God's Chosen Family of Care

Mark 3:20-35

20and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

28“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

31Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” 33And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Have you ever watched someone you care about get into something new, some new interest or hobby or fandom or relationship and what seems like all of a sudden they just go really hard and it takes over their entire lives and it’s the only thing they ever want to talk about anymore? And you’re not quite sure whether to be happy for them or concerned, especially if it’s some super-exciting thing that you’ve enever even heard of before or seems kinda...fantastical and extreme? And so you, from your point of view, are just kinda keeping an eye on things to figure out where this passion an unhealthy obsession or maybe it’s them finally connecting with the things that make them light up in life. 

It’s a tough line to dance sometimes. And it’s difficult...perhaps even unatural...to see and hear something wildly different from what we’ve known, and not have serious questions and concerns.

Something’s up with Jesus. Even his family, those who are supposed to be nearest and dearest, are worried that something’s wrong with him, that he has become lost from himself, that he has lost control of himself and needs to be restrained for his own good. The powerful religious authorities, the scribes, see this and identify the problem within him as Beezelbub - the name they’ve given to an outsider God  - Ba’al Zelbub - which translates to Lord of the flies, a divine authority that brings and follows death and decay.

So they are saying that the king of kings is actually the demon of demons.  In the baptismal liturgy of the Lutheran church, we ask the baptized to renounce Satan, all the forces that defy God, the powers of the world that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw you from God. So what they’re essentially saying that what Jesus is up to, and why it’s so dangerous and needs to be stopped, is in defiance of God and so, actually in service to evil. They’re worried someone is going to get hurt and that what he’s doing will only bring about death and destruction.

Jesus IS breaking things down...but it’s not life and goodness and community, only the half-life we’ve been convinced is safest and best.

So this got me wondering...What did Jesus do to raise this concern?  What could he possibly have gotten into within just 3 chapters of Gospel text to cause such powerful rejection?  I flipped through the previous pages of my bible to see that Jesus in these earliest days of his minitsry, he has been busy healing the sick, casting OUT demons, and restoring people to themselves and to their communities. 

Who can do these impossible things? Who can actually make an impact over the evils that have plagued humanity for eons? Who can and would disrupt the fabric of the world? More often than not, in our experiences of empire...it’s always a bigger badder superpower that doesn’t ultimately liberate but just trades one evil for another, even if it looks shiny at first. Not much has changed since the garden, we still worry about how to tell the difference between good and evil so we can be safe.

I can sympathize...when healing and wholeness seems so impossible, when we hurt so badly and have worked so hard to adapt ourselves for survival that returning to health now seems suspicious. When we’ve become so used to the way things are, that even life-giving alternatives seem dangerous, immoral, and even demonic.

But Jesus unravels this. His argument is essentially reflected in a sermon from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. where he famously said, “hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” Jesus HAS come to dislodge and dismantle other systems of power - ones that isolate and abandon, demean and exploit. But Jesus does so in order to usher in something new, something that actually bears life upon life.

What Jesus calls enduring sin, that which draws us away from God and the reality of God’s ways...is that which can only see such life as dangerous or as death. That which can not recognize God’s goodness, even when it is standing before them, and actively defies or works against it. It is not only to miss the work of the Holy Spirit but to undermine that work. It is that which resists and rejects restoration and calls it evil. Jesus cautions with the same words of the Spirit we hear in Acts: do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” God has made these things clean, so don’t call them “unholy.”

Instead, be called family - a family that isn’t only defined by biological relationship but being a part of this kind of holy life in community. Jesus says, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” And so, perhaps God’s family looks more like a chosen family of misfits, bound together by holy love more than anything else. Perhaps God’s family looks like you. As we look at Jesus to understand what IS the will of God we are called to do and be...we see the will of God as healing and care and liberation in community, and it comes into being by everyone who comes to be a part of it.

You, as God’s family to me, as God’s +KINDRED, have given me this coming season of sabbatical for my healing and care and restoration. Even as I will be absent from you in body, withdrawn from my role as Pastor among you, I know we are both held in this Spirit of care for one another. I am not worried about how you will be a part of the will of God while I am away.  I worry about Kinnon chopping off a finger in the food truck, but I do not worry about who and how you will be, because I know that you are well-practiced in caring for each other and in quickly inviting anyone you encounter to become a part of that care. I am reminded by Christ’s promises that the source of this care isn’t a Pastor or any other set role, but a shared way of being anchored in God.

YOU are to be sources of healing and restoration for each other. Check in with each other, text each other with good news, ask each other for help when you need it, share information about that workshop or rally that sounds interesting or important and gather together to grow, invite each other to a day at the beach or a walk in the park, go with each other to  brunch or a show, be on the look out for who is getting left out or trampled on and place yourself beside them.

This summer I pray and I know that with God’s grace....that you will hold each other, tell the beloved truth about each other, and remind people about the truth of God’s love for them and in them. Amen.