The last state of that man is worse than the first

 "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.  Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'  And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.  So shall it also be with this wicked generation."

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.  Then one said to Him "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You."  But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"  And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."

- Matthew 12:43-50

In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His reply the Pharisees after they claimed His signs and healings were the result of demonic activity.  He said,  "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.  Brood of vipers!  How can you, being evil, speak good things?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.  But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."  Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."  But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.  The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here."

 "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.  Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'  And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.  Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.  So shall it also be with this wicked generation."  My study bible tells us that when the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, they didn't repent of their impure ways, and an unclean spirit took up residence in their hearts (see Deuteronomy 31:20; Psalm 106:34-39).  Thus, it teaches, we guard our hearts.  Unless there is a full repentance and the Holy Spirit dwells in a  person, an expelled demon will return with others and reoccupy its abode.  What it seems that Jesus is teaching us, especially as continuation of yesterday's reading, is that without repentance and a real "guarding of the heart" -- a deliberate practice of self-awareness -- we're on a trajectory.  We don't stay neutral and in one place.  We're either going in one direction or another, and therefore what remains in deliberate error or sin becomes worse.  It's an argument about consciousness.  Jesus will teach a similar principle when He tells the Pharisees (in 23:15), "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves."   Seven is frequently used as a number symbolic of completeness.  What Jesus is discussing here is a pattern and growth of personal corruption.

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.  Then one said to Him "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You."  But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"  And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."  Christ's family, says my study bible, haven't yet understood His identity and His mission.  He points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of My Father.  In this we're reminded of the prayer He's given us in the Sermon on the Mount, in which we pray to God the Father, "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."  Jesus' brothers are extended family; "brothers" is still a common way to refer to cousins or stepbrothers in the Middle East.

Importantly, in today's reading, Jesus claims kinship with "whoever does the will of My Father in heaven."   It's an important principle.  Here Jesus specifically applies it to members of His own family, but we can see the point in the continuation of His teachings and rebuke to the Pharisees in the past two readings.  He has warned them that they will be judged by foreigners, the non-Jews who heard God's word and obeyed or cherished what they were given although not prepared by the whole spiritual history of Israel, the people of God.  He mentioned those at Nineveh who repented at Jonah's preaching, and the queen of the South who came to hear the wisdom God gave to Solomon.  He's challenging the ways in which we see kinship and blood relationship and community, and telling us about community based on something other than flesh and blood.  Those who stray far from God stray outside of that kinship and family.  He's looking for disciples, those who will 'work the work of faith.'  A sincere prayer that "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is the prayer of one in this family, in His family.   Jesus underscores the importance of our understanding of this point when He preaches about the unclean spirit that brings seven more with it back to the same place; even though it is in order, it's not really enough.  Repentance asks for a kind of commitment, a particular direction of service to something, an active faith so that we go in another direction.  It seems that our failure to understand repentance and commitment, how faith works, is a failure to understand a part of our nature as human beings.  We're always serving something, whether we realize it or not.  We're made for worship, and we can turn anything into an idol.  The real nature of our minds and hearts requires consciousness, self-awareness, deliberate choice.  Neither Jesus nor God the Father acts to coerce without our internal assent, and this practice of "guarding the heart" is part of that assent, that desire to accept God's love.  This is active faith.  It's not just about following certain rules; each is made to manifest and grow in the love of God and image of God in the depth of faith.  Every saint is a unique and full personality.  As Jesus has taught, "Wisdom is justified by her children."  But we remember His words from yesterday's reading, as He gives us the 'flipside':  "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit."  And today, His warning is more dire: without this work at making the tree and its fruit good, it may be on the way to being seven times worse.  Our choice here is what is essential, and in teaching about who are His brother and sister and mother, He gives us the crucial choice.

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 Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, after disagreement with the Pharisees over healing a man on the Sabbath.  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 sickness 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 same Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, 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."   Jesus' "own people" are extended family.  While the crowds surround Him, as if He's a contemporary rock star, His family is upset.   It is so out of context, so inappropriate in their understanding, that they think 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.   Jesus' own people have said that He is out of His mind.  Here, the religious leadership from Jerusalem pronounces Him as one working in conjunction with demons, like a person possessed.   Jesus has disrupted the social order, on both a personal and a public level.  But He is the One who brings order, not destroys it, and He sets out the logic that defeats the claims of the scribes.  "How can Satan cast out Satan?" is asking us for logic, ultimate logic.  Why would the ruler of demons cast out his own, work against his own kingdom.  They know how worldly kings fight.  In fact in the centuries leading to Christ's birth, the entire Near East was one great battle ground, with kingdom battling against kingdom, one after the other, and a constant switching of alliances and powers.  Jesus' illustration comes as one people know very well.  Why would a man on the throne fight against his own house, his own army, his own kingdom?  To plunder a strong man's goods, one would have to first defeat him, bind him, imprison and capture him.  This is what Jesus is doing with the "house" of Satan; therefore He is the enemy of Satan.   Beelzebub, also called Baal, was "the prince of the dung heap" or lord of "the flies" in the pejorative title given by the Jews -- a god worshiped by the Philistines, but here referred to as the ruler of the demons by the scribes.

