Jesus Siblings

June 9, 2024 Mark 3:20-35 Jesus’ Siblings 3rd Sunday of Pentecost Year B Prelude Greeting Call to Worship Some of us come today with hearts weighed down with anxiety, fear, despair, and hurt. Together we cling to this truth: God’s steadfast love endures forever. Some of us come today with hearts that feel light with relief, joy, comfort, and gratitude. Together we cling to this truth: God’s steadfast love endures forever. Some of us come today not knowing what we think about God, confused and disappointed that the world God made is so full of evils of every kind. Together we cling to this truth: God’s steadfast love endures forever. Be with us, God, in all that we bring with us, as we gather to encounter your unchanging love. We come today to enter the dance of the Trinity who is immutable in love. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, February 2024. Opening Prayer Lord, we come this day, having seen the miracles of everyday creation in our world. We have enjoyed both the bright sunshine and the gentle rains. We have marveled over the beauty of flowers and the complexity of your creation. Make our hearts ready to receive your word for us, that we may go forth from this place ready to joyfully serve you all of our days. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Song Sing Praise to God who Reigns Above UMH 126 Sermon for all Ages By Lois Parker Edstrom Object suggested: Map of Africa. Picture of the hippo and tortoise: We can learn a lot from animals. This is a heart-warming story that I would like to share with you: A baby hippopotamus, named Owen, was swept down a river and into the ocean when a tsunami struck and then was tossed back to shore by waves and landed on the coast of Kenya in Africa. Wildlife workers rescued him and took him to a shelter where he was adopted by a one hundred year old tortoise that acted as his mother. (Show picture.) Don’t they look happy together? Baby hippos like to be with and play with their mothers until they are about four years old. These two, the hippo and the tortoise, although very different from each other, are fast friends that eat, sleep and swim together. The tortoise likes being a mother and Owen likes his new mother. The two of them formed a family. How wonderful! What we can learn from this story is that close family members may come in many forms. Not all of us are blessed with families that include a mother, father, brothers, and sisters. Families are made of people who love and care for each other. We find friends, in our church and elsewhere, who are loving and caring. They make good family members. Jesus says, “For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother” (3:35). Scripture quotations from the World English Bible Copyright 2011, Richard Niell Donovan Prayer for Transformation and New Life: Pastoral Leader: As we gather in worship, let us take this moment to consider our needs for transformation and forgiveness. I invite you to quietly reflect on our need for grace. (Allow a short moment of silence.) People: Dear God, the creator of all things based on love. You created us in your image of love and there have been times we have fallen short of that love, not only to you but to each other and all of creation. I ask for your forgiveness and from you, present today, my siblings, sisters and brothers in Christ. I thank you for the comforting strength and compassion of the Holy Spirit to do better in bringing love and grace and all I do. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Roberto Ochoa) Words of Grace (2 Corinthians 4:13) Pastoral Leader: “Just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture— “I believed, and so I spoke”—we also believe, and therefore we also speak” in the affirming knowledge that when we turn to God with our shortcomings, we are renewed in God’s Love by the grace of Christ. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Roberto Ochoa) Scripture Mark 3:20-35 Sermon Jesus’ Siblings Sermon Opener – Looking a Little Bit Crazy - Mark 3:20-35 A photocopied sign was posted inside a church office. It was one of those humorous full-page slogans that people in different offices duplicate and pass among themselves. Most of us have seen this particular message, I suppose, but posted in a church office, the words took on a new meaning. There it was, taped to the cinder blocks behind a secretary's desk. The sign read, "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps." At one level, why not put a sign like that in a church? Many churches are busy, hectic, confusing places. There are worship services to plan, educational programs to run, choirs to rehearse, fellowship dinners to organize, and outreach efforts to facilitate. There is a lot going on, and things can get frantic. The running joke in one church I know is that the staff keeps saying, "Next week it's going to get quiet," but the quiet week never comes. The work load can become a little bit crazy. On a deeper level, there is a great deal of truth to that sign. There is something strange about the church. We are not just another club or civic organization. The church's view of reality is increasingly out of phase from a lot of prevailing views. In the church, we do and say things that do not always make sense to people outside of this