Scholarship Sunday

Mark 3:20-35

Jesus Accused by His Family and by Teachers of the Law

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family[a] heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. 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.”

He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”

“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.

Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Homily by Susan Whitlow

Dave and I have two children, born four years apart. As youngsters, they got along pretty well, but our daughter didn’t hesitate to be the Bossy Big Sister when the occasion called for it. I remember one time when she said, “Mom, you have to do something – he’s going to embarrass himself!” Of course, our son was not about to embarrass himself – he was beyond embarrassment -- but he had already embarrassed her.

Maybe that’s how Jesus’ family felt, “for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’” The family went out to restrain him. Like our daughter, with the wisdom of her four-years’ seniority, they probably sensed that he was getting himself into trouble. Kids can make fun of your little brother and powerful people were out to destroy Jesus.

That’s what Mark told us in last week’s lesson. Jesus had upset the religious establishment by working on the sabbath. All he did was feed his friends and heal a man’s withered hand, but technically that was doing work and not allowed by religious law. In this week’s reading, men of authority have come down from Jerusalem to confront him again.

When Mark writes a story, he often places it in the middle of another story. Just like setting a diamond in the prongs of a gold ring to highlight its clarity, setting a story within the context what’s going on around it emphasizes Mark’s meaning. The central story here is that confrontation between Jesus and the scribes.

As the name suggests, scribes were scholars, learned men who were well-educated in the scriptures. Their role was to see that the holy writ was kept without error so that the people could faithfully follow it. Laws given to Moses and to subsequent generations helped define the descendants of Abraham as one people. Obeying these laws showed their devotion to God so it is no wonder that the scribes considered it an outrage when Jesus seemed to ignore what was important. And that’s where the dispute lay. What was important – the law itself or the reason for the law? Was humankind created for the sabbath or was the sabbath created for humankind?

Well, this would be an interesting debate if Jesus were a man of letters, equal to the scribes, but he wasn’t. He was a rural rabbi, without credentials. Where was his authority? From the scribes’ point of view, it certainly wasn’t from God. It must be from the devil. Say what?! That doesn’t even make sense. Jesus asked them, “How can Satan cast out Satan? A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. A house divided against itself cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand ….” In other words, if the devil were going around doing good the way Jesus was, he wouldn’t be the devil. But the scribes didn’t see Jesus’ ministry as good because it didn’t follow their interpretation of the law.

So Jesus told them a parable. It’s about a strong man who can protect his property as long as he has his strength. But if he’s tied up, or as Luke tells the story, if his armor is taken away from him and he is overpowered, his possessions can be plundered. Who is this strong man? Is it Satan? In that case, perhaps it is Jesus who ties Satan up and overcomes evil. Is the strong man Jesus? In that case, perhaps he’s suggesting that civil and religious powers will destroy his earthly life, as they do at the cross. It seems to me that Mark’s construct implies that the scribes are the strong man and their power lies in keeping God’s laws. Jesus has tied them up, rendered them powerless, by saying that their idea of what is holy doesn’t matter. It does not matter that you’re doing work on the Sabbath if that work is to heal and feed people.

Mark sets this gem of a story in the crowd that surrounds Jesus. With the exception of the disciples, we don’t know who these people were but we do know that they were poor, living hand to mouth, and most of what was in their hands went as taxes to Rome before it got to their mouths. Lives were hard and short. An illness or injury could kill them quickly. It goes without saying that they were uneducated, almost certainly illiterate. They were at the bottom of the social strata and were without any resources that could suggest thoughts of a better future. No wonder they pressed Jesus for the hope his reputation offered. They weren’t anything like the scribes. Keep the sabbath? If the fish were running, they were fishing; if the grain was ripe, they were harvesting it. They saw Jesus for who he was and they show us that Jesus was right about what is important. They understood Jesus.

The scribes didn’t understand him. The Holy Spirit was sitting right next to them and they didn’t get it. That’s why Jesus says, probably out of frustration, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness.” It’s not a threat; it’s a natural consequence. If they have closed their ears and eyes and hearts, they’re just not able to get it. They had become too hard-headed to receive what God was giving them.

What is the Holy Spirit and how do you recognize it? In both Greek and Hebrew, spirit is a very ambiguous word. Sometimes it’s interpreted as wind, forceful, as it was described at Pentecost. Sometimes it’s interpreted as breath, quiet, like a whisper. Our spirit is necessary for life and Jesus embodied it as holy.

The outermost part of Mark’s story is Jesus’ family. The beginning is actually in the verse before today’s reading and it says, “Then he went home.” This was after two and a half fast-paced chapters of being baptized, tempted in the desert, calling his disciples, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and preaching to the multitudes. He must have been exhausted and home was where he could rest, have a real sabbath. Then at the end of this passage, someone tiptoes through the crowd and tells Jesus that his mother and brothers and sisters are outside, asking for him. He replied rhetorically, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” To be clear, Jesus is not dissin’ his mama! He is saying that in addition to his mother and brothers, this crowd -- these people who are following him – are also the ones he loves.

Can these people, people who can’t even keep the Sabbath, be worthy of God’s love? Well, yes. That’s the point, isn’t it? God’s love is just there, always available. We can’t make ourselves worthy. It’s not about good behavior or knowledge or status or power. The followers of Jesus didn’t have any of those things but they did recognize the Holy Spirit in Jesus. The scribes did have all those things and they mistook Jesus for the devil!

Now does this have anything to do with Scholarship Sunday? You betcha! First, don’t be like the scribes and let your education get in the way of having an open mind. Second, expect to find the Holy Spirit everywhere, including the most unlikely places. Third, remember that you have family: your sisters and brothers in the crowd, the people who “get” you; your family at home who reared you and nourished you, and will continue to support you; and us in this church, who are so proud of you and eager to watch you thrive in things that are truly important!