Gospel Reading Mark 3:19b-35
3:19b Then he went home;
3:20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.
3:21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
3:22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”
3:23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?
3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
3:25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
3:26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.
3:27 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.
3:28 “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter;
3:29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”-
3:30 for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
3:31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him.
3:32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.”
3:33 And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
3:34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
3:35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
SERMON: “Family Is As Family Does”
Right now I want you to use your imagination. I want you to visualize your older brother or a slightly older childhood friend. Think of somebody that you played hide and seek with. Someone that you caught lightening bugs with, went fishing with, climbed trees, fought imaginary battles with, and play board or video games with. Have you pictured that person in your mind?
Good!
Now imagine that he has just told you that he has superpowers. He claims that he can leap tall buildings in a single bound, is more powerful than a locomotive, and is faster than a speeding bullet. And he’s serious! He really believes it.
What do you do?
What if he’s brought home some friends that believe him. And they are telling you that they’ve witnessed these amazing feats. What do you do now?
What if he’s announced his abilities on the national news and now there are crowds of people following him everywhere? Some are following him hoping to see him perform some amazing feat. Some are follwing him because they truly believe he can do what he says. And some are following because they want to prove that he’s a fraud.
And now he has shown up at your door looking plumb tuckered out and hungry … but the crowds keep pressing in … wanting more and more from him.
Now what do you do?
This is a very intriguing passage of scripture in the Gospel of Mark.
It is not a long passage.
It does, however, introduce us to some characters and characteristics that are worth noting.
Here is the background.
Jesus was becoming well known as a teacher, a prophet and a healer and the crowds kept following him.
There were folks from other countries that came to hear his messages and to witness the miraculous things that he was doing.
He had tried getting in a boat and crossing the sea. Yet more crowds followed.
He’d climbed up a mountainside and they still came.
It appears that, just when he thought it safe to return to his home, more crowds gathered.
Most scholars believe that this was his home in Capernaum (see Mark 2:1) this is the same home where, at another time, some men tore the roof off so that they could lower their friend down to be healed.
He and his disciples are more than tired … they are nearly physically spent.
Many of us know that feeling. Amen?
As a young father, I was working two fulltime jobs, a daytime job and a nighttime job. At one point I had been awake for nearly one hundred hours before I could get home to sleep. I was so spent that I quite literally would fall asleep walking. I’d kind of slump and then catch myself before I hit the floor. Then I’d praise God for the nap.
At least I had a lunch break at both jobs. I could set an alarm and snooze for a little bit in a back room or break-room. And I had time to gulp down a sandwich and a cup of coffee.
The scriptures say that Jesus didn’t even have time to eat because of the demands of the people following him.
So, he has returned home and his earthly family were also there. And they were concerned. Some were concerned for his health and some were concerned for his sanity. In factI they went out to physically restrain him. Isn’t that amazing?
It reminded me of another family that is mentioned in the scriptures. Mark 9:17-29 tells us this story where Jesus comes upon an argument between a group of people and the Scribes. Jesus asks what is going on.
A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.”
“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”
So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”
“From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
“‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”
Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”
The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.”
But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up.
This poor father had tried everything to protect his child. He had often had to restrain him to keep him from harming himself. That’s what families do … they try to protect each other. Amen?
Family is as family does.
Jesus’ family was attempting to do the same thing. Jesus was on the verge of collapse and yet the people demanded more from him. The family wanted to forcibly bring him into the house and away from the mob.
Again, use your imagination; put yourself in the role of one of Jesus’ brothers or sisters. You grew up in the same household. He was the older son and had learned the carpentry trade from his earthly father. At Joseph’s death, he would have inherited the family business and the responsibilities of the head of household. He was expected to care for his mother and siblings. But now … now he has become an itinerant preacher. And he’s not even ordained by the General Board of Clergy! He has no formal standing with the ruling religious authorities. In fact, the religious authorities are “out to get him.”
So, once again, what do you do about or for this brother who is acting so strangely?
Do you think that Jesus felt a little betrayed by his family … or was he glad that they cared enough to try and protect him? Because at this point, the family didn’t fully understand the extent of Jesus’ earthly mission. He was unable to turn away from doing what the Father had sent him to do.
We know that there is a large crowd that followed Jesus right up to the door of his house.
Among the crowd that had gathered were the religious leaders and teacher of the day, the Scribes.
Verse 22 reads: “And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” These were leaders and they were in fear of loosing their positions of power and authority to this man who openly claimed to be the son of God and God the Son.
