Tying Up A Strong Man
Preaching
Preaching the Parables
Series II, Cycle B
Mark's gospel account very quickly gets into the conflict that will eventually culminate in the death of Jesus. Despite, or because of, Jesus' works which aroused wonder and amazement in the multitudes, opposition also arose. Any activity so extraordinary upset the status quo. His popularity threatened the authority and leadership of the official religion. They had to try to put it down before it got out of hand. Even the friends and family of Jesus were concerned about him.
How often do people try to restrict and constrain anyone who breaks with conventional ideas and practice? They like people to be religious in comfortable and conventional ways. They become alarmed or distressed if someone goes overboard and tries to live out religious commitment too fully or too radically.
But a real issue is raised by the fine line that sometimes separates the true religious proclamation and the claims of a person who is a fanatic. When is such a person really shaking us up to arouse us out of our complacency in accepting the familiar evil? Or when is the person stepping across the bounds of sanity into the unreal world of fantasy? How much do you tolerate the apparently aberrant behavior to test whether it is true or false? How do you protect against gullibility in following a leader because of the intensity of conviction while risking that you may be missing a true messenger from God?
The passage from Mark raises some disturbing questions. It challenges us to ask which party we would belong to in the controversy over the person of Jesus and his call for us to follow him today.
Context
Context of the Season
We have moved beyond the high holy days of Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost. We are in the longest period of the church year when the agenda is not set by pointing toward a major event. More latitude is given but also less direction for choice or what to emphasize.
In this time of the church year the preacher has more choice and therefore more responsibility to consider what the needs of a specific congregation are. It is an opportune time to assess where people are and to try to pinpoint needs. The message can be more directly intended to emphasize themes that have been neglected or overlooked.
Context of the Gospel
Up to this point Mark reports the beginnings of Jesus' ministry. He did a number of remarkable healings. These had stirred the interest of many persons. He had begun to gather a following. Immediately preceding the section for today, Jesus had selected twelve out of those who showed an interest in his ministry.
Not much controversy had arisen so far. Jesus had responded to a question about fasting, since he did not follow the practices of the Pharisees and the followers of John the Baptist. His answer, with implicit claims about his understanding of the era they were experiencing, would have raised eyebrows at the least. Even more disturbing was his teaching and practice about the Sabbath. That was a more direct challenge to established religion of the day.
The two issues of fasting and sabbath observance plus his rising popularity reached all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. According to Mark that set the stage for a more official confrontation between Jesus and official religious authorities.
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20) Facing the constant threat from the highly organized Philistines, the people of Israel wanted Samuel to appoint a king. At first Samuel refused and pointed to the various unhappy consequences of having a king to rule over them. Despite his warnings about the tyranny of a king, the people persisted in having a government like that of other nations.
The Second Lesson. (2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1) Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth, reaffirms his belief that the God who raised Jesus from the dead would also grant them a similar outcome. They are encouraged not to lose heart and to maintain hope that their brief affliction would be rewarded with eternal life in the presence of God.
Gospel. (Mark 3:20-35) Jesus has his first encounter with a delegation of scribes from Jerusalem. They challenged his work of casting out demons and proposed that he could do it because he was in league with the ruler of the demons. Jesus turns the argument around and argues instead that he is able to heal exactly because he has defeated the ruler of demons. Jesus also has to resist pressures of friends and family who want him to desist from his public ministry because they think he is on the verge of going crazy.
Psalm. (Psalm 138) The Psalm begins with an expression of thanks to the Lord because of strength given. The psalmist looks forward to the time when all the kings will praise the Lord. The final section of the Psalm is an affirmation of faith that God will preserve him against all enemies and in the midst of troubles.
Context of Related Scriptures
Parallel passages are found in Matthew 12:22-32 and Luke 11:14-23. It could be instructive to note similarities and differences among the three accounts.
2 Kings 1:2-4 - Ahaziah wants a consultation with Baalzebub after an injury from a fall.
Matthew 25:31-46 - The division between the sheep and the goats.
Acts 26:24 - Festus thinks Paul is out of his mind and insane.
2 Corinthians 5:13 - Paul says that if he is beside himself, it is for God; if we are in our right mind it is for you.
John 10:19-21 - A division arose where some contended Jesus had a demon and was mad, while others contended that he could not have a demon for he had healed the blind man.
Content
Precis (Mark 3:20-35)
The account begins with a crowd so large following Jesus and his disciples that they did not have time to eat. His family (or friends, according to some translations) tried to restrain him because they were afraid he was crazy. That was followed by an accusation that he was healing by the power of the prince of demons.
Jesus countered the scribes with the telling argument that the ruler of demons would not work against himself. Jesus then uses the example of invading a strong man's house. You could not do that unless you first bound him. Mark also includes the saying about the unforgivable sin as blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
The parable concludes with Jesus affirming that his real brothers and sisters are those who do the will of God. The implication is clear that he repudiates the attempts of his family to restrain him from doing what he believes is God's will for him.