house... The church is a very busy place, there is always a lot going on, on the surface and underneath the surface. When you come to church there are a lot of personalities to deal with. Sometimes you may not be the crazy one, but you have to be comfortable with other people being crazy. And if that is not enough, you definitely have to be a little crazy to be willing to follow Jesus. Our scripture today in Mark explains why – Jesus has gathered the disciples as a group and he is ready to start his ministry and spread his message to his people. He is just getting started, but by this time, he has gained notoriety – people are talking about his teaching, preaching and healing. On the one hand they are impressed with his enthusiasm. With the profound truth in his words, they even celebrate all of the miracles they have witnessed – the man being able to see after years of being blind, the woman who had an issue for years and it went away. And that time that he saved that woman who was going to be stoned for adultery, his argument about judging her made a little sense. But on the other hand, sometimes he just stretched things way too far. Sometimes he took the tradition way out of context. Sometimes he would take everything sacred, and just turn it on its head. For instance, he claimed to be the son of God, nobody is the son of God, we are all the son of man. They prided themselves on seeking revenge on anyone who wronged them – and here this man was telling them to learn to forgive. Everyone knew that we were supposed to give God ten percent, and here this man was saying to give more if that what it takes to get the job done. Everyone knows to love your neighbor, but this man was telling us to love your enemies. Everything that we had been taught, this man took it too far – he must be crazy. That is why they called his mother and his siblings to come get him – he must be crazy. Interesting fact, the book of Mark never mentions the fact that Jesus had an earthly father. That might have been part of the problem in a culture where a father’s job was to teach the children moral behavior. But nevertheless, Jesus family still does not understand his message. When I went to Israel, I remember so many people saying- we don’t hate Jesus, and we are not against Christianity. The problem is, nothing that Jesus says makes sense to us. A lot of what he says is such an affront to our culture and tradition. No self respecting Hebrew would come up with those ideas. Except Jesus was a Hebrew, and he did. And it got him into a lot of trouble. Outside of Himself As some commentators have pointed out, it appears that it was particularly Jesus’ engagement with the demonic that was causing Mary and Jesus’ brothers to arch their eyebrows the sharpest. It all seemed a little bizarre to them. In verse 21 they say literally that they had to get him on home because Jesus was exeste, a word meaning to stand outside of yourself. Even today we may refer to a person who is an emotional wreck as being “beside himself” with grief. The idea is that someone has taken leave of his senses (or his senses have taken leave of him) and so what remains for the time being is a person whose emotions are unchecked and unregulated. This is the family’s assessment of Jesus. Apparently all Jesus’ talk about invisible kingdoms of God and the casting out of demons led members of his own family to the conclusion that Jesus was seeing things that no one else could see and the reason was simple: he was out of his ever-loving mind! And it does appear that it was especially Jesus’ emphasis on the demonic that yielded this opinion because no sooner does Jesus’ family accuse him of being mad, and the religious leaders chime in with their own verdict. Because they limit their comments to the demonic, it’s a good bet that it was this aspect of Jesus’ ministry that was generating the most discussion. In the opinion of the scribes, Jesus was himself a devil. If Jesus seemed to have inside information as to the goings-on in the demonic realm, the explanation was simple and obvious: pulling a page from the old “it takes one to know one” playbook, the religious leaders lambaste Jesus as being himself a demon incognito. It was a ridiculous thing to say, and finally completely foolish, too. Why would the devil be shooting himself in the foot? What kind of military commander blows up his own tanks? No, if Jesus seems to be plundering the realm of the devil, it’s because he had already bound and gagged the devil himself and so now his lesser hosts were easy targets for Jesus. Jesus did his work not because he had the power of the devil but because he had already demonstrated power over the devil. Scott Hoezee, Comments and Observations Have You Ever Tried to Discredit Someone? Isn’t there a tendency on our part to try to discredit the experience of others when we are intimidated by their experience? Think about it for a moment. Haven’t you ever felt threatened by a close friend, or even a family member, who moved to a new level of Christian commitment, and began to take his or her Christian discipleship more seriously? Maybe she began to talk more - to witness. You’ve not heard this sort of language before, not from a person like her, President of the Junior League or the Garden Club. She talks about “being born again” or about prayers being answered in such an explicit manner...and somehow, we feel threatened. Or, he decides he needs to deepen his involvement with Jesus, and so he goes to serve in the Salvation Army’s Soup Kitchen or to help build a home for a poor family. It's so out-of-character with this white-collar executive. He even talks about meeting Jesus in the poor whom he serves! And maybe he even begins to criticize the church for its self-serving attitude and low level of involvement in community issues - like homelessness, hunger, child abuse.... Both of them join a weekly prayer or Bible study group and they love to talk about how they see Jesus changing people's lives, and that’s just a bit much! That's taking this "Jesus thing" too far! You see, our religious neutrality, our middle of the road faith, is threatened “whenever someone we know well takes spiritual commitments seriously and refuses any longer to play hide-and—seek and touch-and-go with the living God.” (Carl F. H. Henry, Ibid, p. 149) So we try to discredit it all. “He’s beside himself”. Maxie Dunnam, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com __________________________________________ What is interesting, is those misunderstandings of what Jesus taught still exist today. You don’t have to be crazy to follow Jesus, but it sure helps. The craziness protects you against the criticism that other people give you. Ministry Everywhere Let me tell you about a man named Paige Patterson. Paige's style of ministry and even his theology may not exactly fit ours, but Paige cares about people. Paige ministered to troubled youth in ways that no one else did. He would go to places where youth were, like bars, nightclubs and the streets. At first the people in his church were in shock. This was a new experience and a new ministry for them. But soon they got over their shock and got on board and began a campus ministry to reach out to youth. And the youth responded positively: they liked having people from the church meet them where they were without getting obnoxious. One night Paige was asked to leave a nightclub because, the manager told him, he was running off his business. Paige says it was no big deal. Anyway, as he stepped out onto the front porch, Paige noticed a big man sitting there with a can of beer in his hand, who was a bouncer for the club. "Looks like it's been a rough night," Paige said casually. The big man nodded and said it indeed had been. "I don't want to offend you," Paige told him, "but if you died where you're sitting right now, would you be in heaven or hell?" The man instantly crushed the can he was holding, and beer shot everywhere. "I can't believe you asked that question," he said in disbelief. "I was just sitting here thinking how I was going to kill myself when I got home." "There's no reason to do that," Paige told him, "nothing's that bad." Then Paige began to witness to the man about his faith in Jesus Christ. He told the man that God still loved him. And the two men talked for the next thirty minutes. The next Sunday this man went to church and committed his life to Jesus Christ. Somehow I can see Jesus doing that kind of ministry if he were with us here physically today. Oh, not just in night clubs. But in offices and in living rooms and at Little League ball games - any place he could be with and get to know people. Jesus cares about people. That means he cares about you and me. Don't be put off by the formality of "church." Look beyond the robes and rituals. Look to a risen Savior who gave his life for only one purpose: people. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, When Jesus family comes to get him, he says something interesting – he says that only those who do the will of God are his real family. He calls those of us who follow him to remember to do the will of God, and to bring others into the family with us to do the same. Yesterday, I was watching the Tamron Hall show, and the theme of the show was those who dared to tell the truth and bare it all- was it really worth it. Her first guest was Jerrod Carmichael – who uses confessional comedy to challenge his family. In his hit show on HBO he likes to challenge his family. He is gay and his family are very conservative Christians, and he likes to say shocking things to embarrass them on camera to get their reactions. One episode was about his father’s infidelity. On another show – he asked his mom to accept him with calling him a sinner. His mom has not spoken to him since. The show caught my attention, because Tamron asked where the grace was in embarrassing his mother on national tv – and she pointed out that he was asking her for grace, but did he give her the same grace that he was asking for. Was he willing to understand her perspective the way he wanted her to understand him. Things have changed much, because I would think that this Jerrod’s mother must have felt a lot like Jesus mother did in Mark. Jesus wanted her to understand who he was, and his mother just wanted him to be normal and come back into the fold. Like Jerrod Carmichael, Jesus liked to used shock therapy to get people to see his point. Sometimes Jesus would say things that would challenge the most faithful of followers. Mark 29 is one of those sayings for me. Jesus talks about an