They came to catch Jesus in the act of some deceit or trickery. When they couldn’t find a way of discounting the miraculous things that Jesus did … they tried to say that he was using the power of the devil to cast out the demons.
Jesus makes fun of their argument by basically saying that the devil casting out the devil is just about the most stupid thing that these students of the scripture could say.
He then says in 3:28, “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.”
Over the years I have heard many interpretations about this “unpardonable sin”. But I found the following statement by >>>>>>>>> that seems to explain it within what we know of Jesus character and mission. He was sent, after all, to be the savior because God does not want to loose a single soul.
He (Jesus) warned them about the eternal consequences of failing to recognize His true identity (vv.28-30) That’s the only sin which cannot be forgiven… I want to make two brief statements about the verse 29 which says, “…but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”
o That statement needs to be understood within context of this larger passage…that Jesus was doing amazing, supernatural things the Jewish leaders could not deny…instead of denying His works, they questioned the power behind His works…they looked at obvious work of God and attributed it to Satan…through Jesus, using Holy Spirit as communicating agent, God was revealing Himself to the world… these people looked directly at the revelation of God and rejected it…that’s the unpardonable sin…rejecting God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ…
o The reason that is unpardonable is self-evident…to say a person who rejects Jesus will not be forgiven is like saying a person who refused liquids will die of thirst…food /starvation…breath / asphyxiation…rejecting Jesus is rejecting our only avenue for forgiveness….as Scripture says, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we might be saved.”…to reject Jesus means to die in our sins and that results in eternal separation from God…
The Scribes and Pharisees were the religious leaders of the day. And they should have been the first to embrace this Messiah for whom they had been praying. Over and over again Jesus had told them who he was and what his mission was. They were witnesses to the mighty works he was doing … works that would have been impossible without the power of God working through him. But as John says in his gospel, “He came to his own and his own knew him not.” They should have been acting like family, but they weren’t.
Family is as family does.
Other than the Scribes, who else were following him?
Among the crowd were also those who were just curious. I heard a saying once that nothing draws a crowd of people like a crowd of people. If you see a crowd of people someplace, don’t you stop to see what is going on? I’m sure that some of the people following Jesus around were like that. They were there because they wanted to see what had drawn the crowd in the first place.
Some were also following because of the wondrous signs that he would perform. I mean, really, it must have been a great “show”. Can’t you just see Him on “Israel Has Talent”?
First week he’d turn water into wine. John 2:1-11
Week 2 He’d fill two fishing boats so full of fish that they begin to sink. Luke 5:1-11
Week 3 Walk on water. Mark 6:48-51
Week 4 Heal ten lepers. Luke 17:11-19
Week 5 Raise people from the dead. Matthew 9:18-26, John 11:38-44
And in the semi finals: Raise himself from the dead. 24:5-7
The grand finally: Ascend into the clouds. Mark 16-19
Just try and top THAT!
However, these people were not family.
Some were following because they needed something from him, like the father of the child with a demon. He had come to Jesus just hoping that Jesus could do something. Some were following because they needed a physical healing for themselves or for their friends. When we are hurting, don’t we naturally turn to family for help?
Family is as family does.
Now at this point there were quite a few that he called his disciples.
In Luke chapter 10 verse 1 we read, “After this the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
So we know that these 72 plus the 12 apostles were following.
Very possibly there were hundreds that were following because they truly believed in him and his message.
It was of these folks that Jesus said in 3:35 “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Family is as family does.
Now, I told you earlier that I am a preacher because I expect this message to change you in someway.
We have just heard Jesus say, “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
What does that mean to you? Can you claim your kinship with Jesus Christ and God the Father?
John 1:12 & 13 reads “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
To those that have received him I say, “Howdy brothers and sisters.” And ask, “Are following the leading of the Father as an obedient child of God?” If not, here is your chance to recommit yourselves to the family. Remember, family is as family does.
To those who have never received him as your Lord and Savior, I say, “The family awaits your arrival. It is a simple adoption process: Confess your sins to God, ask for His forgiveness, and seek to live a God filled … God directed life.” And we’ll see you at that great family reunion in heaven.
Amen.
Also visit my other blogs
- Tom and Ella’s Daily Journal of Our Lives
http://TomAndEllaJournal.com
- Visit my devotions blog new devotions every day (nearly)
©2020 Thomas E. Williams
Armchair Sermons 