“Something so very modern?”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Mark 3: 19b-35 (Forward, p. 84) CEV p. 1029
Character assassination: it almost seems to be the order of the day, especially when it comes to public political discourse. Actually, this is nothing new. We see it here in today’s account from the life and ministry of Jesus. Opposition figures, namely some teachers of the Law of Moses came from Jerusalem and accuse Jesus of being ‘under the power of Beelzebul.’ They suggest that it is with the help of the prince of the demons that He can cast out demons. Just think what a low blow this is, this accusation, to suggest that Jesus is actually working with the enemy!
To counter this idea, Jesus gathers the crowd together, and using several parables, explains how things really are:
-a nation that is divided, that is at war, at odds with itself, doesn’t last
very long. That is why a civil war is so disastrous.
-likewise, a family that is embroiled in disputes or dissension.
-so, is Satan fighting against himself? If so, that would be the end of
Him!
-no, to pillage someone’s house, to break in and steal from him when
he is at home, means that you first must overpower him. This, in
effect, is what I am doing with Satan—just the opposite of working in
league with him!
-and here Jesus explains one very important principle: it is dangerous
to misinterpret the power of God, to wrongly attribute its source. It
is dangerous eternally to suggest that when God is working it is
really the devil.
That, however, is only part of the story. People had been saying that Jesus was ‘out of his mind’, that he was crazy, and so His family came to rescue Him, to restrain Him and get Him under control. (This sounds so much like certain families that I have known: a bit of family intervention.)
Here the ancients resorted to a tactic still espoused today, namely, to institutionalize Jesus—only in ancient times it was to bring Him home and keep Him there. This served a double purpose—more than merely controlling or restraining Him--namely to remove Him from the public eye and lessen the danger of societal sanctions, retribution against Him.
However, here comes something interesting. As His family descends upon the scene with this purported ‘rescue mission’, Jesus redefines what family really means, what it means in the kingdom: “Anyone who obeys God, who does His will, is really my family.” This, obviously, would be quite a blow to His natural family, to hear such words, but think what it means to the rest of us. We are now all part of His family, part of Jesus’ family. Wow. Those who have thrown their lot in with Him, and rightfully attribute His power and impact, and don’t consider Him crazy, have now been adopted into His inner, intimate circle, His family. Now, that is something new, something very modern, for each of us. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” (verse 29).
“This is a difficult verse to wrestle with in 220 words or less, but I wanted to try because I think many of us have been afraid of unintentionally committing a sin that’s somehow unforgivable. But that is not what I hear Jesus saying. The scribes in today’s gospel lesson are threatened by Jesus and accuse him of casting out demons by the power of demons, in other words, proclaiming the good Jesus does as ‘evil.’
“Seeing evil where there is good, and good where there is evil, such as the idol-makers Isaiah condemns [see Isaiah 44:9-20}, is a kind of deliberate moral obtuseness so deep that there’s no hope of it ever being changed. It is being content to feed on ashes. When people are blind to good and call it evil, they cut themselves off from God and cannot seek or receive the forgiveness that is always present. We are in danger of committing this sin if we, like the scribes, feel our way of life being challenged and call it evil.”
Moving Forward: “Have you been content to feed on ashes? How can you look with new eyes and see good in the good?”