Thesis: Jesus Christ as God's agent is stronger than the forces of evil in the world.
Theme: The followers of God in fellowship with Christ have the power to overcome evil.
Key Words in the Parable
1. "The Crowd." (v. 20) Many people were attracted by his healings and preaching. They followed him wherever he went, presumably at this point to Capernaum. It appears that he had moved his headquarters there from Nazareth.
2. "His family." (v. 21) The Greek is vague. It is not certain who is referred to here. Some translate it as "friends" (RSV). More accurate would be "those of his" which could be friends, family, his disciples or any associates.
3. "Gone Out of His Mind." (v. 21) This is a euphemism for being crazy. Were his friends or family concerned that he was in such a euphoric state over the reception he was receiving that he would exhaust himself? Or was it that his fanaticism was an embarrassment to them? The motives are not given. As usual, Mark only describes their actions.
4. "The Scribes ... from Jerusalem." (v. 22) This appears to be an official delegation of the doctors of the law. His actions caused them serious concern, since they had traveled all the way from Jerusalem to confront him.
5. "Beelzebul." (v. 22) The title is somewhat obscure. It probably refers to a deity in Syria and northern Palestine. It was considered to be a commander-in-chief of the demons. Some translate the term as the "lord of the mansion," which would lead to Jesus' comparison in the brief parable about entering the house of a strong man.
6. "Casts Out Demons." (v. 22) Jesus was considered to be an exorcist. Illness, especially mental illness, was believed to be caused by demon possession. An outside evil spirit had taken control of the person. Some superior force had to eject it for the person to be healed.
7. "How can Satan Cast out Satan?" (v. 23) Jesus identifies Beelzebul with Satan, the adversary of God. If Satan was trying to take possession of persons to establish his rule in the world, why would he allow one of his agents to overthrow his workers? Jesus reverses the argument and rebuts the scribes.
8. "A House." (vv. 25, 27) A house was used as an image for a political domain. In the Old Testament, for example, the continuation of the house of David represented the persistence of his dynasty as the rulers of Israel.
9. "His Property." (v. 27) What belongs to the devil? If creation is from God, nothing really belongs to the devil.
10. "Blaspheme." (vv. 28, 29) The term is not simply the use of bad language. That is to cheapen the word. It means to show lack of reverence or disrespect for God or to slander persons and ruin their reputation.
11. "Eternal Sin." (v. 29) The sin here is not so much a specific act but a state in which God is rejected and fellowship with him is broken permanently. To deny the work of the Holy Spirit is to refuse to be open to God's will in one's life.
12. "His Mother and His Brothers Came." (v. 31) His mother and brothers are identified in Mark 6:3 as Mary, James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. No sisters were mentioned by Mark as being with them in this instance. They had come down from Nazareth to Capernaum.
Contemplation
Issues and Insights
1. What is Strength? Many people confuse power, force and effort. Power is the ability to get something done. Force is the strength used to accomplish what one intends to do. Effort is the amount of energy expended to accomplish a task. Power and force need not be harmful, though the use of power or force is often assumed to be violent.
A basic power that people exercise is the consent they give to someone who is trying to get them to do something. People often consider themselves forced to do something when they give their consent to another's will. It is very hard for someone to "force" us to do anything when actually they can not do so unless we give some measure of consent to them.
Another person may pick us up and move us from one place to another, as when we "force" children not to play in the street by carrying them off the road. It is very difficult to make a person do something if he will not act in accord with our demands or wishes. The real problem most often is that we are not really "forced," but we don't want to accept the consequences of not doing what other persons want us to do. It then becomes an "imaginary constraint," not a real one.
In the same sense, Satan or the devil could not "force" Jesus to do his will. Jesus had already decided in the temptation experiences that he would only do God's will. That gave him the power to resist the enticements of the devil, even when it led to crucifixion. Out of his commitment to do God's will only came his unusual power.
2. The Unpardonable Sin. People from the Judaeo-Christian tradition often fear that they have committed the unpardonable sin. Persons with mental illness, especially those with depression, often have a sense of doom because they feel guilty of having committed the unpardonable sin. Actually, the fact that they have a sense of guilt and worry about the problem is a sign that they have not done so. The Holy Spirit is still active in them and they are responding.
The real unpardonable sin is when persons have become so calloused and have so frequently denied the promptings of conscience that they no longer feel any compunctions about sin. The news frequently comments about young people who hurt or kill people today and apparently have no regrets or remorse, no feelings of guilt. They may kill capriciously in drive-by shootings or as an act of initiation into a gang. It is these people whom we should be concerned about committing the unpardonable sin.
