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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
His “family”, whatever its relation, says Jesus is out of His mind and so wants to seize Him, and, similarly, the Jerusalem scribes say Jesus either is possessed by a demon (or an “unclean spirit”) or is casting out demons by the prince of demons, and so they presumably want Him put to death (confer Marcus, ad loc Mark 3:22-26, 280). As Jesus makes clear, however, a divided kingdom or house (or “family”) cannot stand, but He came to bring an end to Satan in a different way (Marcus, ad loc Mark 3:22-26, 282), as the stronger One Who delivers us from Satan by the forgiveness of our sins. Unlike those who completely reject the Holy Spirit’s leading, we, in whom God’s will is done, are made to be Jesus’s true brother and sister and mother. So, as Jesus distinctively said, so this morning we say, see: “Here is Jesus’s Family”.
Earlier in St. Mark’s Divinely‑inspired Gospel account, Jesus had exorcised demons—no, not put them through a routine at the gym, but cast them out (Mark 1:21-28, 34, 39). And, immediately before today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus called to Him those whom He desired and appointed twelve whom He named apostles, so that they might be with Him and He might send them out to preach (Mark 3:13-19). Jesus’s family’s and the scribes’ opposition to Him and to His work ultimately goes back to, as one commentator put it, “the in-erádicable division and fierce enmity between [Jesus] and the demonic forces that hold the human race in thrall and blind [us] to [our]true good” (Marcus, ad loc Mark 3:20-25, 278-279).
We heard about the origin of that “fierce enmity” in today’s Old Testament Reading (Genesis 3:8-15), as the Lord God spoke to the serpent after he disrupted the first family with its sin. That enmity and the other consequences of the first man and his wife’s sin continued in the time of Jesus, even as that enmity and the other consequences of their sin continue in our time today. Apart from the Holy Spirit, we are not only blind to our true good, but, like Jesus’s “family” and the scribes, we are also opposed to our true good. Even we, who follow the Holy Spirit’s leading to repent and believe, still sin. We may not say Jesus is out of mind and so want to seize Him, nor may we say Jesus either is possessed by a demon (or an “unclean spirit”) or is casting out demons by the prince of demons, and so want Him put to death, but we sin in countless other ways, and any one sin warrants death.
Jesus says that whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin. The Gospel Reading’s specific example of such blasphemy is the scribes’ saying that Jesus had an unclean spirit, essentially their attributing the work of God to the devil. More broadly, we recognize any complete rejection of the Holy Spirit’s leading one to repent and believe as “unforgivable” because it rejects the very means of forgiveness. (By the way, generally speaking, if you are worried about committing that “unforgivable” sin, you probably do not need to be worried.) Jesus also says whoever does the will of God is His brother and sister and mother. And other Bible passages make clear that the will of God is not for any to perish but for all to repent (2 Peter 3:9), to believe in Him Whom God has sent (John 6:29), to have eternal life (John 6:47), and to be raised up on the last day (John 6:40). Instead of completely rejecting the Holy Spirit, we are led by Him to repent and believe, and so all of our sins are forgiven. We, in whom God’s will is done, are made to be Jesus’s true brother and sister and mother. “Here is Jesus’s Family”.
The battle enjoined in the garden in a sense ends on the cross, as the Offspring of the woman bruises the serpent’s head, though the serpent bruised the woman’s Offspring’s heel. Jesus Christ is that long-promised Offspring (or “Seed”) of the woman, Who on the cross brought an end to Satan’s kingdom, even though we have yet to fully experience that victory. The question was not when or whether but how Satan’s kingdom was destroyed, and it was destroyed by the power of God acting through the God-man Jesus Christ. In the Gospel Reading, the scribes essentially accused Jesus of sorcery, which was punishable by death, but Jesus countered by charging them with blasphemy. Later, they and other Jewish leaders charged Him with blasphemy and had Him put to death, but that death ultimately was for us and for our salvation. Countless Old Testament believers trusted God to work through their sacrificial offerings to cover their sin, as countless New Testament believers trusted God to work through His sacrifice of Jesus and His blood to cover their sin, as we still trust God to work through His sacrifice of Jesus and His blood to cover our sin. When, led by the Holy Spirit, we repent and so believe, then God truly does forgive all our sin.
God forgives all our sin through His Word and Sacraments. We especially think of Holy Baptism, where God works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe His words and promises. At the Baptismal Font, God adopts us as His children and so makes us to be brothers and sisters of Christ and so also of one another. After our Baptisms, when sins particularly trouble us, we privately confess them to our pastors for the sake of individual Holy Absolution, forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. And, unlike Jesus and His apostles who in the Gospel Reading could not even eat bread because of the crowds, from this Altar, at this Rail, we partake of the family meal, eating bread that is Christ’s Body given for us, and drinking wine that is Christ’s Blood shed for us, for the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. The Sacrament of the Altar is our God-given food for our way through this life, strengthening and preserving us in body and soul to life everlasting.
When God so works His will in us, then we at least try to do the will of God, such as that expressed in His Ten Commandments. This past week in Vacation Bible School we studied those Ten Commandments and Biblical accounts of their being broken by people and being kept by Jesus for us. Satan may have used forbidden fruit to lead humankind into sin, but, as God forgives our sin by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, He also brings forth from us the fruits of faith according to our vocations. We fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and we rightly use His Name and Word. We love our neighbors as ourselves, honoring God’s gifts of authority, life, human sexuality, possessions, reputation, and contentment. As we have opportunity, we do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10), perhaps most especially, Jesus’s family here. We pray, as we did in the Collect, that God will enable us always to do His will, but, when we fail to so do His will expressed in the Ten Commandments, with the repentance and faith that are His will, we live in the forgiveness of sins, both the forgiveness that we receive from God and the forgiveness of sins that we, in turn, extend to one another.
Neither saying that Jesus is out of His mind and trying to seize Him nor saying that He is possessed by a demon or is casting out demons by the prince of demons is characteristic of Jesus’s true family. However, as we are faithful members of His household, we can expect to be treated by our relatives and others as Jesus was treated (for example, Matthew 10:25). But, as the Epistle Reading reminded us, such light momentary affliction prepares for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison in our heavenly home (2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1). Jesus does not disparage our other relationships, but our relationship with Christ is the most important relationship, and so also more important are our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Mindful that some are traveling this weekend, we still say “Here is Jesus’s Family”. Thanks be to God for making us so, both now and in eternity.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +