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, after a confrontation with the Pharisees, 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 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."  Beelzebub was a name given by the Jews indicating Baal, a god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  Across the Middle and Near East, various peoples worshiped Baal (meaning "Lord"), often at varied shrines with particular dedication names to the god.  In this case, "Beelzebub" is a form of dedication name given in ridicule by the Jews, as it means prince of the "dung heap," or in another sense, lord of "the flies."  For the Jews, these gods in reality were demons, and here this god worshiped in so many places is called ruler of the demons, and they accuse Christ of working through his demonic power.  But Jesus turns the tables with a very perfect expression of the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves, which my study Bible says illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.  For He is the stronger man, who binds the strong man, Satan.

"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 means blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit; that is, blasphemy against pure goodness.  He says this because the scribes attribute the gracious miracles, healings, and casting out of demons to Beelzebub, whom they call the ruler of the demons.  The activities of the Holy Spirit were already well known among the Jews from the Old Testament Scriptures, and so this misattribution to forces of evil comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  However, my study Bible adds that the patristic commentary is clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin" and neither does Jesus call it "unforgivable."  According to St. John Chrysostom, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  My study Bible explains that Christ makes this declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and that they are beyond repentance by their own choice.  

 

 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."  Christ's relatives, my study Bible comments, have not yet understood His identity and mission.  Hence, further up, we hear that "His own people . . . went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  Perhaps they are simply fearful that He has by now drawn so much attention to Himself, including hostility from both the religious and state authorities.  But here even His close family comes to speak with Him, His brothers (likely stepbrothers or cousins) and His mother.  The people who surround Him in a circle are those who aspire to be disciples, or learners.  (We can observe this in the story of Martha and Mary, in which Mary joined with those who "sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word"; see Luke 10:38-42.)  Jesus, however, responds by pointing to a spiritual family, based on obedience to the will of God the Father.

Jesus' notion of a spiritual family is important.  If we look back at our lives, we might be surprised to learn that we can perceive a thread running through them based upon the influence of the Holy Spirit at work.  There is a subtlety to this sort of experience through time that more or less defies absolute description, and nevertheless in hindsight we might often find ourselves surprised to perceive that it was there.  The Holy Spirit, and the actions of the Spirit in the world, seem to tie us to things that defy normal anticipation of coincidence or happenstance, making us a part of connection that leads us to deeper insight and to further conviction in our faith.  This, by way of understanding how the Spirit works among us, is a way to see relationship formed, a family based on obedience to the will of God.  Once we begin to take seriously our faith, and to sincerely seek to know the will of God and to follow that calling, we might be shocked to find the difference in our lives between the very secular concepts of friendship and even family relationship, and the particular things that happen in the community of our faith.  This extends even to a growing understanding of prayer, and of that "great cloud of witnesses" about which St. Paul wrote, even to the saints with whom we pray and upon whom we can call for assistance in prayer, just as we would with our fellow believers in our Church whom we know.  In effect, Jesus calls us into family under a relationship with God Our Father in heaven, and from there we derive a sense of relatedness leading to a sense of family.  While our parents and other relations may always hold a particular place in our lives to which a certain respect or honor is due, the depth of the heart to which Christ calls us in faith operates in surprising and transcendent ways, calling upon a loyalty that a secular life can't necessarily understand nor perceive.  It is the depth of Christ's love working in us that may come as surprising, for it defies expectations, and renders us loyal to something not understood in a conventional sense.  Indeed, it is Christ here who calls us into this relationship, and we can even read His words as proclaiming to us that we can join His family, as brother and sister and mother, for all those who seek to do the will of God become one of His family based on that depth of relationship of obedience to God the Father.  For those of us who seek this way of life can be certain of a profound journey in this place of discipleship, like those who sit at His feet in today's reading.  Our reading today begins with the story of those who claim that Christ's power comes from the demons, but we know where this depth of power comes that can defeat even "the strong man" who is also called "the prince" or "ruler of this world" (John 14:30; Ephesians 2:2).  For the reality of God surpasses and transcends all things, even those to whom we feel the closest in life on worldly terms.  Let us also seek God's will and do it.  For it is not simply those who listen, but whoever does the will of God whom Jesus claims as His family.