3. True Family. In this episode Jesus breaks clearly with Jewish tradition. They kept careful genealogical records to assure them that they were biologically connected to Abraham. Religion often was a matter of family relationships. To be part of the chosen people, a person had to have a genetic transmission of the convenantal promise.
Jesus challenged the biological basis of family when he turned from his mother and brothers who would try to dissuade him from doing God's will. Family is not a matter of biology primarily, but of kinship of faith, a spiritual relationship.
From this we can conclude that the church should be family. We have a spiritual kinship that binds us together. It should have priority over biological kinship. It is not a relationship that can easily relieve us of our obligation or connection to our family of origin. Indeed, Jesus on the cross was still sufficiently aware of his obligation to his mother that he commended her to the care of his disciples. His spiritual family became part of the obligation of his biological family. Does that tell us something about our mutual concern within the church?
4. Which God Do We Worship? Jesus was accused of worshipping Beelzebul. In practical terms, if he were doing the work of Beelzebul, then in actuality that was his god.
Our god is revealed by where we vest our highest values. What determines what we do shows our real loyalty, our real god. If we only do what our impulses and desires prompt us to do, we worship our own nature. If we pursue the values of money and property over persons, Mammon is the god we worship. If we see violence and the force of arms as the highest power, then Mars is our god. If the domination of people and political power is our highest value, than Satan is our god.
Jesus early in his ministry wrestled with the question of what he valued most. He was tempted repeatedly in his ministry to displace God's will with some other value as more important. Even his friends and his family urged him to restrain his unqualified dedication to doing God's will. He had to set his face steadfastly toward God and at times stand alone to show which God he really worshipped when tested.
If Jesus had to engage in this kind of struggle to worship the true God in practice, how much more do we need to test our own dedication to know which god we really worship?
5. Can Evil Cast Out Evil? Jesus' basic argument with the scribes was that evil cannot overcome evil. Only good can conquer evil. A fundamental issue that often faces people is to use evil means to do good.
We know in history that the war to end wars in World War I did not end wars. It laid the seeds that resulted in World War II.
Does violence get rid of violence? A basic axiom for many is that violence begets violence. A well-known cycle of retribution and revenge usually accompanies violence. Only when someone reverses the cycle by refusing to perpetuate the response of violence to violence and returns good for evil does the process end or become reversed.
Does killing someone to prove that killing is wrong really make the case? Or does it only afford evidence for persons to justify their own reasons for dealing with something that appears to them to be evil by removing it through killing the perpetrator or suspected perpetrator?
Many of the spiritual giants, such as Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others were convinced that the moral structure of the universe is such that only good means can ultimately produce good results. You cannot defeat Satan by adopting Satan's means.
Homily Hints
1. Are You Crazy? (v. 21) To many people Christianity does not make sense. Those who take the teachings of Jesus seriously and try to live them must be somewhat odd or queer, if not out of their mind. The approach of science sometimes excludes such beliefs as the resurrection and the existence of personal beings other than people. They are considered absurdities.
A. The Historical Experience - Explore the evidence of history for the effects of Christianity on those who believed and acted on apparent absurdities.
B. The Limits of Science - Science as a method for gaining knowledge and understanding nature is eminently useful. When it goes beyond experiential and descriptive truth to more theoretical truth, science has limits.
C. The Personal Experience - Faith has reasons which science cannot know.
2. The Pressure to Conformity. (vv. 21-22) Society wants to press us into a standard mold. The great advances of humanity have been made by those who dared to challenge the conventional wisdom. Jesus dared to challenge the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to pressure him to behave according to their standards. Where do Christians today need to live beyond the conventional wisdom?
A. The Foolishness of Love - To love others is risky. It means you become vulnerable. But it has been the persons who have risked it who have changed people and accomplished great things in the world.
B. The Paradoxes of Truth - What often seems contrary to conventional wisdom about human behavior has been life and society transforming.
C. Models for a New World - The kingdom of God provides a different model for community than the world as we know it provides. To live it, people must be nonconformists.
3. The Temptation of the Ordinary. (vv. 31,32) It is easy to drift with the flow. To go against it requires a level of courage and commitment that may lead to difficulties.
A. The Strength of Conviction
B. The Power of Divine Conscience
C. The Presence of Christ
4. Who is My Mother, Brother, Sister? (vv. 33-35)
A. Kinship of Faith
B. Identification with the Needy
C. The Church as True Family
5. The Sin Against the Holy Spirit. (vv. 28-30)
A. Sensitivity to the Spirit - Seeking to be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit is assurance that we have not sinned against it.
B. Acting on Truth - As we seriously act on the truth as we perceive it, more and more certain truth is revealed to us.
C. Strength Added Daily - We do not gain strength and courage in one fell swoop usually. It comes as we exercise what we already have.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. Experiencing Family. Everyone longs for human companionship. People want to be accepted and appreciated. It is difficult to stand out from the crowd and be different. Someone has said that personal failures are always failures of love. The church should be a true family where people find acceptance and experience love. The church should be a family where people's differences are not cause for rejection but for understanding. The church should be a place for support, especially for those who are struggling to deal with their sin and seeking to know and courage to do the will of God.
