Are You My Mother? (Mark 3:20-35)
Helene Talbert, of Wahpeton, North Dakota, remembers that after completing her first semester at a Christian college, she had a lot to tell her family. Just before going home, they had had an open house in her dorm. It’s one of the few times men were allowed in the women’s rooms. When some male friends came to visit, Helene wanted them to check out the huge closets.
“We can fit four or five in the closet without clothes,” she bragged to her parents and brother.
After a stunned silence, her mother exclaimed, “Without clothes?”
Helene immediately clarified things – the closet was stripped bare, not the bodies in it. (Helene Talbert, Wahpeton, North Dakota, “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader, www.PreachingToday. com)
Sometimes, even our own families misunderstand us. Now, this is a humorous example, easily corrected, but often it’s not so funny.
Mothers and Fathers, brothers and sisters, can misinterpret what we’re trying to do, and sometimes accuse us of some hurtful things. Their words can cut very deeply, because they are family. They are people who are supposed to know us best, and for that reason their thoughtless words can hurt the worst. That’s when life gets terribly lonely.
Jesus experienced this kind of loneliness, but he showed us the way to find true family, to find people who truly care, to find a connection with people who understand.
And if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 3,
Mark 3, where Jesus talks about his true family.
Mark 3:20-21 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
Literally, he is standing beside himself. The term describes someone who is “ecstatic in the sense of psychic derangement” (Lane). Jesus misses a meal, and His own earthly family thinks He’s crazy! They come from 30 miles away to “take charge of him” or to arrest him. They want to seize him and forcibly bring him home.
It reminds me of poor Gulliver in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. It’s a story about a shipwrecked man who finds himself in a strange land with bizarre people, cultures and societies. It’s really a subtle satire about the abuse of political power, and in one place, Gulliver is a giant, and in another, he is a tiny fraction of everyone else’s size.
It’s a strange and wonderful tale, but when he gets home nobody believes him. In the movie version, Gulliver is placed in a large mental hospital where the administrators are trying to decide whether Gulliver is sane and should be released or insane and should be confined for another year.
One of the administrators condemns Gulliver: “He’s insane. He must be kept locked up. He’s a lunatic gibbering against mankind and tearing down all shreds of decency and modesty…”
Gulliver responds, “I’ve tried only to speak the truth as I saw it.”
“What arrogance!” answers the administrator. “What presumption! To show men what they are and teach them what to be! You are either a liar, sir, or a lunatic! Which is it?”
Then another administrator addresses Gulliver. “You’re clearly suffering from a disease of the mind. The journey never really happened except in your own head. And all we ask is that you acknowledge this. When you have done that, then you may leave. What do you say?”
Gulliver doesn’t answer at first. Then he announces to everyone, “Every single thing I have told you is the truth. It happened to me.”
A third administrator jumps in, “Why do you persist? You say you saw these things that no one else has ever seen, these fantastical places. Have you proof?”
And just as they are about to lock Gulliver up for another year, his 8-year-old son comes forward holding a small box. He opens the box, and a miniature sheep, about 5-inches-high, steps out and walks across the table, making a “ba-a-a-ing” sound. (Gulliver’s Travels, Jim Henson Productions and NBC, 1996; directed by Charles Sturridge, screenplay by Simon Moore; Tape two – 01:23:50 to 01:27:25; www.PreachingToday.com)
In the story, Gulliver IS telling the truth even though it seems outrageous.
Well, imagine what the people thought when they heard Jesus talking about a strange place called “the Kingdom of God.” Even His own family thought He was insane, especially when He claimed to be the King of this Kingdom.
Tell me. What would YOU think about someone who made such claims today? We could only conclude that such a person was crazy! Jesus doesn’t leave us with very many options.
EITHER JESUS IS A LUNATIC.
Or HE COULD BE EVIL PERSONIFIED. HE COULD BE THE PRINCE OF DEMONS, I.e., THE DEVIL HIMSELF. That’s what the religious leaders thought.
Mark 3:22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub" – or better, He has Beelzeboul, which means the lord of the house. “By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
The religious leaders accuse Jesus of having Satan himself within, by whom He is casting out other demons.
Mark 3:23-26 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
Jesus exposes their faulty logic. It doesn’t make sense for Satan to drive out his own demons, because he would be defeating himself, and Satan is not that stupid!
More than that, Jesus makes it very clear that He is more powerful than Satan!
Mark 3:27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.
The “strong man” is Satan. & Since Jesus is constantly robbing Satan of his demons from those who were demon possessed, that means Jesus has bound Satan in every instance. Jesus is more powerful than Satan!
In fact, Christ at his weakest was more powerful than Satan at his strongest. When Jesus died on the cross, Satan may have bruised Him on the heal in that great fight, but there on that cross, Christ dealt the fatal blow to Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15).
Colossians 2:15 says, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” & Hebrews 2:14 says, “By his death he destroyed him who holds the power of death – that is the devil.”
George Herbert, a 17th century English poet, once put it this way: “Death used to be an executioner, but the gospel has made him just a gardener.” (George Herbert, English poet, 1593-1633)
Jesus rendered Satan powerless on the cross, but Satan doesn’t want us to know that. Instead, He plays “head games” with us, which is really all he can do.
When Alexander the Great came to power, he ordered his armor makers to construct oversized breastplates and helmets that would fit men 7 or 8 feet tall. That way, on those rare occasions, when his army found themselves in full retreat from a larger army, all they had to do was leave the oversized armor for the pursuing army to discover. Then when the bigger army found the oversized gear, they would be demoralized by the thought of fighting such giant soldiers, and they would abandon their pursuit. (Tim Downs, Head Game, Thomas Nelson, 2007, p. 309; www.Preaching Today.com)
Well, that’s exactly what Satan does to us. Christ has him on the run. He is already defeated, but he likes to make us think he is bigger than he really is, demoralizing us with fear and doubt. Hey, the next time Satan does that to you, don’t be fooled. Instead, look to the cross and see Jesus at His weakest still more powerful than Satan at his strongest.
