Proper 5B
Mark 3:20-35
20 Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. 21 When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!”
22 The legal experts came down from Jerusalem. Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.”
23 When Jesus called them together he spoke to them in a parable: “How can Satan throw Satan out? 24 A kingdom involved in civil war will collapse. 25 And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse. 26 If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can’t endure. He’s done for. 27 No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized. 28 I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind. 29 But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.” 30 He said this because the legal experts were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”
31 His mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent word to him, calling for him. 32 A crowd was seated around him, and those sent to him said, “Look, your mother, brothers, and sisters are outside looking for you.”
33 He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 34 Looking around at those seated around him in a circle, he said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.”
“He’s out of his mind!” This is how Jesus’ family members describe Jesus at the beginning of our gospel reading. Other translations say “he lost his senses” and “he was getting carried away with himself” After all, he is drawing quite a crowd for considerable reasons. He’s healing the sick, sometimes even on the sabbath. He’s casting out demons. He’s preaching a message of God’s forgiveness that upsets the applecart for the religious leaders. And all of this is attracting a growing crowd.
I don’t want to be too quick to judge Jesus’ family here. I imagine some, probably most, of us here can relate to that feeling of watching a family member attract attention that you’re unsure about. (I won’t ask you to raise your hand because some of you might be here with the very family members you’ve been unsure about.) Maybe it’s just me and the family I was born into but I know you can love someone to pieces and still be a little embarrassed by them. As the kids would say, that’s cringe. Jesus’ family is trying to save face and do a little damage control. I don’t think they’re entirely ashamed of him, they just want him to rein it in a bit. You know, get on the right side of the Pharisees and not cause too much trouble. They just want him to be more under control and manageable.
And wanting to get things under control and manageable is about as relatable as it gets. Things that are under control and manageable won’t surprise us or challenge us. Things that are under control and manageable are domesticated and house-trained so we don’t need to worry too much about adjusting our lives to accommodate them. Things that are under control and manageable aren’t going to put a target on our back.
But Jesus has no interest in remaining under control and manageable. It’s the scribes who then take the family’s dismissal and weaponize it against Jesus. They conclude that since his family thinks he’s out of his mind, he must therefore have Beelzebul in him. This accusation sets Jesus in a tizzy. It’s particularly insidious to Jesus- like telling a chef they don’t appreciate flavor.
Jesus tells them: “I assure you that human beings will be forgiven for everything, for all sins and insults of every kind. But whoever insults the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. That person is guilty of a sin with consequences that last forever.”
What does it mean to insult the Holy Spirit? Other translations even use the term that it’s ‘blaspheme against’ the Holy Spirit. If ALL other sins are forgivable, it seems wise to make a note about this one. So what could insulting the Holy Spirit look like?
Here’s my theory: In my 9 years of priesthood, I’ve had more than a few conversations with someone who believes that something they’ve done or something that’s been done to them is so egregious, they couldn’t possibly deserve the love of God and belonging in a church. Each time, it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart for two reasons. One is that I know, but I can never go into any detail because it would break pastoral confidence, that so many people sitting in our pews have very similar struggles. ** But, two, it breaks my heart because I know God’s forgiveness definitely stretches far enough to cover this person. As the hymn says, there’s a wideness in God’s mercy.
So I wonder if what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to believe, or to teach others to believe, that they are beyond God’s mercy and forgiveness, that they are unworthy of God’s love. To let someone think that there is no place for them in the Kingdom of God.
To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to put limits on God, to contain grace in a way that fits our preconceived notions. To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to believe we know better than God.
So you can see where Jesus calling out the scribes like this might’ve caused his family to pause. Jesus has floated into serious liability territory so maybe we won’t look so bad if we explain it away that he must be going crazy. What does it mean for us to be followers of this Jesus who his own family said is “out of his mind” or even crazy?
As presiding bishop Michael Curry preached “What the church needs, what the world needs, are some Christians who are as crazy as the Lord. Crazy enough to love like Jesus, to give like Jesus, to forgive like Jesus, to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God – like Jesus. Crazy enough to dare to change the world from the nightmare it often is into something closer to the dream that God dreams for it. And for those of us who follow him, those of us who would be his disciples, those of us who would live as people of the Way? It might come as a shock, but those of us called to that live are called to craziness, too.”
Friends, let us be the ones out of our minds because there is something crazy about a God who loves us enough to forgive all, ALL, of our sins. There is something downright absurd about what we profess to believe in this space. And I get that temptation to make it less absurd: God sent his only son to be born among us and while here, he said to love our enemies, but surely he didn’t mean my enemies. Jesus gave us the power to forgive all sins but surely not those kinds of sins. Jesus implored us to love our neighbor but surely not those neighbors.
But no. (And don’t call God Shirley.) That is clipping the wings of the Holy Spirit. Clipping the wings might make something more under control and manageable. But it also takes away power for good. The Holy Spirit may disrupt our lives, but it is taking us to a place of love. Let’s not be afraid to ride with it.