The church as family needs to allow persons to have honest doubt as they search for truth and in the search to test different ways in seeking to know the will of God for them. The church needs to be careful in placing restraints on people who are seriously seeking the truth and the will of God. It needs to be cautious that it does not act as did the friends and family of Jesus because they do not understand the person who has a different calling to do the will of God.
2. A Surrogate Family. In the American culture the family experiences much strain and stress. One marriage in two currently ends in divorce. Mobility and anonymity of the urban and industrial societies often remove many of the supporting structures of a stable community.
Typical ways of dealing with conflict that develop in stable communities disappear when community is absent. The recourse to the legal system tends to alienate and antagonize persons in conflicts. The adversarial nature of the American judicial process drives people apart rather than reconciling them.
The church should develop skills and provide services for the family. It should work as a surrogate family to counsel and mediate so that people are held together; where the conflict leads to breakdown, to try to make the separations as amicable as possible rather than being filled with hostility and bitterness.
3. Devil Worship and Demon Possession. Movies such as The Exorcist and reports of devil worship probably have people unsettled. False images of the devil, fostered by such representations as occur at Halloween, lead people to dismiss too easily the reality of the forces of evil.
Forces are at work which tend to lead people to evil. People become obsessed with certain ideas that are demonic. Some people become so enmeshed in fear and hate that they cannot extricate themselves from them. They are compelled to strike out against what they fear and hate. They make objects of their fear and hate into demons. They can then justify destroying them with any and every means imaginable.
Others feel the forces of evil are so strong that they cannot deny them. So, following the adage that if you can't beat them, join them, they worship these powers.
The church offers an alternative. It sees the forces of good, it offers hope of conquest over the powers of evil, it has the resources to overcome hatred and fear. It needs both to offer these resources and to demonstrate their reality in overcoming the structure and forces of evil that are real. To do so, it must recognize the reality of the evil and not trivialize it with a false image of the devil as a creature with horns and a forked tail and dressed in red flannel underwear!
4. Eternal Life and Death. Eternal life or death is not time extended indefinitely, and only after the death of the body. They are states of existence, qualities of life that are not factors of time. They are not something to wait for in a later heaven or hell. They are where we now are living and point to our continued existence.
Those who deny the true meaning of their humanity, who are sinking to the level of the demonic, are already living in hell and are experiencing eternal death. Those who know the reality of the living Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit in disclosing to them the will of God and aiding them in living now in the kingdom of God are already enjoying eternal life.
The direction of the movement of our life, either to death or to life of the spirit, shows us where we will end. We already have apprehensions of our part in the totality of existence, whether we are part of the good or the evil. How we act in the flesh has a determinative effect on what we are becoming, whether to eternal life or eternal death.
Illustrative Materials
1. Exorcism. The news recently carried the story of parents who battered their son to death to try to cast out demons from him. They succumbed to their fears about what they had brought to life and lacked assurance that they could cope with the responsibility to raise him to the life of goodness.
2. The Dual Nature of Persons. A student once wrote on an exam that man has a duel nature. People do have within them the capacity for good and evil. They are, in effect, a house which can be inhabited by two strong men who duel with each other. They need to open themselves to the forces that will bind the strong man of evil impulses and give victory to the strong presence of Christ.
3. Brothers and Sisters in Christ. A group of churches in south Germany only uses the title of brother and sister for members of their churches. They do not use the German equivalents of Mr., Mrs., or Reverend for each other. The children who are not yet of age to be members of the church call church members who are not their parents uncles and aunts. The church is regarded as an extended family.
4. Who are True Parents?
A. A minister and his wife had two biological children and an adopted child. The minister contended that true parents are not necessarily those who give birth to a child. He proposed that many women who never gave birth to a child nevertheless were truer mothers to many children than the birth mothers. They usually were teachers who loved and helped children to realize their fullest possibilities. People who give love and help others come to flower may be truer parents than the parents of origin who abuse and neglect their children.
B. The news has had several stories in recent years where the law has tried to decide who had the right to custody of a child. A few cases involved children who were given up at birth for adoption. In at least two cases the biological father, who was not married to the mother, tried much later to reverse the decision of the mother to give the child up for adoption. In one instance two babies were exchanged at birth and the mistake was discovered after the death of one of the two children. Who are the true parents in such cases?
C. Custody battles in divorce often do not show that either parent really has the child's welfare at heart. The child becomes a pawn in the antagonisms of the parents. The issue is not what is best for the child but who wins the battle between the parents. What is the true parent?
