Year B Proper 5 2021 Divisions and Family

 Year B Proper 5, 6 June 2021

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Divisions and Family”

Collect: O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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.”

It is so good to be back together. It has been so long. I know I feel like I have aged five years since we moved everything online. It is slowly moving back to normal. [For those reading this or watching online, today we are gathering in-person, inside for the first time since March of 2020.]

In that time the world has changed. We are different. We have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, and admittedly sometimes I did fear evil and a bunch of other things. And the storm may no longer be raging, but it is still with us. Pray for India, and Brazil, and all those places which still are being hammered by this pandemic. Many are still in that Valley of Death.

What has made it worse are the divisions, the working against ourselves. Machiavelli preached that the way to power is to Divide and Conquer. It is as old as Sun Tzu and The Art of War, and was practiced by Philip II of Macedonia, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon. A tactic that is as old as human interaction. We have seen it rear its ugly head lately, too, it breaks my heart to say.

Jesus had folks, his own folks, his very family, attempt to do that, too. Now, giving them the benefit of the doubt, they thought it was for his own good. “He is out of his mind,” they said to themselves. And Scribes tried to shut him down saying he was working for Satan. But Jesus responded to the crowd listening to what he thought of divisions, and those who might distract him from his calling.

“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.”

Thankfully we have not let those things or people who might divide us do that to us. We are still here, though the forces of division were substantial.

In the height of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus here, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” This is true whether we are speaking of our nation, our community, or our church. The axiom remains.

In fact, the phrase that is used in the Greek for when his family thought he was crazy was not “He,” being Jesus, “has gone out of his mind.” The phrase used is “He is beside himself.” Divisions can be internal as well. We can set divisions up and wage war with ourselves. Jesus even spoke to that when he said, “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” While Jesus was talking about seeking money, that idea of divided loyalties remains. We just cannot do it. We call it now the Conflict of Interest.

Jesus is accused of divided loyalties, preaching God and serving Satan. And he shows that that just could not be. It makes no practical or logical sense. But when we are divided in our minds, we hurt our cause and ourselves. Singular focus is so needed, as much then as now.

Getting to this point of re-opening has been a slug. No matter which direction we go, whatever decision has been made, there is a group questioning or opposing it. Our actions were no one’s first choice. But we did the best we could, with the information we had, within the parameters set by those in authority over us whether ecclesial or governmental.

Living in that struggle has been a stealing of focus for many of us, and like I said, being divisive in one’s mind keeps us from doing what needs to be done. A friend of mine made that tension clear in a recent Facebook post. I was already well into my sermon writing when I saw it, but it gives some handles to the issues at hand surprisingly well.

I have had trouble putting the tension I feel in many local churches into words but I think I came to a realization today (and one that many of you have probably come to a long time ago)....

Many see church as an escape from the "real" world and do not want to see that change. Others are pushing the church to speak more deeply into issues happening in the real world. These two realities are pushing on one another and the tension is draining.

[Facebook Post by Mark Snipes, 2 June 2021]

What is church for us? A fueling station?  A hospital? An escape from the outside world? A training school for sacred living? An embassy of the Kingdom of God? How we think of the Church drives how we treat it and one another.

As I said a couple of weeks ago, the Church is not a building. The Ekklesia  is the “called-out-ones,” but even then we have different views of what that means.

I think the Church is all those things I mentioned, and at different times it means different things for each and every one of us. And as we travel through the seasons of our lives, we are birthed, and we learn, and we grow, and we serve, and we eat, and we share, and we heal, and we die. It meets us where we are, and it helps us get to where we need to be. Paul described himself and his ministry like that, almost a vision for where the church can go.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings. [I Corinthians 9:19-23]

Jesus, like Paul, was focused on the outcome. The process was called into question. His own family, the Scribes, the Pharisees, and so many questioned what he was doing and what it could lead to eventually. But he knew what his calling and purpose was. Even to the point of redefining what for most of us is our most intimate relationships. 

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.”

We used words for those who are with us on this journey, for those who are with us in this Church. We are a Church Family. And our family is now scattered. Some are comfortable regathering, some are most definitely not. Some want us to rush back to normal, and others think we are moving too quickly. But wherever we are, here or staying apart, we are still One, One Body in Christ. And eventually we will all be able to regather. Our body has experienced a trauma, and we may have lost some feeling for a while. It will return. It takes time and patience to heal. Like it takes time for a seed to become a plant, there are things taking place, miraculous and magical.

Friends, sisters and brothers in Christ, we will emerge from this past period. We have much to be thankful for, yes even in these times. We celebrate that we can be together. We celebrate that we even are. I thank God that we can begin the process, and may we do so boldly and in faith that God has been with us, and will be, all along the way. Amen.