Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother

 . . . and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.   And they went into a house.

Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said 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 cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house.

"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

- Mark 3:19b-35

In yesterday's reading, we read that Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.  And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan, and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.  And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is,"Sons of Thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.
 
 . . . and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.   And they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  We have come to the point in the Gospel where Jesus' widespread fame has created enough of a stir so that this house where He stays is in a kind of chaos; there's no order here.  Even His disciples can't so much as eat bread in the house -- normal functions such as dining have ceased to be possible here because of the crowds.  In the midst of this chaos, Jesus' family comes for Him.  It's interesting to look at the word in the Greek for "out of His mind."  If we look at the root, it's a bit like the opposite of the word for "restore" that we read in Thursday's reading, regarding the healing of the man with the withered hand in the synagogue.  When Jesus "restored" the man's hand, that word read literally about a person returned to their rightful place.  Here, it's the opposite:  Jesus' family members (and the text tell us these are "His own" -- it's not clear just who they are, but they're part of His clan) come to get Him because He's clearly not in His right place, as far as they are concerned.  He's beside Himself, so to speak.  Some people would refer to the chaos in this house (because of the crowds) as an "Elvis phenomenon," after the crowds that swamp the lives of young pop or rock stars.  Jesus is a celebrity.  My study bible says, "His own people are His relatives, who do not yet comprehend Jesus and His mission."

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and "By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said 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 cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house."   According to my study bible, "Beelzebub/Baal was the prince perhaps of  'the dung heap' or 'the flies' -- a god worshiped by the Philistines.  Here he's called ruler of the demons."  It adds, "Jesus clearly is plundering the strong man, the devil, whose goods were the people he oppressed.  Jesus' work brings total triumph.  Not one demon is able to resist Him."  Jesus' words here tell us of a framework for the entire Gospel of Mark.  The setting is a spiritual battle we can't necessarily see, but whose effects we feel and experience.  And He's decisively setting Himself out here as the stronger man, come to liberate those who are bound and afflicted.  The scribes' limited view, bound and afflicted by resentment and suspicion, produces a sort of blindness to what He's doing, what He is about.  Jesus' response to their accusations is pure logic.  He's opening their eyes to what is clearly happening here.

"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."  A note says, "The 'unforgivable sin' is the accusation that Jesus performs exorcisms by the power of a demonic spirit, instead of the Holy Spirit.  This is blasphemy."

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  A note tells us that "in the Greek patristic tradition, these brothers are identified as stepbrothers of Jesus, sons of Joseph by a previous wife.  In the Latin tradition, they are seen as relatives, such as cousins."

And a multitude was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."  Some manuscripts tell us the crowd says to Jesus that His "sisters" are present also.  My study bible says, "Jesus is not necessarily belittling His mother and relatives.  Who was more obedient to the will of God than Mary who said, 'Let it be to me according to your word' (Luke 1:38)?  In effect Jesus is saying, 'Be like My mother.  Do the will of God as she does.'  In obeying God we become sons of God and brothers with other Christians -- spiritual relationships which are more valuable than natural ones."

Whatever way we look at today's text, we have to come to terms with Jesus' notions of relatedness.  There are all kinds of relationships going on here, many of which are "out of bounds" of the normal society.  There's the chaos in the house where Jesus is staying with the Twelve; it's so chaotic that no one can even have a meal in the house, because of all the people who come wanting to see Him.   It's disturbed the order of His own people, His extended family, who come to get Him (presumably to take Him home where they feel He belongs) because they think He's gone out of His mind.  The order is disrupted.  What is He doing, and Who does He claim to be?  What is this ministry?  Clearly, it seems that Jesus has left an ordered and rather humble life, and they want Him back where "normalcy" reigns, in their minds.  Next come the scribes who are clearly upset that Jesus is shaking up the normal order of things as far as they are concerned.  He must be working by the ruler of the demons!  But Jesus speaks directly and with great power and authority to them.  Not only have they got it all wrong, and are making no sense at all, but their accusations are of the type that will not be forgiven if they're actually blaspheming the work of the Holy Spirit.  It's not Jesus' human person that adds that layer of enormous importance, but rather the Spirit by whom the work is done.  The greater setting of the spiritual battle at work here in this liberation mission sets into place a deeper meaning behind the accusations and cynical actions of the leadership, who are worried for their places in the usual order of things.  And finally, there's His family, who appeal to Him in a way we can't help but be sympathetic to.  But Jesus has an important answer for them, also, setting out relationships in a difficult-to-swallow understanding of this shakeup of the "normal" order of things.  The deeper relationship in our lives is defined by relationship to Creator; or rather, to the Trinity:  Father, Son and Spirit.  In this spiritual sense of what is truly happening here, Christ is at the center of all things, and it is His coming into our lives that will truly set things right, creating relationships of depth and meaning, giving us the spiritual dimension that must come to full play in our lives.  In that context, all other relationships are not only second, but they come into the "right order."  And this is the far deeper purpose of His coming into our world in the first place.  He teaches us what real relationships are; His is a ministry of love and mercy and healing.  His teachings are all about relationships and how we are to care for them.  His condemnation of blasphemy of the work of the Spirit also teaches us about what we may need to separate ourselves from, and how we make decisions about what is good in our lives, and what harms.  Truth is important, love is important, and the humility to embrace both is essential.  Let us continue our walk with Christ.  Our world may be shaken by the Spirit's work of liberation in our own lives; but when we call upon Him we ask Him to set us in a right place, so that we, too, may see clearly and reasonably, and cast away the things that blind us to what truly is.  He centers us in the place we need to be, in all things.  His liberation mission is for each of us at all times.