5. Casting Out Demons. The novel by George Orwell, 1984, proposed that the future society would have as slogans: IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM and WAR IS PEACE. Twisting of falsehood, slavery and war into goods are samples of Satan casting out demons. But can demons be used to cast out demons?
How often do people try to restrict and constrain anyone who breaks with conventional ideas and practice? They like people to be religious in comfortable and conventional ways. They become alarmed or distressed if someone goes overboard and tries to live out religious commitment too fully or too radically.
But a real issue is raised by the fine line that sometimes separates the true religious proclamation and the claims of a person who is a fanatic. When is such a person really shaking us up to arouse us out of our complacency in accepting the familiar evil? Or when is the person stepping across the bounds of sanity into the unreal world of fantasy? How much do you tolerate the apparently aberrant behavior to test whether it is true or false? How do you protect against gullibility in following a leader because of the intensity of conviction while risking that you may be missing a true messenger from God?
The passage from Mark raises some disturbing questions. It challenges us to ask which party we would belong to in the controversy over the person of Jesus and his call for us to follow him today.
Context
Context of the Season
We have moved beyond the high holy days of Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost. We are in the longest period of the church year when the agenda is not set by pointing toward a major event. More latitude is given but also less direction for choice or what to emphasize.
In this time of the church year the preacher has more choice and therefore more responsibility to consider what the needs of a specific congregation are. It is an opportune time to assess where people are and to try to pinpoint needs. The message can be more directly intended to emphasize themes that have been neglected or overlooked.
Context of the Gospel
Up to this point Mark reports the beginnings of Jesus' ministry. He did a number of remarkable healings. These had stirred the interest of many persons. He had begun to gather a following. Immediately preceding the section for today, Jesus had selected twelve out of those who showed an interest in his ministry.
Not much controversy had arisen so far. Jesus had responded to a question about fasting, since he did not follow the practices of the Pharisees and the followers of John the Baptist. His answer, with implicit claims about his understanding of the era they were experiencing, would have raised eyebrows at the least. Even more disturbing was his teaching and practice about the Sabbath. That was a more direct challenge to established religion of the day.
The two issues of fasting and sabbath observance plus his rising popularity reached all the way from Galilee to Jerusalem. According to Mark that set the stage for a more official confrontation between Jesus and official religious authorities.
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20) Facing the constant threat from the highly organized Philistines, the people of Israel wanted Samuel to appoint a king. At first Samuel refused and pointed to the various unhappy consequences of having a king to rule over them. Despite his warnings about the tyranny of a king, the people persisted in having a government like that of other nations.
The Second Lesson. (2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1) Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth, reaffirms his belief that the God who raised Jesus from the dead would also grant them a similar outcome. They are encouraged not to lose heart and to maintain hope that their brief affliction would be rewarded with eternal life in the presence of God.
Gospel. (Mark 3:20-35) Jesus has his first encounter with a delegation of scribes from Jerusalem. They challenged his work of casting out demons and proposed that he could do it because he was in league with the ruler of the demons. Jesus turns the argument around and argues instead that he is able to heal exactly because he has defeated the ruler of demons. Jesus also has to resist pressures of friends and family who want him to desist from his public ministry because they think he is on the verge of going crazy.
Psalm. (Psalm 138) The Psalm begins with an expression of thanks to the Lord because of strength given. The psalmist looks forward to the time when all the kings will praise the Lord. The final section of the Psalm is an affirmation of faith that God will preserve him against all enemies and in the midst of troubles.
Context of Related Scriptures
Parallel passages are found in Matthew 12:22-32 and Luke 11:14-23. It could be instructive to note similarities and differences among the three accounts.
2 Kings 1:2-4 - Ahaziah wants a consultation with Baalzebub after an injury from a fall.
Matthew 25:31-46 - The division between the sheep and the goats.
Acts 26:24 - Festus thinks Paul is out of his mind and insane.
2 Corinthians 5:13 - Paul says that if he is beside himself, it is for God; if we are in our right mind it is for you.
John 10:19-21 - A division arose where some contended Jesus had a demon and was mad, while others contended that he could not have a demon for he had healed the blind man.
Content
Precis (Mark 3:20-35)
The account begins with a crowd so large following Jesus and his disciples that they did not have time to eat. His family (or friends, according to some translations) tried to restrain him because they were afraid he was crazy. That was followed by an accusation that he was healing by the power of the prince of demons.
Jesus countered the scribes with the telling argument that the ruler of demons would not work against himself. Jesus then uses the example of invading a strong man's house. You could not do that unless you first bound him. Mark also includes the saying about the unforgivable sin as blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
The parable concludes with Jesus affirming that his real brothers and sisters are those who do the will of God. The implication is clear that he repudiates the attempts of his family to restrain him from doing what he believes is God's will for him.
Thesis: Jesus Christ as God's agent is stronger than the forces of evil in the world.
