Who Is My Family?: Last Sunday's Sermon

The Gospel
Mark 3:20-35


The crowd came together again, so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But 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.

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

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

The Sermon

Jesus was upsetting the apple cart and he was irritating the Jewish leaders and even his family. The Jewish leaders were even saying Jesus was possessed by the devil. What?? How did they come to this conclusion?

Lets look back at what has taken place before this event we read about today. In chapter two of Mark Jesus is at home in Capernaum and there is a crowd around the house. There is a paralyzed man who wants to be healed and his friends lower the man through the roof into the room where Jesus is staying. What is the first thing you would expect Jesus would do? He would heal the man, right? But that isn't what he does. He says to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.” That upset the scribes because forgiving sins is above Jesus' pay grade, or so they believe. Jesus does physically heal the paralytic but he makes it very clear that forgiving someones sins is a much bigger deal than curing a physical ailment.

Next in Mark, Jesus has dinner with Levi the tax collector. Now Levi is not liked by the Jewish establishment because tax collectors were considered in league with the Roman authorities. So, here is Jesus sitting down to dinner with Levi and Levi's friends also known as other sinners. Jesus is chastised again for mixing with the wrong kind of folk. Jesus' reply is I came here to save souls and these souls desperately need saving.

Next, as we read last Sunday, Jesus is allowing his disciples to do work on the Sabbath because they need to eat. He also heals a man on the Sabbath. When he is criticized for this he tells the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. People have to eat and healing can take place on the Sabbath.

Everything Jesus does in these events is logical and reasonable and breaks the rules of the Judaic law.

Therefore he must be possessed or crazy at the least.

No! Jesus was bringing a breath of fresh air to the world. He was showing compassion to those around him and reaching out to those living on the edge of society. Jesus was teaching us today by example. We are one world, one family and whatever we do for the least of our brethren we have done for him.