unforgivable sin, the one sin that God will not forgive. But what is that sin. How do you offend the Holy Spirit? When I was a chaplain, I remember visiting a man, who was catholic, but had not gone to church in years. His sister had committed suicide and the priest refused to do her funeral because she has committed the unpardonable sin. Some say the unpardonable sin is being gay, some say it is using God’s name in vain, some say it is refusing to believe in God. Is there anything that we can do, that God does not forgive? If there is no on earth that understands us – does our creator still understand? Is there anyplace on earth where grace does not live. The good news is that grace is everywhere, God always understands, and there is always a road to God’s forgiveness. Some people say that if you have to ask what the unforgivable sin is, then you are not capable of commiting it. If you are willing to listen to God, then grace is always there. Some say that the unforgivable sin is asking for forgiveness, but not being willing to change, and continuing to do the same thing again even though you know it is wrong. And yet Jesus says that we should forgive again and again. God’s grace is available for repeat offenders. So what did Jesus mean when he speaks about the unforgivable sin? Was he just using shock therapy, or confessional comedy? I do not know. But I do think the his words are a reminder for who follow him that we need to put God first in everything that we do. That we should always seek grace in our lives. That we have to take seriously our place in the family of God. And that we Should always do God’s will. Training to Hear the Voice of God There is a positive message to be learned from these words of Jesus. The lesson is that we must keep ourselves alert to the way God is working in the world. Remember that those who were seeking to discredit Jesus were religious people. Their problem was that they just didn't expect God to be acting as Jesus said he was acting, so they missed the movement of God in their midst, and in fact, they called it evil. Today God may be speaking to us in causes that are unpopular, or in political events that cause us to feel threatened and insecure. The cries for justice and fairness in the world may come from quarters that we are not accustomed to listen to. We need to exercise diligence so that we don't miss the voice of God today just because it happens to be spoken by unfamiliar lips. I once sat in on a class my wife was taking in music appreciation. The instructor was asking the class members to listen for the recurring theme as it was passed from one instrument to another and was modified. I quickly lost it, but others in the class, who had benefited from their training, were able to keep track of the theme and even state which instrument was playing it. It is a law of life that we hear what we have trained ourselves to hear. What we must do is to train ourselves to listen for the voice of God in areas where we have not expected to hear it. We hear that voice only by attentive listening: by asking ourselves whether there is a valid message in those things which make us uncomfortable. Jesus spoke of an unforgivable sin, not because any act is unforgivable, but to warn us that our own hardness of heart can close the channels through which God's forgiveness flows and, as a consequence, leave us feeling alienated. Let us, therefore, affirm the good that is in others, so that our own hearts become generous and accepting of others, even as God is generous and accepting of us. David G. Rogne, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, CSS Publishing Company When we are able to find God in everything that we do, we also find grace. Grace is all that we need. Amen. Let us pray….. Song I’m going to Sing when the Spirit says Sing UMH 333 Prayers of the People (do not print) Great God, in you is more love than we can imagine and more grace than we can fathom. You have shown yourself in Jesus Christ as a God who meets us where we are and loves us as we are. We are glad for this day and grateful for your many gifts. You bring good things into our lives, more than we can name, more than we can number. You give us the bread of life, sustaining our souls and feeding our deepest hungers. You accompany us on our way. Thank you for your abundant faithfulness. p2 Our hearts are full with many things today. Disease and death and pain and sorrow are constantly among us. The journey through these days is marked by uncertainty and heartache. We are frequently overwhelmed by the needs around us and within us. Some need healing, some need encouragement, some need comfort, some need assurance, we all need hope. So we turn to you asking you to hear our prayers and grant what we need for the living of these days. We pray for our nation. We pray for renewed commitments to our common life. Refresh us in the values of your heart: justice, righteousness, compassion, mercy, peace. Help us to find a unity of purpose as citizens and neighbors. We pray for your church in places near and far. May the waters of your grace continually refresh and empower us to extend the love of Jesus to all people. We pray for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), for the clarity of our witness and the success of our