Theme: The followers of God in fellowship with Christ have the power to overcome evil.
Key Words in the Parable
1. "The Crowd." (v. 20) Many people were attracted by his healings and preaching. They followed him wherever he went, presumably at this point to Capernaum. It appears that he had moved his headquarters there from Nazareth.
2. "His family." (v. 21) The Greek is vague. It is not certain who is referred to here. Some translate it as "friends" (RSV). More accurate would be "those of his" which could be friends, family, his disciples or any associates.
3. "Gone Out of His Mind." (v. 21) This is a euphemism for being crazy. Were his friends or family concerned that he was in such a euphoric state over the reception he was receiving that he would exhaust himself? Or was it that his fanaticism was an embarrassment to them? The motives are not given. As usual, Mark only describes their actions.
4. "The Scribes ... from Jerusalem." (v. 22) This appears to be an official delegation of the doctors of the law. His actions caused them serious concern, since they had traveled all the way from Jerusalem to confront him.
5. "Beelzebul." (v. 22) The title is somewhat obscure. It probably refers to a deity in Syria and northern Palestine. It was considered to be a commander-in-chief of the demons. Some translate the term as the "lord of the mansion," which would lead to Jesus' comparison in the brief parable about entering the house of a strong man.
6. "Casts Out Demons." (v. 22) Jesus was considered to be an exorcist. Illness, especially mental illness, was believed to be caused by demon possession. An outside evil spirit had taken control of the person. Some superior force had to eject it for the person to be healed.
7. "How can Satan Cast out Satan?" (v. 23) Jesus identifies Beelzebul with Satan, the adversary of God. If Satan was trying to take possession of persons to establish his rule in the world, why would he allow one of his agents to overthrow his workers? Jesus reverses the argument and rebuts the scribes.
8. "A House." (vv. 25, 27) A house was used as an image for a political domain. In the Old Testament, for example, the continuation of the house of David represented the persistence of his dynasty as the rulers of Israel.
9. "His Property." (v. 27) What belongs to the devil? If creation is from God, nothing really belongs to the devil.
10. "Blaspheme." (vv. 28, 29) The term is not simply the use of bad language. That is to cheapen the word. It means to show lack of reverence or disrespect for God or to slander persons and ruin their reputation.
11. "Eternal Sin." (v. 29) The sin here is not so much a specific act but a state in which God is rejected and fellowship with him is broken permanently. To deny the work of the Holy Spirit is to refuse to be open to God's will in one's life.
12. "His Mother and His Brothers Came." (v. 31) His mother and brothers are identified in Mark 6:3 as Mary, James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. No sisters were mentioned by Mark as being with them in this instance. They had come down from Nazareth to Capernaum.
Contemplation
Issues and Insights
1. What is Strength? Many people confuse power, force and effort. Power is the ability to get something done. Force is the strength used to accomplish what one intends to do. Effort is the amount of energy expended to accomplish a task. Power and force need not be harmful, though the use of power or force is often assumed to be violent.
A basic power that people exercise is the consent they give to someone who is trying to get them to do something. People often consider themselves forced to do something when they give their consent to another's will. It is very hard for someone to "force" us to do anything when actually they can not do so unless we give some measure of consent to them.
Another person may pick us up and move us from one place to another, as when we "force" children not to play in the street by carrying them off the road. It is very difficult to make a person do something if he will not act in accord with our demands or wishes. The real problem most often is that we are not really "forced," but we don't want to accept the consequences of not doing what other persons want us to do. It then becomes an "imaginary constraint," not a real one.
In the same sense, Satan or the devil could not "force" Jesus to do his will. Jesus had already decided in the temptation experiences that he would only do God's will. That gave him the power to resist the enticements of the devil, even when it led to crucifixion. Out of his commitment to do God's will only came his unusual power.
2. The Unpardonable Sin. People from the Judaeo-Christian tradition often fear that they have committed the unpardonable sin. Persons with mental illness, especially those with depression, often have a sense of doom because they feel guilty of having committed the unpardonable sin. Actually, the fact that they have a sense of guilt and worry about the problem is a sign that they have not done so. The Holy Spirit is still active in them and they are responding.
The real unpardonable sin is when persons have become so calloused and have so frequently denied the promptings of conscience that they no longer feel any compunctions about sin. The news frequently comments about young people who hurt or kill people today and apparently have no regrets or remorse, no feelings of guilt. They may kill capriciously in drive-by shootings or as an act of initiation into a gang. It is these people whom we should be concerned about committing the unpardonable sin.
3. True Family. In this episode Jesus breaks clearly with Jewish tradition. They kept careful genealogical records to assure them that they were biologically connected to Abraham. Religion often was a matter of family relationships. To be part of the chosen people, a person had to have a genetic transmission of the convenantal promise.
