Introduction
Have you had a busy week? Some people wonder if I ever have a busy week! Actually, it’s not been too bad for me these last few days. Things seem to be winding down a bit as we head towards summer.
Jesus always had a busy week. He had weeks when he was so busy, so stretched, that he didn’t have time to eat. Our reading today begins in v20 by telling us just that. (This is proof incidentally that Jesus wasn’t French. Had Jesus been French, everything would have ground to a halt for three hours at midday so he could enjoy a restful three-course lunch and a glass or two of decent Claret).
But Jesus was not French, so lunch often had to wait – or get cancelled altogether. He would travel by foot up and down the Middle East with his team for days at a time in the hot sun. They were often so busy managing crowds, healing the sick, talking about the kingdom, driving out evil spirits, raising the dead, and avoiding assassination that they totally forgot about lunch.
1. Friction from Family
So in v21, his family come to take charge of him saying, “He is out of his mind.” “He’s becoming a religious fanatic,” they say. Why were they so concerned that they felt they should actually take him away by force? Why did they say “he’s gone mad”?
Firstly, his mother Mary was no doubt upset that he was neglecting his physical health. He had no time for meals. He wasn’t eating properly. She, of course, knew from his birth that he was special, but a maternal concern for a son’s health is understandable.
Secondly, I think she must have been anxious that he was starting to stir up conflict with powerful people. If the accusation by the teachers of the law in v22 was proved it could result in Jesus being stoned to death. He was in danger. This is a Jewish mother worrying that her son is going to get himself killed.
Thirdly, his brothers, who didn’t believe in him until later, were probably more concerned about his mental health. Why did he turn his back on a secure job in the carpenter’s workshop to become a bit of a rolling stone? Why wasn’t he buying a house in Nazareth, meeting a nice Jewish girl and settling down? They didn’t understand that.
Fourthly, they must have been embarrassed that he was getting involved in weird and controversial things they didn’t understand like driving out demons. Our eldest brother has been brainwashed and is getting involved in a weird sect. “Jesus, we’re going to get you some help. You need to see a doctor - or a shrink. You’re not well.”
Fifthly, they possibly felt he was neglecting his family and leaving them to support their mother. Jesus is always out. You never know where he is. “We are family! You’ve changed since you got into this church stuff. You’re never home.”
And sixthly, they will have heard that he was courting controversy. He was forgiving sins, putting himself in the place of God. “He thinks he’s the Great I Am – literally. He’s got a Messiah Complex. “Just another religious nutcase!”
And this is not new. Throughout the Bible, people are written off as one sandwich short of a picnic.
· Hosea was labelled a “fool” (Hosea 9.7).
· Jeremiah was called “crazy” (Jeremiah 29.26).
· Elisha was dubbed a “maniac” (2 Kings 9.11).
· In Acts 26.24 Governor Festus says to Paul, “You are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
· In Luke 7.33; they said John the Baptist was possessed because of his radical lifestyle.
· In John 10.20 they say the same thing about Jesus. “He is demon possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
In 2017 people call you a “Jesus freak.” It’s the same thing.
If your faith is always private and internalised - it’s happy families. When it’s just for Sundays and doesn’t interfere with your work or affect your family it’s amazing how tolerant people are.
But when it starts to shape your values, and guide your decisions, and go against the grain of popular opinion you can expect hostility, not least from family members. This is the friction of the kingdom.
I’ll come back to family at the end, as the passage does, but while we’re waiting for Jesus’ family to arrive, there’s more aggro brewing with the teachers of the law.
2. Friction from Dark Powers
If you look carefully at the passage you’ll notice that these religious leaders do not confront Jesus directly. They don’t like what Jesus was doing, but they don’t say it to his face. They are on the edge of the crowd, whispering to them, trying to discredit him. Verse 23 says that Jesus called them over. He knew what they were up to.
