How can Satan cast out Satan?

 

 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, as the open hostility of the authorities has begun to grow (Mark 3:6), 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."  There are some who have commented that all of the attention Jesus is drawing is focusing unwanted public scrutiny on the family, and is to some extent scandalous in and of itself.  Perhaps they desire simply to have Him withdraw from so much public attention, and especially the by now open hostility of the religious authorities, who plot together with the Herodians (supporters of Herod's dynasty which rules for Rome) to destroy Him.  Perhaps they're making excuses for Him for the same reason.  Additionally, as St. John's Gospel tells us, in the midst of His public ministry His brothers (extended kin or perhaps stepbrothers from an earlier marriage of St. Joseph) also did not believe in Him (John 7:1-5).

 

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 used by the Jews for the god Baal. In Canaanite practice, Baal was used to mean "lord" and so it's based on a name for the local god of a particular city.  This name is likely meant to ridicule this god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  It means prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here, this god is called ruler of the demons.  My study Bible says that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.  

 

 "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 identifies blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit; that is, blasphemy against pure goodness.  These religious authorities, thoroughly versed in Scripture, know well the divine activity of the Spirit, and this type of blasphemy will not be forgiven because it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  Moreover, my study Bible notes that Church Fathers are very 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.  Christ makes this declaration, my study Bible says, knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and 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."  My study Bible comments that Christ's relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission.  Jesus points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of God.  Here my study Bible further explains that in Jewish usage, brother might indicate any number of relations.  In the Scriptures, Abraham called his nephew Lot "brother" (Genesis 14:14); Boaz spoke of his cousin Elimelech as his brother in Ruth 4:3; and Joab called his cousin Amasa "brother" (2 Samuel 20:9).  In Christian tradition and understanding, Jesus Himself had no blood brothers; Mary had only one Son.  These brothers mentioned here (as we said above) are either stepbrothers (sons of Joseph by a previous marriage), or cousins.  When Jesus commits His mother to the care of John at the Cross (John 19:25-27) it must reasonably be understood that this would have been unthinkable in the context of contemporaneous culture if Mary had other children to care for her.  

 

 Jesus asks, "How can Satan cast out Satan?"  He frames this question within an image of competing kingdoms and the warfare between them.  He says, " 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."  Here, "house" indicates a dynasty, a lineage, a ruling family, even an empire.  Everything within the sphere of that "house" belongs to it.  We should take this very seriously that Jesus frames the action of Satan in this way, for He gives us a picture of a spiritual battle that is always going on, and in so doing, makes a mockery out of the accusation that He casts out demons (practices exorcism) by the power of demons, or the power of Satan.  He is the "stronger man" in the image of His parable about kingdoms and strong men.  He is the one who can bind and plunder Satan's goods and his house.  This will be the effect of the Cross, of Christ's Passion, death, and Resurrection; His ministry is one of liberation and deliverance for humankind, and for the whole of creation.  I watched an interesting video on making the sign of the Cross, by Fr. Mesrop Ash, a priest of the Armenian Apostolic Church (video link here).  Father Mesrop makes it clear that for our earliest Christian ancestors, the sign of the Cross was a kind of seal.  Seals have always been associated with "houses," as in the sense of a dynasty or reigning family.  When we make this sign upon ourselves, we're sealing ourselves with the sign of Christ, that we are Christians, and that we belong to Him and to His house.  We should consider carefully in this light Christ's words in today's reading, as we think of ruling houses, lineage, and seals:  "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."  When we make the sign of the Cross over ourselves, we seal ourselves with His seal, with the seal of our faith, His house, as Christians.  A "sign" is also in traditional and historical use another name for a flag, as in the flag of a nation, a clan, a house, or ruling dynasty.  Armies go to war under particular flags for this reason.  A flag works in the same way that a seal does, to indicate that a person or any other thing belongs to that house, clan, country, ruling government.  We are of the kingdom of Christ, and in today's reading, it is Jesus Himself who gives us clear indication just how important it is that we identify or seal ourselves with a particular sign of a particular ruling  power.  We belong to His house, and His house is opposed and "throws out" the troops of Satan, and plunders his goods, taking back souls and freeing them.  Let us remember with what seal we seal ourselves, and find meaning in being His family, under the rule and protection of His house.

 

 

 

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad

 

 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."

 

- Matthew 12:22-32 

 

After Jesus healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees began to plot against Him, how they might destroy Him.  But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there.  And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.  Yet He warned them not to make Him known, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "Behold!  My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!  I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.  He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.  A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory; and in His name Gentiles will trust."  

