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

 

 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 

 

Yesterday we read that, at this point in Jesus' ministry (having had important disputes with religious leaders), He 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 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."  Mark's Gospel points out to us that at this significant time in Christ's ministry, in which He has just appointed the Twelve who will be sent out as apostles, and at which time His popular following among all the regions of Israel has attracted intense scrutiny and criticism by religious leaders, there are members of Christ's extended family who also want to "tame" what is happening, and state that He is beside Himself.  I have read opinions that this is possibly because of all of the attention, and certainly the negative and condemning scrutiny of the scribes and Pharisees, that Jesus is drawing toward Himself.  They may be attempting to make excuses for Him as they seek to curb what is happening.  Possibly these are members of His family and clan who simply cannot comprehend why He is not the humble carpenter of Nazareth that they knew, and this Man who now draws so much attention really does seem "out of His mind."  It puts us in mind of the rejection by His townsfolk in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), who were incensed at His preaching.

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."  Beelzebub was a name for Baal used by the Jews.  Baal was a god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  There are disputes as to what the name means.  Some explain it as a kind of ridiculing parody of the names used for Baal in the Philistines' worship of the god, and meaning prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here, the scribes call this god the ruler of the demons.  My study Bible explains that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to the Holy Spirit.  In an interesting commentary on this passage, St. Augustine states that it is righteous justice that Christ is the "stronger man" who plunders the house of the strong man, Satan, and liberates his goods from bondage to him; that is, those who are enslaved to sin.  Jesus is the One who turns the weapons of demonic power back against the devil, by binding the "strong man" Satan himself. 

"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."  My study Bible comments that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit, blasphemy against pure goodness.  A sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven, it says, because the Jews did not know much about Christ.  But blasphemy against the Spirit, whose divine activity was known through the Old Testament Scriptures, will not be forgiven, as it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  This is a kind of willful blindness meant in order to simply condemn.  My study Bible adds that the patristic writers are clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin" -- nor does Jesus call this sin "unforgivable."  St. John Chrysostom says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  Jesus is making this declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit here are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and by their own choice they are beyond repentance.

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."  Perhaps this is another mission undertaken at the behest of extended family, to speak with Christ about His ministry.  Certainly we know His mother's understanding of His identity, but it is the public attention and negative scrutiny and hostility by religious authorities that seems to trouble the family.  My study Bible comments that Christ's relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission.  He points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of God the Father.  

 

 Many people seem to feel that success must come easily and quickly, so long as one is "doing the right thing."  But this is far from true, and life usually holds the opposite expectation -- that success is a product of hard work, rebounding and trying again after failures, struggle, and persistence.  It also takes a lot of creativity, a willingness to think about things in new ways, and quite often what most people call luck.  (In my estimation, a prayer life can be remarkably "lucky" to the eyes of those who don't understand it.)  But if we look at Jesus, the picture of "instant success" disappears for one that is quite different.  Possibly in this case, what we really need to do is start to think outside the box, to be creative enough in our understanding to grasp how Jesus' mission is a success even when it seems to be failing, when there is opposition, when His relatives think He is out of His mind, and even -- and most especially then -- when He goes to the Cross and experiences human death.  Because what Jesus really teaches us is that all of our ideas of success have to take second place to God's idea of what makes us a success.  In today's reading, He says that "whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."  We might especially remember that when Jesus first tells the disciples that He will suffer and be killed, St. Peter, the rock of faith, rebuked Christ.  We might assume Peter was speaking on behalf of all of the disciples, as is often the case.  But Jesus' response was to rebuke Peter before the rest of the disciples, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."  (See Mark 8:31-33.)   What is a success in the sight of God does not necessarily correspond to our idea of success at all.  St. Paul writes to the Corinthians regarding himself and his fellow apostles:  "For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.  And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure;  being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now" (1 Corinthians 4:9-13).  Moreover, in the traditional Christian view, and as we are repeatedly taught by Christ in the Gospels, it is humility that is the chief virtue that leads to all others.  These lessons come frequently to the disciples when they are debating one another about "who will be greatest."  See, for example, Luke 22:24-27, a dispute that takes place at the Last Supper.  A clear definition of success would simply be a mission completed to the last detail.  But often, we can't know the outcome of that success, the longterm effect, or even what the real planner of the mission had in mind.  And so it is with our lives.  So often we think of success in terms of what the rest of the world might say about what we do; and yet, success is also measured in terms that don't have price tags or bottom lines attached to them, like caring for an elderly parent, helping someone out who needs it, or using compassion the way that we see Christ do.  Most often, prayer is indispensable for coming to terms with a measure of true success.  No one will be a greater cheerleader for a true measure of success than what we find in our prayer lives, in the context of a worship service that helps us to see more clearly than when all the pressure is on and everything struggles within us, or a good pastor who can truly help us to find the right path.  Sometimes success is simply a matter of needing a redefinition, remembering where our bedrock of reality really lies.  And that is on the rock of our salvation (see Matthew 7:24-27).  For we all have a mission that lasts a lifetime, that asks us to keep on trying, and holds a world of learning and starts and failures all along the way.  That is Christ's mission of love to us.