Jesus says those who do God’s will are his family. You are welcomed into God’s family, joined together by baptism into the church, the body of Christ. Like any family, a church family has challenges, but in Christ, we have a common mission and calling.
Here’s today’s sermon on Mark 6:20-35 for the second Sunday after Pentecost at St. Peter Lutheran Church, a congregation of the ELCA in Greene, Iowa.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
For the last few weeks, we’ve been reading from John’s gospel. We spent several weeks on Jesus’ farewell prayer to his disciples, then two weeks of Jesus talking about the Holy Spirit.
Today, we move to Mark’s gospel, where we’ll be all the way through Advent. There’s a few exceptions, like five weeks of Jesus talking about the bread of life in John 6 in late summer, but pretty much we’ll be moving chronologically through Mark’s telling of Jesus’ life.
We pick up the story partway through Mark’s third chapter. So far, Jesus has been baptized by John, spent 40 days being tempted in the wilderness, and called some disciples. He’s been traveling around Israel healing people and teaching about God’s kingdom, and he’s starting to attract some crowds.
Remember that the verse divisions are not actually part of the Bible, just something added hundreds of years later to make it easier to find places in. I say that because verse 20, the first verse of our reading, starts in the middle of a sentence.
It really says, “Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.”
This seems to be the first time in a while that Jesus has come off the road, taking a break from his travels to come home, and a crowd has followed him.
And Jesus’ family is concerned about him. I like how Matt Skinner—the host of the video series some of us have been watching on Acts—puts it.
He says, “The preacher’s family thinks he has lost his bearings ever since he trekked to hear John the Baptizer teach about repentance and spent forty days on a wilderness retreat. Now he’s gone too far and has made powerful enemies. He’s got to rein in the starry-eyed idealism, the pointed rhetoric, and the deviant behavior. What’s he doing promising people freedom from the power of evil? He should know what happens to prophetic leaders with large followings in this corner of the Roman world.”
Jesus’ family thinks he’s going too far. He’s going to get himself into trouble — I mean, just listen to what some of the religious leaders are speculating about him.
He’s obviously drawing on some kind of supernatural power to do these healings and miracles he’s been doing, but they’re wondering, what if it’s the bad kind of power? What if it’s demonic, if Jesus himself is demon-possessed? Maybe it’s by Beelzebul’s power, the power of the ruler of demons, that he’s casting out demons?
After all, this Jesus guy hasn’t been following all our religious laws and customs; he’s on dangerous ground telling people their sins are forgiven, which only God can do.
Jesus, by the way, gets a bit offended at the suggestion that maybe he’s following Satan instead of God. Listen to what he says in verse 28 and 29. “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” It’s a bit alarming as Christians who rely on God’s grace and forgiveness to hear of any kind of unforgivable sin, but what’s unforgivable, Jesus says, is claiming that Jesus is not from God.
It’s denying the Holy Spirit, rejecting God’s work, saying no to what God is doing. Jesus has come to offer grace and forgiveness from God, to set people free, so it shouldn’t be surprising that rejecting God’s forgiveness is unforgivable.
But as Jesus is teaching this and explaining why it’s ridiculous to suggest he’s casting out demons by the power of demons—a house divided against itself cannot stand—his mother and his brothers again call him to come inside. When the crowd tells him his mother and his brothers and sisters are outside asking for him, Jesus turns it into a profound teaching moment.
He redefines his family. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” I don’t know how his flesh and blood family felt about it, but I imagine when Jesus did eventually come inside, the conversation might have been a little awkward.
But for us who claim to be followers of Jesus, this is an amazing promise. You are in God’s family. God has claimed you.
You are called a child of God, and you get the privilege of calling God your heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit inspires, equips, and enables us to do God’s will, joining us together into God’s family.
This is one of my favorite images of our relationship with God, this idea of God choosing us to be in God’s family, and it comes up quite a few times in the Bible.
Ephesians 1:5 says God destined us for adoption as God’s children through Jesus Christ, redeeming us, forgiving us, promising us an inheritance of eternal life. Romans 8 tells us all who are led by God’s spirit are children of God.
Galatians 3 says in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. You are part of God’s family. As we hear every time we have a baptism, “We are born children of a fallen humanity; in the waters of baptism we are reborn children of God and inheritors of eternal life.” Baptism is the ritual of welcome into the family of God, into the church.
Of course, the image of a church as family can be challenging. I had a seminary professor who pointed out that the people we fight most with are nearly always family members. Family members know how to hurt each other, how to poke and jab and push each others’ buttons. It’s easier to see the flaws in the people you’re closest too.
In church terms, sometimes the biggest fights are between people who believe similar things but not quite the same, maybe because we can’t see how someone can be so close but still disagree.
It’s easier for me to point out differences and even find conflict with Lutherans of other flavors like the Missouri Synod or Wisconsin Synod churches than with Presbyterians or Baptists or Anglicans. The fights get nastier with those we have more in common with.
Being part of a church family doesn’t mean we all get along, or look the same or even act the same. But it does mean God has called us into a common mission. We are all called to do the will of God. And if you look at the crowd in the story, doing God’s will starts with gathering and listening to Jesus.
As Pastor Noel Niemann points out,
“Jesus offers a definition of “family” that is not about DNA, but about shared values, beliefs, or principles we have in life. It is about having a mission that is in line with God’s will for the world. Of course, doing the will of God takes many forms. We are not called into uniformity, but into unanimity by doing God’s will.
Yes, I can be closer to some of my faith family, but still honor those who do a different walk according to their call. We acknowledge the unique gifts and strengths of our family and celebrate all parts of the body. In Christ we can welcome home and welcome to worship all our brothers and sisters and together celebrate God’s mission of love and mercy.”
Being a church family means we’re here for each other. It means putting up with each other, caring for one another, and just as all of us have been adopted into God’s family, we are called to invite others in, to share the hope and love we have received through Jesus. We’re on this journey of faith together.
Let me share with you one of my absolute favorite images of church.
This is from Winn Collier’s book Love Big, Be Well.
“As the church, we are the people (whenever we live true to ourselves) who will welcome you into this world, who will join you in marriage and in friendship, who will bless your coming and your going.
We will pray for you to prosper and know love’s depths even if you think our prayers are foolish or offered in vain, and we will mourn you when you leave us. We will bless the land and the nations we share, and we will grieve together through tragedy and heartache.
We will celebrate, with you, everything beautiful and good, everything that comes from the hand of mercy. And then, when your days conclude, we will bury you. We will return you to the earth and pray God’s kindness over you.”
Isn’t that a beautiful picture of a Christian community, of a church family? This is who we are as God’s family. What an amazing gift and calling!
Let us pray.
Good and gracious God, we give you thanks that you have welcomed us into your family. Thank you for loving us, for never giving up on us, even with all the flaws and baggage we bring to your family. By your Holy Spirit, move us to grow in love toward you and toward one another. In the name of your son Jesus Christ we pray.
Amen