What’s their problem? Basically, it’s this: Jesus is attracting big crowds that are no longer interested in listening to them. They feel bewildered and aggrieved that he is getting all the attention while they are left behind. In a world of Netflix and Amazon Prime, they are Blockbuster Video wondering where all the customers have gone.
They can’t deny the signs and wonders Jesus is doing. Clearly, there is supernatural power. People are enthralled. So in v22 they try and spread fear. They conduct a smear campaign, saying he’s dabbling in the occult. He’s an agent of the devil and the miracles are counterfeit. In v30 they mutter to the people “He has an evil spirit.” It’s character assassination.
You still get this today. When a new ministry takes off and God really blesses it like Alpha or Sozo or Healing on the Streets people attack it and say it’s new age or of the devil. Or when a church springs up and attracts many people like Hillsong or Soul Survivor people sneer. Or when a revival breaks out and many people come to faith people are quick to say it’s not really from God.
So Jesus calls them over, v23-25. So far in Mark’s Gospel, there have been three separate incidents of Jesus releasing people from the powers of darkness. As the Gospel goes on there’s going to be more of it in chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7 and chapter 9.
Has Satan just opened a new subdivision of Hell that specialises in setting people free? I don’t think so! What would be the point of Satan sending these evil spirits packing? That would be like two players on the same side scoring an own goal, then starting a fight, both getting a red card, and reducing their team to nine men! Why would the devil shoot himself in the foot and self-destruct?
In my limited experience with deliverance ministry, I can say that I have never yet seen the devil gladly let someone out of his grasp. Evil spirits always go in the end but it's usually a bit of a faff.
About six months after I came to All Saints’, I was contacted by a family on a nearby estate who wanted a priest to “exorcise” their house. There were reports of strange noises in the attic. Allegedly, objects were being moved about in the house overnight. The children kept having nightmares about a strangely dressed woman. There were some pretty heavy things going on in that house.
Three of us went round; Alan Farish, Sylvia Wilson and me, to meet with the couple that owned the house. It turned out that the man’s parents were both mediums and that there had been regular séances in the house. At one moment he would be speaking in his usual voice, but would then suddenly change to a lower tone and interrupt using foul language. At one point, I read a passage of the Bible and he stood up abruptly, came towards me and tried to tear out the page.
After about an hour, we led the couple in a prayer of repentance. They had come to understand that what they had been allowing in their house had opened up the door to dark powers. Alan ordered the evil spirits to leave in the name of Jesus – and eventually, they did, one by one.
The man was totally different afterwards and, weirdly, he had no recollection of swearing or trying to damage my Bible. The complaints of paranormal activity in that house ended from that day on.
This is what Jesus talks about in v27: “No one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder it.” The devil is the strong man, the house is the person who is being oppressed and Jesus has the authority to bind him and evict him.
I have only been involved in about four such incidents since I’ve been here so it’s not common but it is absolutely real.
3. Friction from a Troubled Soul
For some Christians though, the biggest spiritual friction in their lives is not with hostility from family or demonic oppression but inner turmoil. Some people read what Jesus says here and worry that they have blown it with God forever.
This is what Jesus says in v28-29: “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
The sweetest words anyone can hear are that God has wiped clean the slate of guilt. God no longer holds your sin against you. He has completely forgiven you and unburdened you of all that weighed you down.
I know people who have become very anxious because they feared that they had committed the sin against the Holy Spirit and that now it is too late. They have no experience of God’s love, no assurance of their salvation and they feel thoroughly wretched. What could be more terrifying than to think you might be permanently beyond forgiveness with no way back? If you are worried about this I hope I can be a bearer of good news today.
What does Jesus say the sin against the Holy Spirit is? Verse 30: he is replying to a specific accusation, from his critics, that he has an evil spirit.
Notice, Jesus does not say that the teachers of the law have actually committed this unforgivable sin – this is a warning that they are skating on thin ice. They are deliberately attributing to Satan what the Spirit of God is doing, and they’re doing it to avoid a change of heart and lifestyle. This blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not about saying the wrong words; it’s about having a fixed attitude of mind. The teachers of the law are heading that way. That’s Jesus’ warning.