 

  Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.  And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"  Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them:  "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.  If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?  And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?  Therefore they shall be your judges.  But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.  Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man?  And then he will plunder his house.  He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."   Here we see the Pharisees digging in more deeply in their opposition to Christ.  Even the signs prophesied by Isaiah, such as this healing and exorcism of one who is both blind and mute, is healed.  Beelzebub is a name for the god Baal (meaning "owner" or "lord"), worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  The worship of Baal was once ubiquitous around the ancient Near and Mid-East, with place-names and other designations included in the various sites where the god was worshiped in many forms, as a god of fertility, for example, or storms -- both essential for ancient agricultural societies.  "Beelzebub" is a name used by the Jews to ridicule this god, meaning prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here, the Pharisees call him the ruler of the demons.  My study Bible further notes that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves is an illustration of how irrational the Pharisees are in their pride and envy that spurs their opposition to Jesus (Matthew 27:18; Mark 15:10).

"Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.  Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."  My study Bible explains that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is blasphemy that is against the divine activity of the Spirit, blasphemy against pure goodness.  So, therefore, a sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven as people did not know much about Christ.  But blasphemy against the Spirit, whose divine activity was already known to these men from the Old Testament, will not be forgiven as it comes from a willful hardness of heart, and a refusal to accept God's mercy.  My study Bible declares, moreover, that in patristic commentary, it is clearly expressed that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin" and neither does Jesus ever call it "unforgivable."  According to St. John Chrysostom, it notes, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  Jesus makes such a declaration knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and they are beyond repentance by their own choice.

In conjunction with the reading from Saturday (see above), we now see the religious leaders entrenching themselves even more deeply in their opposition to Jesus.  In Saturday's reading, we saw that they decided to plot against Him, after they first criticized Him for plucking grain to eat on a Sabbath, and then turning to try to destroy Him after He then healed a man with a withered hand.  Here in today's reading, they go further.  Not only does Jesus produce a "mighty work" that is characteristic of the prophesies regarding the Messiah (see, for example, Isaiah 35:5), but He does so in casting out demons as well.  While the people are amazed, and ask, "Could this be the Son of David?" (a messianic title), the Pharisees have an antithetical response to amazing sign revealed to the multitudes.  They go so far as to accuse Him of casting out demons by the power of demons, calling His power evil.  At this time, Jesus gives them the starkest warning yet of where they are headed.  He proclaims that all sins will be forgiven, save blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is what these men have just done.  They have just pronounced the power of the Holy Spirit to be a work of demons.  Essentially, this is calling God -- and God's grace at work in the world -- demonic.  It says something, indeed, about the hardness of heart that is on display here that either they are deliberately calling what they understand to be a holy work of God demonic, or, if they cannot perceive that as such, they have made themselves truly spiritually blind, and deliberately so.  For these men are not ignorant of the work of the Holy Spirit, they are the great Biblical scholars of their time, devoting themselves to nothing but debating the fine points of Scripture.  Their knowledge and understanding of Scripture is what they pride themselves on.  So, as my study Bible points out, they know full well the things that characterize the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.   My study Bible also notes the irrationality of their pride and envy, both of which have the better of them.  But Jesus also tells us something essential in His defense of the power working in Him through the healings He does.  He is here to establish a Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  As such, He is Lord, and how could He cast out demons in opposition to His own power?  Jesus asks, "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.  How then will his kingdom stand?"  Moreover, since exorcism was already a part of Jewish spiritual tradition, how would the Pharisees' own pupils cast out demons, by what power?  Jesus makes a declaration here about Himself, that He is the "stronger man" who binds the strong man, the devil, in order to plunder his goods, to set free the captives in the house and find souls for His Kingdom.  As the Pharisees grow in their opposition, and resort to accusations of evil, so Christ declares more strongly who He is and what He is doing in the world, what the Incarnation will inaugurate.  Let us consider how He is Lord, and what spiritual power in His name really means.   Jesus concludes, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad."   It reminds us of His warning, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).  Ultimately all things are revealed for what they are through Him, and our response to Him.

 

 

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 then 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 the 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 corrupted version of a name for the god Baal, worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  In fact, Baal meant "Lord" and was used for a number of pagan gods; but this name Beelzebub, used among the Jews, meant prince of "the dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here he is called ruler of the demons.  My study Bible says that the impossibility of demons fighting against themselves illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the scribes from Jerusalem in their opposition to Jesus.   Jesus uses simple logic with them:  how could he work to cast out the demonic if he were working through the power of the leader of demons?  How can Satan cast out Satan?  Christ must be the stronger man who binds the strong man (Satan) and can then plunder his goods; that is, Christ can set free those held captive by Satan.  It is Christ who can plunder his house, taking faithful human beings as His own.

