Mark 3:13-35 You Are a Son and Brother

 

Our question for Lent this year is, “Who is Jesus, Who is Christ,” and this morning we’re going to get an unexpected picture of Jesus from Mark as someone who changes our ideas and beliefs about what family, community, relationships, and commitment look like. Jesus has been travelling through the area of Galilee and he’s creating a name and reputation for himself. Our story begins with Jesus taking his followers on a mountainside retreat where he chooses 12 of them to be with him so “that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.” Jesus is beginning the process of multiplying his ministry by identifying these 12 men to mentor and invest in so they can do what he’s doing. Mentoring and discipleship is the lifeblood of the church.

Jesus and his disciples head back to the village, likely the village where Peter and Andrew are from and they enter a house, again, likely Peter and Andrew’s house. It’s still early in Jesus’ ministry, but he’s already creating quite a stir among the people. He’s becoming well known as a teacher, healer and caster out of demons. They’re hearing about Jesus all the way down in Jerusalem where the teachers of the law send some of their people to check this new rabbi out. The crowd shows up and it gets so crazy full that Jesus and his disciples can’t even eat because it’s so packed in the house there’s no room to eat.

Mark now gives us a glimpse into how hard it is for some people to recognize who Jesus is. Jesus’ family is hearing about all the things he’s teaching and doing and about the crowds surrounding him, so they head out to talk to Jesus because they think, “He is out of his mind.” Now Jesus is the Son of God, but he’s also a son to Mary and a brother to his siblings, and it must hurt to hear how his own family thinks about him. Robert Frost once wrote that “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in,” but who wants to be the one in the family that everyone thinks is crazy enough that they actually need to head out to seize him to take him home? Yet to be fair to Jesus’ family, Jesus’ ministry is already creating powerful enemies, so much so that just before this story, we hear the Pharisees and Herodians begin planning on how to kill Jesus. How do we react to Jesus’ actions and teachings and claims? C.S Lewis writes that we need to come to a decision about Jesus: either he is a liar, a lunatic or Lord. Yet, Jesus’ family may have been trying to keep him safe, and maybe to keep the family name safe too.

Before Jesus’ family arrives at the house where he and his disciples are, the teachers of the law from Jerusalem show up. They’ve been hearing the stories of what Jesus is doing and it concerns them because of the power of his teaching, the power in his healing, and his ability to cast out demons. Jesus is creating issues for them because he’s reinterpreting how and why they do the faith practices they do. Jesus’ disciples aren’t fasting like everyone else and Jesus defends them, telling the Pharisees that they should be celebrating instead of fasting. Then one Sabbath, when Jesus and his disciples are walking through a grain field, they pick grain and eat it, going against the Sabbath customs that have been in place a long time. Jesus then tells the Pharisees that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus is telling them that they don’t understand God or him. If that’s not enough, Jesus goes and heals a man on a Sabbath, challenging them, embarrassing them by asking them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?”

Pastor David Lose writes about the teachers of the law, “Perhaps this is the predicament in which the Scribes find themselves in today’s story. It’s not that their way of relating to God is wrong — they are part of a long and proud tradition of faithful service to God and the people of God. It is just that Jesus doesn’t conform to their structures. Jesus declares that the law, finally, isn’t about regulating our relationship with God but was given by God to help us get more out of life. And so he heals whenever and wherever there is need, even on the Sabbath. And he welcomes all, even those normally excluded by certain religious restrictions or customs. And, let’s face it, he does manage to banish all those unclean spirits. In all these ways Jesus points back to the wildly merciful and unpredictably (and uncontrollably) gracious God who is always doing a new thing.”

The teachers of the law can’t figure Jesus out, he’s got power to heal, he’s a powerful teacher, and he can cast out demons, so they accuse him of being possessed, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.” Jesus calls the teachers of the law over and gets in their face, mocking their accusation, “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.” Their accusation that Jesus is possessed by a demon in order to drive other demons out doesn’t make any sense at all. They can’t recognize that Jesus is God’s beloved Son, the Holy One of God, even though they’ve studied the prophets and what we call the Old Testament; all they see is a possessed man with great powers, someone to fear.

Now Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive. Mark tells us that they send someone in to call him. They need someone able to squeeze their way through the crowd to reach Jesus. Jesus is told, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” Jesus’ response is kind of shocking. He askes, “Who are my mother and brothers?” What’s going on in that family that’s causing Jesus to distance himself from his family?

When we ask, “Who is Jesus,” Jesus is a son of Mary and a brother to his siblings. They may not recognize him as God’s Son or as the Holy One of God, but they do recognize him as their family. So why is Jesus responding so harshly to his family here? Even if they think he’s out of his mind, they still care about him and are trying to protect him. Mark writes, “Then Jesus 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.” James Boyce writes, “It is not status but action in response to the call of God in the person of this Jesus that marks what it means to belong to his “family.” That would seem to sum it all up simple and to the point. Relationships in this family are dynamic; they flow from the encounter and response to this Jesus…. Relationships in this family are couched in terms of “doing the will of God.”

Scott Hoeze and Carrie Steenwyk write, “If Mark 3 makes one thing clear, it is that the work of God in the kingdom trumps all else, no matter how painful a reality that may be. In recent years we’ve heard a lot of talk about “family values” from religious people in the public square. And of course, the church must promote strong families. But Jesus knew that being the Christ of God meant that he could not make an idol out of his own family.” Later on, in chapter 10, Jesus tells the disciples, “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” Jesus’ call on your life comes before everything else. It will cost you to follow Jesus, but the life change you can bring into peoples’ lives with the Gospel news is worth all the sacrifices that being a sister or brother of Jesus costs you.

Jesus has planted the seeds of the church here. He’s creating a core group of people that he’s investing into to carry on his work. He’s defined who they are and what defines them is doing the will of God. Being a part of this new family comes at a cost. Jesus isn’t denying the importance of our families, our families shape us and it’s the place where many of us first meet and learn about Jesus. Our families cannot come before God, no relationship can come before God’s will and Jesus’ call on our lives, but it’s an amazing journey with Jesus!