If you are worried that you might have committed the unforgivable sin you are confirming the fact that you haven’t. Because if you are troubled inside and willing to ask God for forgiveness clearly the Holy Spirit is still at work in you, convicting you and leading you to repentance. And Jesus says here that all who are repentant will be forgiven.
Here is the offer of grace. “People can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter.” Can I urge you in Jesus’ name, if you are moved today to turn from sin, settle it with him now; do it before you go home.
Ending
I said I’d come back to family tension and here we are at the end of the passage; v31.
After this little episode with the teachers of the law, Jesus’ mother and brothers finally arrive.
Jesus is told, “Your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you.” As I said earlier Jesus was usually very busy, so busy he didn’t always have time for lunch. He was a busy man and you couldn’t always get an appointment with him.
Some people want their vicar to be constantly out visiting but to always be at home when you phone him. Jesus had to manage expectations as well. He wasn’t always available. He was not in a position to just give people as much time as they asked for. Even his own family couldn’t get access to him and had to wait around until he was free.
Jesus’ reply to this plan to take him home will have shocked them. In the Jewish traditions of the day, blood ties took precedence over all other relationships, and the tie between a Jewish mother and her son was sacrosanct - still is.
But in v33-34 he flouts all the conventions and traditions of Judaism. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asks. Then he looks at those seated around him and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.” He’s saying, “Anyone can belong to my family.”
I have a friend from New York City called Joshua Turnill who is Director of Jews for Jesus in France. He wears Jews for Jesus t-shirts and gives out tracts to strangers as they come out of the Paris Métro. One day he told me he met a Jewish woman. Seriously, she looked at him open-mouthed and said, “Does your mother know you’re doing this?!”
Family ties in Judaism are all pervasive. Family first, that’s the way it is, and even more so in the first century. Jesus’ natural family don’t get it. They just can’t see where he’s coming from.
Some of you know what it is to love your family, but because they’re not Christians, they can’t relate to you. You feel misunderstood. They say, “You’re always down at that church.” “They’re just after your money you know.” “No, I don’t want you to pray for me.” “Will you stop going on about this, I’m not interested in your Alpha Course!”
Do you have disapproving family members who subtly put pressure on you to loosen your commitment to Christ? Or maybe not so subtly?
No one in the family I spring from is a Christian and they seem to take zero interest in what I do. They never ask and when I mention it they glaze over and change the subject. John’s “the religious one.” Well, Jesus too bore the pain of a long term lack of faith from his family.
Kathie and I are blessed that all four of our grown-up children are walking with God. But one of them, as you may know, has mental health issues and it feels like he has been angry with us from the day he was born. There are a few signs that that is improving, but it has been years of heartache and prayers yet unanswered.
Families are complicated. Some can be quite dysfunctional. Many families seem to lurch from one crisis to another. Sometimes people take great offence and estrangement can follow.
Very often, you’d be surprised how often, when I meet a family for a funeral or a wedding it turns out there is some drama about some family member who is not invited. There are so many broken families.
My parents are divorced and even though I wasn’t young when that happened, it brought pain into my life. Many of you know the sense of loss and grief from being in a broken family. Some of you lost a parent when you were young. NSPCC data suggests shocking levels of abuse take place in families.
And Jesus here speaks into our great yearning for acceptance and belonging. Jesus found affectionate friendship and love in the community of faith around him. It became family to him at a time when his blood family didn’t understand him and even clashed with him.
God has designed the church to be a beautiful healing place of spiritual mothers and fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. It can be that, and I hope it is for you if your natural family is a source of pain and sorrow in your life.
Psalm 68 says God sets the lonely in families. How much do you know about that? I hope you’re discovering how wonderful the family of God is, especially if your experience of nuclear family is less than it should have been.
Let’s stand to pray…
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 30 July 2017
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