Third Sunday after Pentecost

Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 5B)

June 9, 2024

Text: Mark 3:20-35

            It may be true, as they say, that blood is thicker than water.  But mere blood is not thicker than baptismal water, and the cleansing and life-giving blood of Jesus.  “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus asks (Mark 3:33; ESV).  Now, Mary and Jesus’ brothers are standing outside, calling Him.  But Jesus looks about at those sitting around Him.  He looks at His congregation.  And He says, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (vv. 34-35).  That is, those who sit at the feet of Jesus and cling to His every Word, basking in His presence… and then live in that… these constitute the new Family of God.

            What would it be like if we really believed that, and acted accordingly?  Gathered, as we are, here now, in this place, around the bodily presence of Jesus, our Brother.  In the House of our Father.  In the one Holy Spirit.  In the bosom of our Mother, the Church.  Bathed and anointed.  To feast at the Family Table.  What would it be like if we acknowledged and surrendered to the reality, brought about, created by the death and resurrection of Jesus… that all those sitting around us in the pews this afternoon, each and every one, are family, our blood-bought brothers and sisters, beloved of our one Father, redeemed by our one Lord Jesus, possessed of the one Holy Spirit?  And, therefore, we love them, and they love us, love being, of course, not a warm and fuzzy feeling in our hearts (though that is wonderful), but seeking the good of the beloved, choosing and acting, always, for the good of one another?

            How is it in families?  Or, at least, how should it be, recognizing that every family of sinners falls far short of the ideal?  What does love look like?  Mutual support.  Patience… well, we do not all have the same skills and abilities, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses, so… Forbearance.  Forgiveness… we’re all sinners, and we’re pretty good at sinning against each other, as siblings are wont to do.  How about the Fourth Commandment?  Honoring our fathers and mothers in the faith, those still present with us this side of the veil, and those who join us from the other side, with angels and archangels at the altar.  Nurturing our babes in the faith.  It’s hard to teach our little ones to sit and participate in the service, and it calls on every one of us to put up with a little noise and commotion.  But we have to do it.  That’s how they learn.  Discipline, yes.  For young and old.  Training.  Sacrifice for one another.  Self-sacrifice for the good of the whole.  Everybody contributes.  Money, sure.  Work.  Talents.  Everyone has a role to play.  All hands on deck.  We each do what we can.  And we pray for one another.  Pray for your family.  Pray for your Church.  Every day.  And always, always point one another to Jesus, and to His Word. 

            Celebrate one another.  We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and important milestones in families.  Celebrate each other.  Baptisms.  Confirmations.  Wedding showers.  Baby showers.  Grad parties.  Rejoice with those who rejoice.  Weep with those who weep.  Console one another in grief.  Show up at our congregation’s funerals.  Yes, even if you didn’t know the person well.  If you can be there, be there.  Send cards.  Speak faithful and encouraging words.  Pick one another up.  Help each other.  Leave no fellow Christian behind.  Leave no one unaccounted for.  Leave no one unprovided for.  “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).   

            I’m sure you can think of a lot more, particularly in terms of concrete examples, and I encourage you to do so… think of them, and do them.  But for my part, here is just one more: Even as Christian families are to be open and welcoming to new family members, to God’s gift of life, to those who join by marriage, to guests who need an oasis on the way, and to those who, to one degree or another, need our family to step in where their family has failed or is absent… so it is with the Family of God that is the Church.  Hospitality.  Love for those who wander into our family circle, by invitation or by chance.  Love for those passing through.  Love for those who marry in, new transfers, baptized Christians who come into our Communion from another after due instruction.  And those newborn by water and the Spirit, the newly baptized.  “God settles the solitary in a home,” sings King David (Ps. 68:6).  Let us be that home for as many as He may settle with us.

            Now, we need each other.  Because the world outside, they think we’re crazy.  Because they think Jesus is crazy.  In fact, they think we are possessed by an evil spirit, because they think Jesus is possessed by an evil spirit.  You know that.  The world doesn’t understand how you could possibly believe the things you believe.  The world calls you ignorant.  The world calls you hateful.  The world, as Isaiah says, calls evil good, and good evil; darkness light, and light darkness; bitter sweet, and sweet bitter (Is. 5:20).  Woe to them. 

            And Satan loves this.  Satan wants the world to think the Holy Spirit is evil, while he himself poses as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).  Where demons are actually cast out, the demonically deceived world regards it as blasphemy.  Where the Holy Spirit blows through in His Gospel, the world self-righteously blasphemes Him.  The Spirit at work in Jesus, and therefore in His Christians, must be Beelzebub, the world maintains.  In the end, there is no forgiveness for this.  Because it is, finally, unbelief… the utter rejection of Christ.

            Satan would trick you into this sin, as well.  You know how he often does it in the Church?  By convincing you that the Spirit at work in your pastor, or your brother and sister Christians, is not the Holy Spirit, but an evil spirit.  That is, that this or that fellow Christian is out of his mind, a lesser Christian than you are, or perhaps no Christian at all… that he is unworthy of your love, unworthy of your attention, unworthy of your honor and respect... that he should not be here.  Christ, have mercy.  You see what has happened?  Far from casting out Satan, you’ve acquiesced.  The House is divided.  And such a House cannot stand.  Stop.  Just stop when those thoughts creep in.  They are the lies of the evil one.  They are blasphemy.  Repent of thinking them.  Repent of listening to them.  Pray for Christ’s help.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to possess you, and change you. 

            Even Mary and Jesus’ brothers fell into this trap.  They thought He was crazy, and they wanted to shut Him up at home.  He was embarrassing them.  In public.  In Church, no less.  Maybe you are embarrassed by other Church members.  Maybe they are embarrassed by you.  Maybe your family is embarrassed that you belong to this Church, and believe what this Church teaches.  One thing is clear: Jesus is a scandal for sinners, including the Old Adam in you and me.  So, we must examine ourselves.  Where have I chafed at the Family of God brought forth in the blood of Christ?  Where have I contributed to the division of the House, rather than to its unity?  Where have I failed to honor my fathers and mothers in the faith?  Where have I neglected my brothers and sisters, and the children of the Church?  Where must I repent? 

            Confess it.  Don’t deny it.  Confess it.  And believe the Good News.  Jesus has bound the strong man, Satan, by His death and resurrection.  And now, in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.  And you forgive, and are forgiven by, one another, every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer: “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

            So, now, forgiven of all our sins, justified by grace alone in Jesus Christ…  What would it be like if we really believed what Jesus says here about the new Family of God in Christ, the Christian family?  What would it look like here, now, in this congregation?  How could you foster that?  Not how could others foster it?  Not what could that guy start contributing?  No, you.  You, personally.  How can you help unite the Family?  How can you love your brothers and sisters?  How can you strengthen the bonds where they already exist?  How can you help bring it about where it doesn’t?  What is your role?  Where do you fit?  Because you do fit.  You do have a role to play.  Every last person here is important. 

            This congregation is a family.  And, like it or not, it’s your family.  Love it.  Rejoice in it.  Jesus has brought this about by His own redemptive work.  He labored for it on the cross, brought it to birth in His death.  He lives to be this family’s life.  The mission of this congregation, beloved, is to be the Family of God in this place.  It is to nurture and support this family’s every member, and bring more family members to birth.  I wonder if we’ve sometimes lost sight of that mission.  I confess, I often lose sight of it.  Catch the mission, again, dear brothers and sisters.  It’s not hard to catch.  Look around you.  Jesus is present here, looking around Himself at those gathered.  And He speaks His creative Word: Behold, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of God,” and that is to hear the Word of God, and do it, “he is my brother and sister and mother.”  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.