Jesus challenged the biological basis of family when he turned from his mother and brothers who would try to dissuade him from doing God's will. Family is not a matter of biology primarily, but of kinship of faith, a spiritual relationship.
From this we can conclude that the church should be family. We have a spiritual kinship that binds us together. It should have priority over biological kinship. It is not a relationship that can easily relieve us of our obligation or connection to our family of origin. Indeed, Jesus on the cross was still sufficiently aware of his obligation to his mother that he commended her to the care of his disciples. His spiritual family became part of the obligation of his biological family. Does that tell us something about our mutual concern within the church?
4. Which God Do We Worship? Jesus was accused of worshipping Beelzebul. In practical terms, if he were doing the work of Beelzebul, then in actuality that was his god.
Our god is revealed by where we vest our highest values. What determines what we do shows our real loyalty, our real god. If we only do what our impulses and desires prompt us to do, we worship our own nature. If we pursue the values of money and property over persons, Mammon is the god we worship. If we see violence and the force of arms as the highest power, then Mars is our god. If the domination of people and political power is our highest value, than Satan is our god.
Jesus early in his ministry wrestled with the question of what he valued most. He was tempted repeatedly in his ministry to displace God's will with some other value as more important. Even his friends and his family urged him to restrain his unqualified dedication to doing God's will. He had to set his face steadfastly toward God and at times stand alone to show which God he really worshipped when tested.
If Jesus had to engage in this kind of struggle to worship the true God in practice, how much more do we need to test our own dedication to know which god we really worship?
5. Can Evil Cast Out Evil? Jesus' basic argument with the scribes was that evil cannot overcome evil. Only good can conquer evil. A fundamental issue that often faces people is to use evil means to do good.
We know in history that the war to end wars in World War I did not end wars. It laid the seeds that resulted in World War II.
Does violence get rid of violence? A basic axiom for many is that violence begets violence. A well-known cycle of retribution and revenge usually accompanies violence. Only when someone reverses the cycle by refusing to perpetuate the response of violence to violence and returns good for evil does the process end or become reversed.
Does killing someone to prove that killing is wrong really make the case? Or does it only afford evidence for persons to justify their own reasons for dealing with something that appears to them to be evil by removing it through killing the perpetrator or suspected perpetrator?
Many of the spiritual giants, such as Gandhi, Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others were convinced that the moral structure of the universe is such that only good means can ultimately produce good results. You cannot defeat Satan by adopting Satan's means.
Homily Hints
1. Are You Crazy? (v. 21) To many people Christianity does not make sense. Those who take the teachings of Jesus seriously and try to live them must be somewhat odd or queer, if not out of their mind. The approach of science sometimes excludes such beliefs as the resurrection and the existence of personal beings other than people. They are considered absurdities.
A. The Historical Experience - Explore the evidence of history for the effects of Christianity on those who believed and acted on apparent absurdities.
B. The Limits of Science - Science as a method for gaining knowledge and understanding nature is eminently useful. When it goes beyond experiential and descriptive truth to more theoretical truth, science has limits.
C. The Personal Experience - Faith has reasons which science cannot know.
2. The Pressure to Conformity. (vv. 21-22) Society wants to press us into a standard mold. The great advances of humanity have been made by those who dared to challenge the conventional wisdom. Jesus dared to challenge the scribes and Pharisees who wanted to pressure him to behave according to their standards. Where do Christians today need to live beyond the conventional wisdom?
A. The Foolishness of Love - To love others is risky. It means you become vulnerable. But it has been the persons who have risked it who have changed people and accomplished great things in the world.
B. The Paradoxes of Truth - What often seems contrary to conventional wisdom about human behavior has been life and society transforming.
C. Models for a New World - The kingdom of God provides a different model for community than the world as we know it provides. To live it, people must be nonconformists.
3. The Temptation of the Ordinary. (vv. 31,32) It is easy to drift with the flow. To go against it requires a level of courage and commitment that may lead to difficulties.
A. The Strength of Conviction
B. The Power of Divine Conscience
C. The Presence of Christ
4. Who is My Mother, Brother, Sister? (vv. 33-35)
A. Kinship of Faith
B. Identification with the Needy
C. The Church as True Family
5. The Sin Against the Holy Spirit. (vv. 28-30)
A. Sensitivity to the Spirit - Seeking to be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit is assurance that we have not sinned against it.
B. Acting on Truth - As we seriously act on the truth as we perceive it, more and more certain truth is revealed to us.
C. Strength Added Daily - We do not gain strength and courage in one fell swoop usually. It comes as we exercise what we already have.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. Experiencing Family. Everyone longs for human companionship. People want to be accepted and appreciated. It is difficult to stand out from the crowd and be different. Someone has said that personal failures are always failures of love. The church should be a true family where people find acceptance and experience love. The church should be a family where people's differences are not cause for rejection but for understanding. The church should be a place for support, especially for those who are struggling to deal with their sin and seeking to know and courage to do the will of God.