"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."  The characterization by the scribes of Jesus' work as demonic isn't only a vain product of pride and envy, it's a far more serious problem.  Jesus works by the Holy Spirit, and to call this work demonic is something far more grave than an accusation against a man.  It is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, an accusation against the divine activity of God.  It is calling the essentially good "evil."  He separates their hostility to Him from their qualification of the work of the Holy Spirit as evil or demonic, something they should understand and know as experts in the Scripture.  Indeed, exorcism was practiced by the Jews.  My study bible is quick to point out that Jesus does not say repentance and forgiveness are not possible even for this sin.   Jesus stresses the great gravity of the sin.

 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."  Jesus' brothers are again extended family, not necessarily blood brothers (even today in the Middle East, cousins are commonly called brothers).  Jesus is not insulting His family when He teaches about the union in the will of God, the family created by God.  In some way, it is similar to His teaching about the union of marriage made by God.  My study bible suggests that Jesus points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of God.

We see a great division created by Jesus, and by the work of the Spirit.  It's something that is reflected in Jesus' words later on in His ministry (see Matthew 10:35), about what is to come in the world and to His followers after He is gone, the purpose and effect of His mission.  Controversy surrounds Him, even as He gains more and more fame and is in such demand that no one can even eat a meal in the house He stays in.  Jesus now faces divisions in both His personal and His public life.  Those who have known Him best, His extended family and kin, His own people, think that He must be out of His mind.  The person of the public ministry is very different from the person they've known, the One who had lived the life of a simple Galilean in Nazareth.  Now He's causing an unseemly furor.  The religious authorities accuse Him of working healings and exorcisms by the power of the ruler of demons.  This is an accusation raised out of envy, and pride of their own places, as His popularity and fame extend ever more greatly.  They feel challenged in their role as authorities, particularly after He healed on the Sabbath in their presence, after He'd already been challenged about Sabbath work.  Jesus is causing an extraordinary sort of scene.  Nothing is "normal" --  rather, it is all extraordinary.  Extraordinary is the important qualification here, because this isn't just the work of a preacher; the centerpiece here is the work of the Holy Spirit in the world, at work through His ministry.  It is God at work in the world, and this is what gathers the great central place of Jesus' mission.  Everything is done to serve the will of the Father.  At work is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- and the effects of this ministry come in the wake of that central fact, that central work.  Everything else gathers around that pole, that central reality.  And it will continue to cause its own disruption of the fabric of the world and our social structures.  This seems to be particularly so when things become highly rigid.  The Spirit works through all circumstances, and takes on particular effects within systems that do not allow for the freedom of truth.  We see this in the Old Testament, in the holy prophets who shake up the worldly powerful, who will not go along with the kings who hire others to prophesy for money.  In Eastern Orthodoxy, it can be seen in the person of the holy fool, who somewhat resembles many of the prophets -- living outside of the social structures and norms of his or her time, seemingly out of their minds, but speaking the truth to the powerful, saying the things no one else will dare say.  John the Baptist is a similar sort of figure -- one outside of the social structures, living in the wilderness in strict asceticism.  But with the saints and the holy, it is just as Jesus will say: "Wisdom is justified by all her children" (Luke 7:35).   Jesus Himself is truly our central figure.  He's one who's come from Galilee, from a family established in His small town, but who tangles with the religious establishment, answering with authority all those in authority, whose work and effects are so challenging to what has become rigid and in some sense stagnant that the challenge will go right up to the Roman authorities.  He is our central figure, and His words teach us everything about where we stand, where our first loyalty must be, what truth is, and even the price we may pay for His kind of freedom.  Let us remember His truth in our daily lives, through all that we do, and all the challenges we may find.