mission. We pray for our congregation, for our life together, and for our efforts to follow in the way of Jesus. Hear us. Hold us. Heal us. Help us. Amen (John Wurster, Presbyterian Outlook) Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment In the early chapters of Mark’s Gospel we read of Jesus coming into his own clear identity, baptized and claimed as God’s beloved Son. He begins to heal, to teach, and to surround himself with his chosen disciples. At the end of chapter 3, Jesus makes clear he’s claiming this community of chosen individuals (those who do the will of God) as his family. As one part of the Body of Christ, this congregation becomes our family when we do the will of God, loving each other and those whom we serve. Week by week, we have opportunity to build up this faith family with our gifts of financial support, our shared talents, and our commitment of time. If Jesus were standing among us, I wonder if he would claim each of us? Would he claim this congregation? Would we be identified as “my brother, my sister, my mother”? Yearning to be claimed, let us share our gifts, our tithes and our offerings. Prayer of Thanksgiving Creator God, In the name of your beloved Son we’ve gathered to sing your praise, hear the words of scripture, and offer back a portion of our financial resources, our talent and our time. We’re eager to build up your Realm on earth as it is in heaven, so please accept our gifts and help us put them to best use. Such as we have, we give you, willingly! AMEN Disciples of Christ, Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Let us go from this place trusting that God is with us and for us in every place. May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God, and the companionship of the Holy Spirit be with you and abide with you this day and forevermore. Amen. (John Wurster, Presbyterian Outlook) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Dear friends, we have been nourished and renewed this day, go out and share the kin-dom of God to all you encounter in the love of God who created us, God who redeemed us, and God who sustains us. Go in peace, sharing the Good News. Amen. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Roberto Ochoa) Additional Illustrations Humor: Differences of Opinions Dr. Eugene Brice tells a delightful but disturbing story about a minister who returned to visit a church he had once served. He ran into Bill, who had been an elder and leader in the church, but who wasn't around anymore. The pastor asked, "Bill, what happened? You used to be there every time the doors opened." "Well, Pastor," said Bill, "a difference of opinion arose in the church. Some of us couldn't accept the final decision and we established a church of our own." "Is that where you worship now?" asked the pastor. "No," answered Bill, "we found that there, too, the people were not faithful and a small group of us began meeting in a rented hall at night." "Has that proven satisfactory?" asked the minister. "No, I can't say that it has," Bill responded. "Satan was active even in that fellowship, so my wife and I withdrew and began to worship on Sunday at home by ourselves." "Then at last you have found inner peace?" asked the pastor. "No, I'm afraid we haven't," said Bill. "Even my wife began to develop ideas I was not comfortable with, so now she worships in the northeast corner of the living room, and I am in the southwest." King Duncan, quoting Eugene Brice, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com John Power says this in a delightful way in his book, The Unoriginal Sinner and the Ice Cream God. In the form of a letter from a father to his teenage son, he writes, "Dear Son: Ever since the day you were born, I have made your life worth living. Make no mistake about it. I have done everything for you. And during all those years, just by being my son, you have made life worth living for me. I would have lived without you, but I would have never lived so well. Let's call it even. And if we see each other after today, let it be because we're friends, not family." (p. 243) Here's the bottom line: Jesus clearly defined the boundaries of parenthood when he asked the question, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" There could be no mistake about it, his relationship to God came first and foremost, and so must ours. Philip W. McLarty, Who Are My Mother and My Brothers? Johnny Cornflakes Comes to Dinner Timothy George says he never understood the radical nature of Jesus' ministry until it was driven home in a dramatic way. He was in his first year as pastor of the First Baptist Church in, Chelsea, Massachusetts. Chelsea, says George, is one of the most isolated, economically deprived, inner-city sections of greater Boston: there are 27,000 people crowded into less than two square miles. Chelsea is a receptacle for all kinds of dropouts - prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, all the people who have not "made it" and probably never will. Every new minister to Chelsea at that time soon became acquainted with one of these drop-outs, an alcoholic known to everyone as Johnny Cornflakes because he often rummaged through the trash, looking through the cereal boxes or whatever to find a bit of food. George's church sometimes gave Johnny Cornflakes food and