Jesus is more powerful than Satan. & Jesus has a warning for those who would refuse to recognize who He is.
Mark 3:28-30 I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”
I.e., they were CONTINUING to say, “He has an evil spirit.” The tense of the verb implies “repetition and a fixed attitude of mind,” which brought the religious leaders “to the brink of unforgivable blasphemy” (Lane).
Please, understand what Jesus is saying here. The “unforgiveable sin” is not some slip of the tongue. It is a fixed attitude of mind which
constantly calls the Holy Spirit in Christ a devil, and refuses over a long period of time to acknowledge that Jesus is indeed the Son of God.
If you’re concerned that you might have at one time committed “the unpardonable sin,” I can assure you that you have not committed it, because if you had, you wouldn’t care. The “unpardonable sin” is slandering the work of God’s Spirit over such a long period of time that your heart has become so callous and hard that the Holy Spirit never bothers you again. He ceases to convict you of sin, righteousness and judgment and lets you die in your sins.
The religious leaders themselves talked about such an “unforgivable sin.” From their own writings they said, “The Holy One, blessed be he, pardons everything else, but on profanation of the Name [i.e., blasphemy] he takes vengeance immediately” (Lane, quoting Sifre on Deut 32:38). & Jesus tells these religious leaders that they are in danger of committing this very sin.
God, the Father, had sent John the Baptist to prepare the nation for the coming of their Messiah. And many people responded to John’s message, but the religious leaders rejected him. Later, God, the Son, came Himself and called the nation to trust Him, but the religious leaders demanded that Pontius Pilate crucify Him. Even so, Jesus cried from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Then, God, the Holy Spirit, came at Pentecost and demonstrated God’s power in many convincing ways. Again, many people responded in faith, but the religious leaders arrested those who proclaimed His message and killed some of them. Stephen, who was stoned by the Sanhedrin, told them in Acts 7, “You always resist the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51).
The religious leaders in Jesus’ day had sinned against the Father and the Son, and God still gave them more chances. But when they continued to resist the Holy Spirit, there came a time when God gave up on them and let them die with their sins unforgiven.
The only sin that God cannot forgive is a stubborn refusal to trust Christ as your Savior. My friends, if you’re here as an unbeliever, I urge you: Don’t be like those religious leaders and keep on resisting the Holy Spirit’s conviction in your life. Don’t harden your heart any further, lest you become like those religious leaders who actually thought Jesus was the devil. Instead, trust Christ as your Savior today.
For Jesus is NOT the devil, and Jesus is NOT a lunatic.
Rather JESUS IS LORD. JESUS IS GOD HIMSELF, WHO INVITES US TO JOIN HIS FAMILY.
Mark 3:31-35 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Closer to Christ than any earthly family are those who have answered His call to be with Him and to do His Father’s will. In dramatic contrast, the earthly mother and half-brothers of Jesus stand outside, while those who make up his spiritual family are seated within the house. (Lane, pp.137-138)
Do you want to be a part of a family that’s closer than any earthly family? Then I invite you to enter Christ’s family by joining with Him in doing His Father’s will.
When Jesus looked around Him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers,” He was saying that about his disciples. He was saying that about those who trusted Him as Lord. & He was saying that about those who answered his call to be with Him and to be sent by Him in power to overcome forces of wickedness in this world (Mark 3:14).
It’s a call Jesus extends to you and me today! “Come, be with me,” He says, “that I might send you forth to storm the gates of hell and get the victory over Satan himself.”
Some time ago, Glynn Wolfe died alone in Los Angeles at the age of 88. No one came to claim his body, so the city paid to have him buried in an unmarked grave. This is sad, but not unusual. It happens all too often in large cities where people tend to live isolated lives.
Glynn’s situation was unique, however, because he was no ordinary man. He held a world record. The Guinness Book listed him as the Most Married Man, with 29 marriages to his credit. This means 29 times he was asked, “Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife…forsaking all others do you pledge yourself only to her, so long as you both shall live?” Twenty-nine times Glynn Wolf said, “I do,” but it never quite worked out that way.
He left behind several children, grand-children, great grand-children, a number of living ex-wives, and innumerable ex-in-laws—and still, he died alone. He spent his entire adult life looking for something he apparently never found—and he died alone. (Steve May, Sermonnotes.com; www.PreachingToday. com)
Do you know, even those living WITH their families often feel alone, but “there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother,” and that Friend is Jesus Christ. Just answer His call to be with Him today; and then, let Him use you for His glory.
I like the way Joni Eareckson Tada put it: “You don’t have to be alone in your hurt! Comfort is yours. Joy is an option. And it’s all been made possible by your Savior. He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed joy so you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so you might never be alone in your hurt and sorrow. (Joni Eareckson Tada, Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 2; www.PreachingToday.com)
All you need to do is trust Jesus with your life. Acknowledge Him as YOUR Lord, and submit yourself to His Father’s will today.
It’s really the only choice we have, because we know that Jesus is no lunatic, and we know that Jesus is no devil. Jesus is in fact LORD, and we must acknowledge Him as such. There is no middle ground. There is no other choice.
C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, put it this way: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity)
Tell me, what are you going to do with Jesus this morning? Shut him up for a fool? Spit at him as a demon? Or fall at his feet and call him Lord? I hope you choose the latter, because then you will become a part of a family that’s closer than any earthly family.