 

 "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 defines blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit; that is, blasphemy against pure goodness.  Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, whose divine activity these scribes knew from the Old Testament Scriptures in which they are experts, will not be forgiven because it comes from a willful hardness of heart, and a refusal to accept God's mercy -- especially the mercy in action of Christ's works of liberating those held captive by demons.  My study Bible also 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 teaches that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  Jesus makes His declaration here knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil,' and are beyond repentance through 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."  My study Bible tells us 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.  My study Bible also notes that in Jewish usage, brother can indicate any number of relations.  Abram called his nephew Lot "brother" (Genesis 14:14); Boaz spoke of his cousin Elimelech as his "brother" (Ruth 4:3); and Joab called his cousin Amasa "brother" (2 Samuel 20:9).   Christ's brothers mentioned here are either stepbrothers (that is, sons of Joseph by a previous marriage) or cousins.  Christ had no blood brothers, as Mary had only one Son, Jesus.  In John's Gospel, Jesus commits His mother to the care of His disciple John at the Cross (John 19:25-27), which would have been unthinkable if Mary had other children to care for her.

It's interesting that just as we're told Christ's fame has spread throughout all the territories of Israel (that is, Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and even among the Jews of the Gentile regions of Tyre and Sidon -- see yesterday's reading, above), so at this time we begin reading about opposition to Jesus' ministry.  We first read about the scribes who've come from Jerusalem.  Allies of the Pharisees, they accuse Jesus here of working through the power of Beelzebub, whom they call the ruler of the demons, whom Jesus names as Satan.  This is opposition indeed, as Jesus teaches them that they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit at work in their midst to heal those who are demon-possessed.  Since we're told that Jesus and the disciples "went into a house" and that the multitude was so great "they could not so much as eat bread," we can conclude easily that the accusations of the scribes stem from envy and jealousy.  For elsewhere Mark reports Jesus' teaching that it is their positions that truly mean the most to them:  "Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts, who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation" (Mark 12:38-40).   So within the religious establishment, vehement opposition is coming to Christ, the Son, the One whom we call Messiah.   Would we not expect something different if we were writing this story ourselves?   Would we not have a sort of  "magical thinking" that of course the Prince of Peace would be embraced and accepted, particularly by those who longed for this day, who were experts in the Scripture, who considered themselves the true sons of Abraham and Moses?  Yet, that is not the story of the coming of Christ into our world as the human Jesus.  And then there is the story of His family.  They have likely come just because of Christ's overwhelming renown at this point, the multitudes who come to see Him, and knowing of the religious authorities' opposition to Him.  Perhaps they are greatly concerned that they need to bring Him home for His own good, for the fuss the family may be dealing with.  We know that His mother has always understood her Son in accordance with the announcement of Gabriel (Luke 1:26-38) and the prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:25-35).  Perhaps after all, she is reminded of Simeon's prophecy that a sword would pierce her own heart.  We know that she confidently encouraged the first sign in John's Gospel (John 2:1-12).  But would she know all the tumultuous unfolding of this ministry?  That was in the hands of God -- and there in this thought comes Jesus for us all.  For the expectations of the world for the One whom Gabriel said would be called "the Son of the Highest," whom the "Lord God" would "give the throne of His father David,"  Who "will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end" are quite impossibly different from the actual fullness in the unfolding of these words, in the ways that we are taught to understand them, and in the persecution of the Son as Isaiah's Suffering Servant (see Isaiah 53).  For Christ's mission into the world is one that exposes the world's own flaws, its rejection of the purely good, our own envy and jealousy, our failure to accept truths we don't want to hear, our own limited ability to accept God's will when we don't like it.  For here is where Jesus comes in to teach us all, to say that "whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."   This is not a rejection of His natural mother and of His extended family, but it is the final word, the bottom line.  Even Peter will be in for a strong rebuke when Peter denies that Christ should suffer or die (Matthew 16:21-23).  We don't like it when God's plans don't conform to our expectations of what is right and good.  But God's plans are more than the kind of plans that we make for life, for God's plan reveals us to ourselves.  God's plan will show to us that we need repentance and change from selfishness, to embrace what love is and teaches, and that we need to learn God's ways for ourselves, to become "like God" as we follow Christ's commands.  Jesus comes into the world, and His highest loyalty is to God, not to our fantasies and desires and not to our delusions about ourselves and the world.  For this is what love is and does:  love "suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails" whereas we know only "in part," and so we look to the One who comes to bring us to the fullness of perfection, and for whom we meanwhile abide in faith, hope, and love -- love being the greatest of these (1 Corinthians 13).   Let us look to His love, and place our faith and hope where it firmly belongs, for everything else will someday fail.