By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons

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 about Jesus' growing ministry and fame. He goes to the sea, and preaches and heals there. But there are so many people coming from every region beyond Galilee that He must order His apostles to keep a boat ready, so that He can escape if He is threatened to be crushed by the crowd. It's not enough for them that He heals and preaches, but everyone seeks to touch Him as well. Then Jesus withdrew further, up to the mountaintop, where He called those to Him that He desired. And they responded -- Jesus chooses the Twelve Apostles, including the one who will betray Him. See He appointed twelve, that they might be with 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." Again, we are given a picture of Jesus' growing fame and popularity. It threatens His existence at this point. He has gathered and chosen the Twelve Apostles, so that others may share in His life, and His mission of preaching, and His power to heal and cast out demons. But even coming into a house becomes a threat to Him, because the crowds who follow are too dense -- no one can even eat in the house! His family comes to Him (perhaps to rescue Him). They are deeply concerned and fear for His sanity in the midst of this chaos. I think it tells us something about the power He carried in the midst of the world. It's like a spark that sets off reactions that perhaps no one can predict, because we each respond in our own way. I was deeply struck by yesterday's reading and some of the chaos that surrounds Jesus - not only controversy and those who seek to persecute, but that He will be betrayed by one whom He has chosen for Himself. This tells us something deeply powerful about the nature of our own freedom that each of us has in response to God, even a call from the Lord.

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. Not only is His family concerned for and questioning His sanity, but His persecutors claim that He has a demon and works by the power of demons. Perhaps in all the chaos created by His fame, it's not so strange that those who seek to be rid of Him would seize upon this situation to claim demonic influence. But Jesus answers rightly: If He works by the demons, then how does He cast them out? Jesus says that "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." Jesus brings a kingdom into this world, and from the earliest preaching He has done in this Gospel, He has preached that "the kingdom of God is at hand." He means to supplant and replace the "strong man" who has had too much free reign among us in the world.

"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." What is important here is the labeling of the work of the Spirit as work of a demon -- attributing spiritual gifts that work for the power of God in the world, for the kingdom Jesus seeks to bring, to evil. I don't think we should be much surprised at this, and if you look around, you will find that anything that may shake up a power structure, no matter how ostensibly good in its goals, may be seen or labeled as evil. In this case, we must turn to faith to understand Jesus. He has still refrained from identifying Himself openly as Messiah. He wants a community of faith and trust, and such faith comes from an inner understanding, a spiritual perception. Those who would project evil onto Him, and demonic activity onto His work, are blinded by their own ambitions and haven't the spiritual understanding He seeks. Therefore their own perception of God's work is such that without some form of repentance they will not be aware of God's love at work within them, nor in their midst - nor in Jesus Himself. It is a question of perception of what is there. God's presence and power and love are here, and always offered. Sin, then, becomes a question of what we can see and hear, and what we are a part of within ourselves - or of that from which we remain excluded by our own blindness, for whatever cause.

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." His family continues to seek Him -- perhaps they are still trying to talk to Him and are concerned for His state of mind amidst all the tumult. But as He does so often, Jesus goes one step further. He is ultimately pronouncing the state of things "good." He is not insulting His mother and His brothers, but rather calling His community His family. And that community is created through the acceptance of the will of God, the power of the Spirit at work in each of us, when we can perceive and respond positively to the drawing power of the love therein. This is a contrast with those who would call the work of the Spirit evil, or attribute it to something bad or demonic activity. Those who can perceive, who share love and community through this power of love, become His family.

So amid the tumult and chaos Jesus' fame creates, we start to understand a story. And it is linked to yesterday's reading, and how the kingdom grows amidst our responses to it. Do we accept it, or reject it? Do we call it good, or the work of the devil? How do we know what the Spirit will do in our lives, and how do we perceive it at work in and through others around us? This reading teaches us that each of us has our own response to the work of God in the world. And if nothing else, it also teaches us that we may at all times be deceived by our own desires and the things we wish to hold onto, the things we need to call good. Our own ambitions and desires to keep a system intact, a position we cherish, may interfere with our ability to perceive the now, the presence of the reality of God in our midst. This situation hasn't changed today, although we do not have Jesus the Son of Man walking incarnate among us. Rather, we are still in the midst of His work for the kingdom, the work of His apostles and disciples and those who have followed and those who accept the work of the Spirit alive and well in the world. Can you be present to it? Or does something prevent you from understanding it and perceiving it -- or worse, calling the Spirit's work evil when you may see it at work in the lives of others? This question is as important now as it ever was, and it teaches us about where we stand. Do we accept that love that is all around us, or does something we hold onto keep us outside of it?