Mark 3: 20-35 (Common English Bible)
1 Samuel 8: 4-20 (New Jerusalem Bible)
We are just beginning the long journey after Pentecost. We might be permitted to breathe deeply for the long haul because it could be a bumpy ride as Bette Davis said in one of her movies. Mark’s gospel is a bare-bone action gospel and I’m glad it’s in the Lectionary readings for this liturgical cycle. Mark the gospel writer reminds me of the character “Joe Friday” from the old TV series, “Dragnet,” with his motto, “just the facts Mam.” This is why Mark’s gospel is the shortest gospel in the New Testament, but still the most important one.
At this early stage of Jesus’ ministry not even his own family believed Jesus was the Christ. He even faced doubt from his own disciples and not just from the religious leaders and his political enemies.
Because the Pharisees did not understand what Jesus was doing, they accused him of being possessed by Beelzebul. The figure of Beelzebul began as a Phoenician god. In Hebrew the name meant, “Lord of the Flies.” Later Beelzebul was recognized as the ruler of demons and later as the Accuser/Adversary called “Satan.”
The legal experts wanted to discredit Jesus among his followers, but their claim was flawed. How could a demon defeat other demons? It would be like trying to destroy one’s own allies. Evil cannot cast out Evil. Now back in the time of Jesus, anything making people severely ill or crazy was attributed to demons. Seizures and schizophrenia were considered caused by demonic forces. But I do believe there are spiritual forces both good and bad throughout our vast and endless universe. Scientists basically agree there are other dimensions of time and space that we can only ponder what exists there.
Since good is always stronger than evil, good will eventually win. Jesus is the champion of everything that is good, so he will always defeat evil. By labeling Jesus’ healings as demonic, his opponents try to portray Jesus as evil. Jesus tells the religious leaders they have committed the unpardonable sin by rejecting the power of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians, even today, believe the unpardonable sin is suicide, but they’re wrong. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit can be compared with someone hanging on a mountaintop on the verge of falling, and rejecting the rope to save his life, would be one example.
Jesus was a truth-teller and today he might be called a “whistle-blower.” Truth-tellers disturb creeds, customs and stubborn habits. Daniel Ellsburg was a truth-teller when he released the Pentagon Papers which exposed the futility of the Vietnam War the government was trying to cover up. But the truth is often not appreciated. People worry it might change their lifestyle. We can only remember that just a few years ago during the COVID crisis. Many people didn’t want to believe the severity of COVID so they either ignored it, or made-up crazy conspiracy theories about it. Partly because of that ignorance, more than one million Americans died of COVID. I’m proud of the SPC doing the correct thing, even if we did church worship by phone for nearly one year.
Because Jesus was a truth-teller he was considered dangerous by the Pharisees and crazy in the eyes of his own biological family during the beginning of his ministry. We as Christians are in the same situation today. If we challenge the ways things are or the way things are done, we might be considered crazy or dangerous. Some Episcopalians were considered crazy when they performed the Cosmic Mass. Presbyterians were considered dangerous in El Paso,Texas for the supposed crime of helping migrants after they crossed the border through the Tres Rio Presbytery Border Ministry. Some Texas politicians even wanted the Presbyterians involved in this to be fined and jailed. But that is the risk in following Jesus.
While Jesus’ family was worried about his mental and physical health, Jesus’ concern was about the spiritual health of those he encountered. For Jesus a true family is not a matter of a biological relationship, but a kinship in obedience to God. God created the human species as a family, but if we want to join God’s family we sometimes have to separate ourselves from biological relationships. Jesus was not a “family values” preacher much to the surprise of many churches who preach family values. And I’m not even sure what kind of “family values” politicians bluster about during any election year? Maybe it’s the days of “Leave It To Beaver” when women wore dresses and pearls while doing the dishes. But I will confess, I did enjoy that series. Back then, the cruelest thing a kid could say, would be to accuse someone of drinking gutter water.
Instead of asking why Jesus received so much criticism for his beliefs, maybe churches should do the same. Why aren’t more churches pushing the boundaries of the status-quo? Many young people are looking for faith communities which are different from what their parents and grandparents experienced.
They desire to sing hymns that speak to contemporary issues and not hymns of the past. They love Jesus but not necessarily the doctrine and dogma that even the earliest Christians never heard. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement wasn’t developed until the 12th century AD, more than 1,000 years after Jesus’ time on earth.
New things can be both good and bad. No better example of that is in 1st Samuel chapter eight. Up until then, Israel was governed by judges. But the Hebrews wanted something new, a monarchy. But that really wasn’t a new idea. Most nations in the ancient world already had kings. But the Hebrews did have a valid complaint. Samuel did serve honorably as a judge and a ruler, priest and prophet. The trouble was Samuel’s sons who were to follow in their father’s footsteps to become judges, they were found to be corrupt and everyone knew they were dishonest.
The people of Israel were looking for a strong-man to become king as a solution to their problem. They believed a strong monarch was needed to make Israel a powerful nation.
In the past, the ancient Hebrews had relied on God when they faced trouble. God gave victory to the Hebrews at the Reed Sea when Pharaoh's army was completely destroyed without the Hebrews raising one weapon. Their reliance on the truth of God had made the Hebrews different from other nations with their many gods. The Hebrews served only one true God, YAHWEH.
Since God gave humans free-will, God tells Samuel to let the Hebrews have their way, despite the outcome. The Hebrews were not rejecting Samuel, they were rejecting God’s wisdom. God could see their future ruled by kings, and it was not good. Saul the first king was basically a disaster. David the second king was very human in the best and worst ways. David had a bad habit in spying on women while they bathed, is one example of the bad. The next king, Solomon, did not give serious thought to the consequences of his policies and projects. He became more like an Egyptian Pharaoh with their massive monuments built by conscripted labor.
The Hebrew Bible says most of the following kings did wrong in the eyes of God, with a few exceptions. King Hezekiah (ruled 716 - 686 BC) was one of the few who received God’s seal of approval. Eventually the Hebrew kingdom splits over the issue of dynastic succession. The Northern Kingdom becomes Israel and the southern kingdom becomes Judah. Both kingdoms worship the same God, Yahweh. Eventually Assyria conquers Israel and completely disperses its Hebrew population. Around two centuries later Babylon conquered Judah and destroyed its Temple in Jerusalem. The strong-man monarchy fails the Hebrew people, especially with divided kingdoms. God foresaw this, but let the Hebrew people use their free-will.
In June of 1858 at the Illinois Republican State Convention, Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate. Nearly all presidential historians rate Lincoln as our greatest president, and I agree. See, I am being bipartisan here. During that time the nation was divided over slavery. There was even violence and killings over the issue of slavery. Lincoln said in his speech and I quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will either become all one thing, or all the other.”
Abraham Lincoln was never associated with any Christian denomination. But he knew his Bible and what Jesus taught. Thankfully, we know that Jesus has defeated that cosmic evil, whether you call it Beelzebul or Satan. There is no way the world will be handed over to evil, whether spiritual or physical. The world will become all one thing, because the world belongs to God.
AMEN.