The church as family needs to allow persons to have honest doubt as they search for truth and in the search to test different ways in seeking to know the will of God for them. The church needs to be careful in placing restraints on people who are seriously seeking the truth and the will of God. It needs to be cautious that it does not act as did the friends and family of Jesus because they do not understand the person who has a different calling to do the will of God.
2. A Surrogate Family. In the American culture the family experiences much strain and stress. One marriage in two currently ends in divorce. Mobility and anonymity of the urban and industrial societies often remove many of the supporting structures of a stable community.
Typical ways of dealing with conflict that develop in stable communities disappear when community is absent. The recourse to the legal system tends to alienate and antagonize persons in conflicts. The adversarial nature of the American judicial process drives people apart rather than reconciling them.
The church should develop skills and provide services for the family. It should work as a surrogate family to counsel and mediate so that people are held together; where the conflict leads to breakdown, to try to make the separations as amicable as possible rather than being filled with hostility and bitterness.
3. Devil Worship and Demon Possession. Movies such as The Exorcist and reports of devil worship probably have people unsettled. False images of the devil, fostered by such representations as occur at Halloween, lead people to dismiss too easily the reality of the forces of evil.
Forces are at work which tend to lead people to evil. People become obsessed with certain ideas that are demonic. Some people become so enmeshed in fear and hate that they cannot extricate themselves from them. They are compelled to strike out against what they fear and hate. They make objects of their fear and hate into demons. They can then justify destroying them with any and every means imaginable.
Others feel the forces of evil are so strong that they cannot deny them. So, following the adage that if you can't beat them, join them, they worship these powers.
The church offers an alternative. It sees the forces of good, it offers hope of conquest over the powers of evil, it has the resources to overcome hatred and fear. It needs both to offer these resources and to demonstrate their reality in overcoming the structure and forces of evil that are real. To do so, it must recognize the reality of the evil and not trivialize it with a false image of the devil as a creature with horns and a forked tail and dressed in red flannel underwear!
4. Eternal Life and Death. Eternal life or death is not time extended indefinitely, and only after the death of the body. They are states of existence, qualities of life that are not factors of time. They are not something to wait for in a later heaven or hell. They are where we now are living and point to our continued existence.
Those who deny the true meaning of their humanity, who are sinking to the level of the demonic, are already living in hell and are experiencing eternal death. Those who know the reality of the living Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit in disclosing to them the will of God and aiding them in living now in the kingdom of God are already enjoying eternal life.
The direction of the movement of our life, either to death or to life of the spirit, shows us where we will end. We already have apprehensions of our part in the totality of existence, whether we are part of the good or the evil. How we act in the flesh has a determinative effect on what we are becoming, whether to eternal life or eternal death.
Illustrative Materials
1. Exorcism. The news recently carried the story of parents who battered their son to death to try to cast out demons from him. They succumbed to their fears about what they had brought to life and lacked assurance that they could cope with the responsibility to raise him to the life of goodness.
2. The Dual Nature of Persons. A student once wrote on an exam that man has a duel nature. People do have within them the capacity for good and evil. They are, in effect, a house which can be inhabited by two strong men who duel with each other. They need to open themselves to the forces that will bind the strong man of evil impulses and give victory to the strong presence of Christ.
3. Brothers and Sisters in Christ. A group of churches in south Germany only uses the title of brother and sister for members of their churches. They do not use the German equivalents of Mr., Mrs., or Reverend for each other. The children who are not yet of age to be members of the church call church members who are not their parents uncles and aunts. The church is regarded as an extended family.
4. Who are True Parents?
A. A minister and his wife had two biological children and an adopted child. The minister contended that true parents are not necessarily those who give birth to a child. He proposed that many women who never gave birth to a child nevertheless were truer mothers to many children than the birth mothers. They usually were teachers who loved and helped children to realize their fullest possibilities. People who give love and help others come to flower may be truer parents than the parents of origin who abuse and neglect their children.
B. The news has had several stories in recent years where the law has tried to decide who had the right to custody of a child. A few cases involved children who were given up at birth for adoption. In at least two cases the biological father, who was not married to the mother, tried much later to reverse the decision of the mother to give the child up for adoption. In one instance two babies were exchanged at birth and the mistake was discovered after the death of one of the two children. Who are the true parents in such cases?
C. Custody battles in divorce often do not show that either parent really has the child's welfare at heart. The child becomes a pawn in the antagonisms of the parents. The issue is not what is best for the child but who wins the battle between the parents. What is the true parent?
5. Casting Out Demons. The novel by George Orwell, 1984, proposed that the future society would have as slogans: IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM and WAR IS PEACE. Twisting of falsehood, slavery and war into goods are samples of Satan casting out demons. But can demons be used to cast out demons?