clothes and tried to see that he had a place to spend the night. One Sunday after church Timothy George and his wife held their first dinner party in Chelsea for out-of-town guests. They had worked very hard to make everything perfect: they had brought out their best linen and their finest dishes in order to make a good impression. But right in the middle of the main course the front door of the parsonage burst open. Into their dining room in all of his inebriated glory sauntered Johnny Cornflakes. Everyone was startled! Timothy later wrote that he suddenly knew what the Pharisees must have felt like. "Johnny Cornflakes was someone you'd hand a sandwich to at the back door, someone you'd deliver a CARE package to at the inner-city mission, but definitely not someone you would invite to a Sunday dinner! Yet," George continues, "this is exactly what Jesus did, he invited all the Johnny Cornflakes of Jerusalem to Sunday dinner with the best linen and the finest dishes." It was because of acts like these that Jesus' family, his mother and other family members, were concerned about him. They thought he was overdoing it a bit. They came to talk some sense into him, and possibly take him with them. We know how that worked out, don't we? King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com ou and I may differ on definitions of family and what constitutes family values, but we all know we can learn something indispensable from Jesus. He teaches us to put God first. When you fall back into the habit of loving flesh and blood more than God, don't worry too much. God is always at work redeeming and expanding our earth-bound loves to make them heaven-sent. Kristin Borsgard Wee, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Do You Love Me?, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. A Harsh Statement Midway into this confrontation Jesus said a very harsh thing. What did he mean when he said, "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin?" (Mark 3:28-29) One commentator, Halford E. Luccock, noted that this is one of the things he wishes Jesus had never said. Jesus' statement has produced hard emotional scars upon some sensitive persons. Not many months ago I had a conversation with a man who was deeply disturbed. He was emotionally sick. He needed professional counseling - much more than I could provide. What he continually talked about was his belief that he had committed that eternal sin, that unpardonable sin. He never shared what it was or what he believed it was. "I just can't speak it," he said. It was a thought that he had held since his youth, and for thinking that terrible thought he believed Jesus was condemning him eternally. The whole gospel message was - for him - focused on that single verse, that single eternal condemnation by Jesus. I worry about how such a phrase is taught to young people, to young lives just forming serious religious understandings. Biblical literalists, from their position of self-confidence, refer to it as if that single verse stands all by itself. That is known as "taking something out of context," or isolating one small part from the rest of a bigger picture. These words are simply a small part of the total confrontation that took place that day between Jesus and the Pharisees. Leonard H. Budd, The Spirit's Tether, CSS Publishing Company When A Clown Was Just Right A friend named Bill is a minister. He also has been accused of being a little bit nuts. Bill does workshops for churches on clowning. Not long ago, he was in a distant city, packing up after a workshop. The phone rang. Nobody was around. He answered. "Are you a minister?" somebody asked. "Yes, actually I am." "Come quickly," said the voice, "our child is dying of leukemia." Bill dropped everything. He ran out to his rental car and drove to the hospital. He parked the car, ran up the steps, through the double doors, and down the hall. Suddenly it hit him: he was still dressed as a clown, with a white face, red nose, orange hair, and green suspenders. He didn't have time to change. It was an emergency. He kept going. He found the room, knocked on the door, and entered the room where a young girl in a hospital bed lay surrounded by her family. "We called for a minister, not a clown," said the father. The child replied, "He's better than a minister. Can he stay?" No one dared to deny her request. Bill sat on the edge of the hospital bed. He sang songs. He told Bible stories. He cradled the little girl in his arms until the end. When the last moment came, she made a final request. "Would you come to my funeral?" So that's how it happened. On the third day, crazy Bill stood with white face, red nose, orange hair, and green suspenders. He never spoke a word, yet he led the people as they laughed, and cried, and remembered the little girl's life. A few people present thought it was wrong to have a clown at a funeral, much less lead the service. They murmured afterwards, "That minister is out of his mind! He's crazy!" By all the proper canons of pastoral protocol, they were probably correct. But there he stood, acting as if God's joyful power has already defeated death. Was he crazy? Who can say? All we know is that Bill heard Jesus say, "I am the resurrection and the life," and he acted accordingly. "You don't have to be