, a person once cursed God during a terrible storm and subsequently became convinced that he committed unforgivable sin Subsequently, he became a very hard man to live with (and his son followed in the footsteps for that matter)!

I do not know how many people have lived lives that suffer from fear at the thought of committing perfect unforgivable sin I remember being puzzled by this passage as a child, as I recall, asking my Sunday school teacher, whatever that means, that sweating, using the name of the Holy Spirit, instead of cursing, using the name Jesus or just saying My God. it was unforgivable. I was told that it is so.

I remember really telling my father that my Sunday school teacher taught me this, and I remember how my father said that he was going to talk to a Sunday school teacher. This is my memory of these events.

Just in case, although there are people who live in fear of committing unforgivable sin let me pause and honestly look at the text.

The context of the statement is Jesus. ongoing work of healing and exorcism. People around the world are transformed by life, and this affects different groups of people in different ways.

For those who are sick or obsessed, Jesus is exciting news. Jesus and # 39; the family, on the other hand, is worried about Him. Maybe they just want him to get a haircut and get real or perhaps they are concerned about the social upheavals that it causes and how they will affect them. In the center of the shock, in any case, there are religious leaders who not only see their own power, but also see the level of agitation in their community that they are afraid of, can confront them with their foreign occupiers - the Romans.

These religious and community leaders were in an uncomfortable situation. They had every reason to be suspicious of Jesus and his destructive influence on their community. On the other hand, it was impossible to deny both His words and His works! He not only taught the things that they should have known completely corresponded to the real understanding of God that they had, but the miracles that he did, it was harder to ignore!

There comes a time when, no matter how much you want to face the truth, the evidence becomes overwhelming and you should ever accept the facts.

I did not long return from a conference in Iran, where a number of my speakers were American whistles — men and women who began to work in good faith over their government, believing that they help bring freedom and democracy in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan through Liberation Wars ,

It was fascinating to hear the testimonies of these men and women when they talked about their growing awareness of what was really going on and about their desire to block him so as not to disturb the course they were on. For each of them, although the moment came when they could no longer live with a lie!

CS Lewis, you may know, described his coming to Christ in similar terms:

“You have to imagine me in this room in Magdalen at night for the night, feeling that when my mind lives just for a second from my work, a steady, unconstrained attitude towards Him, that I so sincerely wanted not to meet, was afraid to finally step on me. In the Trinity term of 1929, I entered and acknowledged that God was God, and knelt down and prayed: sometimes that night the most dismal and reference converts in all of England " ( Surprised with Joy , chapter 14).

There is a moment for all of us when we are faced with a clear truth, where we have to give in to the overwhelming evidence that is before us, no matter how much pain causes us. The only alternative is to enter some schizophrenic state in which we need to change reality in order to conform to the absurd beliefs that we insist on in order to continue to cling, and that it is we who see Jesus. opponents are doing.

These teachers of the law - they are. They saw first-hand the work that Jesus does — how He heals the sick, gives sight to the blind, and frees those who are obsessed — and yet, instead of acknowledging the truth and joining Jesus, they claim that it is ridiculous — that Jesus Himself - the devil Cast out demons by the prince of demons; , Jesus and # 39; The diagnosis is that these people are outside the care.

Loneliness, dysfunctionality, conflict, aggression, violence - these are the only words that come to mind when I think about this scene. When I think about how this house was so crowded that they could not eat, I also think about the level noise ,

Do we envisage & # 39; frenzied & # 39; as a person whose heads revolve (like in the movies) or just as people with regular mental illness, I think they were loud and difficult to control. Words like “Chaos”, confusion and & # 39; & # mayhem 39; comes to mind I have no doubt that Jesus brought order to chaos. Even the scene, I suppose, begins in chaos and confusion, and when the sun sets and his family refuses and returns home, there is still chaos and confusion.

Where is the good news? This is a question.

If you know me as a preacher, you know that I consider my main role as a preacher so that you Good news , and at first glance, it seems, not much good news seemingly in this passage. There is a lot of chaos and confusion, conflicts and unrest and pain in sight, but I struggled for a long time to see Good news here, and then it happened to me - the gospel is just a fact that this story is in the Bible!

I mean, this story isn’t Sydney Morning Herald This is not just a story of chaos and confusion. This is part of the story of Jesus, and the story of Jesus is the story of the liberation of the cosmos!

We know how this story ends. This ends with the coming of the kingdom! Yes, at first there is a lot of chaos and pain, loneliness and dysfunctionality, but the Kingdom comes anyway! I think this is good news - really OK News!

We struggle, we fail, we are overwhelmed, we don’t know how to deal with conflict, and we don’t know how to deal with isolation, but God comes, forgiveness happens, and love triumphs. Amen!