crazy to work around here, but it helps." Likewise, you don't have to be out of your mind to do the work of Jesus Christ, even though a faithful life can provoke the world to think of you that way. Should evil conspire against you, listen closely. You may hear Christ say, "You're my brother -- you're my sister -- you're my family." William G. Carter, Water Won’t Quench the Fire, CSS Publishing Company Sermon Opener – When You Are Wrongly Criticized - Mark 3:20-35 by Leonard Sweet Anyone here like criticism? How do you respond to criticism? Does being criticized bring you down or fire you up? Do you want to hunker in your bunker or lob your own volley of vitriol back at your critics? Learning how to respond to criticism is a lifetime journey. That's because critics will be accompanying you from cradle to grave! In every election year there is no shortage of negative, critical remarks flying around the airwaves. Of course all politicians virtuously claim they hate "negative" ads. And, of course, every candidate uses them. The justification for both sides is "Negative ads work." Surveys allegedly show that those nasty, negative, often highly personal attacks are the most effective way of swaying public opinion. Negativity, bad-mouthing, accusatory honking profoundly changes the way we think and the way we act. In a Charlie Brown cartoon, little brother Linus, looking very forlorn, asks big sister Lucy, "Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?" Lucy, looking very self-righteous, replies, "I just think I have a knack for seeing other people's faults." Linus turns indignant. "What about your own faults?" he asks. "I have a knack for overlooking them," says Lucy. Unfortunately, those best at hurting and critiquing us are those closest to us. In today's gospel text Jesus is beset by critics. The first in line? His own family members… Are You Out of Your Mind? Have you ever accused someone of being out of their mind? Probably. We are not unaccustomed to making such a statement about people we know today. A friend of yours takes a bungee jump off a high tower, and you ask, "Has he gone out of his mind?" On a lark, another friend takes a sky diving lesson and jumps out of a perfectly good airplane, and you ask, "Has she gone out of her mind?" A person of modest income decides to purchase a house obviously beyond his means, and you ask, "Has he gone out of his mind?" There are lots of situations in which we might ask that question of someone we know, but we are shocked when someone asks that question of Jesus. In verse 21, we find the statement, "People were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind." Some people believe Jesus performed many miraculous deeds all of his life. They believe Jesus was so divine that everyone who knew him would be amazed at this perfect human being. I prefer to emphasize the humanity of Jesus and believe that the first miracle he ever performed was at the wedding in Cana. I believe he grew up as a normal boy. His brothers who lived with him just thought of him as a brother. They were surprised when he began preaching (my own brothers were in total SHOCK when I announced my intention to enter the ministry!). When they learned of some of the things he was saying, they wanted him to quit (ditto). They came as a group ready to seize him, get him away from the crowds, and have him deprogrammed (mine never went that far, but I'm almost certain they were tempted!). When they finally arrived, there was such a crowd that they could not get in to see him. They sent him a message, but he left them standing on the outside, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" He acknowledged no special ties or obligation to them. Mickey Anders, Was Jesus Out of His Mind? A Harsh Statement Midway into this confrontation Jesus said a very harsh thing. What did he mean when he said, "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin?" (Mark 3:28-29) One commentator, Halford E. Luccock, noted that this is one of the things he wishes Jesus had never said. Jesus' statement has produced hard emotional scars upon some sensitive persons. Not many months ago I had a conversation with a man who was deeply disturbed. He was emotionally sick. He needed professional counseling - much more than I could provide. What he continually talked about was his belief that he had committed that eternal sin, that unpardonable sin. He never shared what it was or what he believed it was. "I just can't speak it," he said. It was a thought that he had held since his youth, and for thinking that terrible thought he believed Jesus was condemning him eternally. The whole gospel message was - for him - focused on that single verse, that single eternal condemnation by Jesus. I worry about how such a phrase is taught to young people, to young lives just forming serious religious understandings. Biblical literalists, from their position of self-confidence, refer to it as if that single verse stands all by itself. That is known as "taking something out of context," or isolating one small part from the rest of a bigger picture. These words are simply a small part of the total confrontation that took place that day between Jesus and the Pharisees. Leonard H. Budd, The Spirit's Tether, CSS Publishing Company ____________________________