Westwood Presbyterian Church

January 25th, 2009

197 Browning  Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba  R3K 0L1

REV. PETER BUSH's SERMONS

Mark 3: 19b-35

    

     Safety is highly overrated.

     One of my favorite scenes in all of literature comes from C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – the children are having supper at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and the subject of Aslan comes up. The children don’t know who Aslan is – and so they ask. Mr. Beaver tells them that Aslan is a lion. To which Susan asks, “But is he safe?” And Mr. Beaver replies, “Of course, he isn’t safe, but he is good.”

     Aslan is a picture of Jesus in the Narnia series – Jesus is not safe, but Jesus is good.

     Safety is highly overrated.

 

     Jesus’ family wanted him to be safe. When they heard that he was working so hard that he hardly had time to eat – they tried to figure out a way to intervene – they made plans about how to keep him safe. How to get him out of the demands – out of the danger? They were convinced that he had gone insane – how could what Jesus was doing be good when he was under such pressure – they had to find a way to keep him safe.

     Keep him safe from the dangers. And there were dangers.

     There were the religious authorities – the rabbis (ministers) and elders, the long time synagogue attendees – they were upset by Jesus. He was doing things on the Sabbath that should not be done, he was doing things that drew the people away from synagogue worship to following him, and he was performing miracles. This Jesus was unsettling the safe routine religious life they had so carefully constructed. He was not safe for he was teaching people that God wanted not just part of people’s lives – he was teaching people that God wanted complete loyalty.

     The religious leaders – rabbis, elders, prominent lay people – they were upset by Jesus. So they started spreading rumours about him – they said, “Jesus is able to cast demons out because he is using the power of the demons to cast them out. Jesus is using evil forces to do his miracles.” This was a serious charge -- a rumour that could not be ignored. Jesus was being accused not only of being dangerous – he was also being accused of being evil.

 

     One of the risks of following God is that our actions will cause people – church going people – religious people to say – “You can’t do that. That is not what God wants. That is not how my God functions.”

     Now my hunch is that we have just heard that characterization in one of two ways. Either we are thinking to ourselves, “I have said things like that to other people – I should be more careful before I assume that I know what God wants.” And so we hear a word of warning to us. A word that cautions us against assuming that the way things have always been – is the way they will always be. A word that invites us to be open to the new things God may be doing in the world – in the church – in the lives of family. And if we fit in this camp, let us hear the challenge to be open to the surprising and unexpected things God is doing.

 

     There is a second way we may have heard that characterization – we may be thinking to ourselves, “People have said those things to me – demanding that I start behaving in ways they thought appropriate.” And if we are in this category it is easy to start to feel a little bit of pride – we know what God wants, we are in tune with the new things that God is doing in the world. If we are in this position we are invited to rejoice that God has helped us to be open to seeing his new action in the world – but we must never allow ourselves to think that that comes from our ability – for it is a gift from God. We must have the humility to learn the line from the comic strip Pogo – “We have met the opposition and they are partly right.”

     The trap both those who say “this is the way it has always been – God has ordained this from the start of time” and those who say “This is what God has told me to do – God has ordained this as the new way” – is that they are both limited human beings who have only a limited handle on God. No human being has a corner on the truth – no one human being has the whole plan of God. God’s plan is given to people in pieces – a part to you and a part to me and part to that person over there so that we are forced together to see the whole. The trap comes when we think that we have the whole plan – or the most important part of the plan. The trap comes when we think that the other people – our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ – are so wrong they are evil.

 

     The religious leaders had gone that far. They accused Jesus of being in league with the devil.

     Now we have dived into the deep end for the difficult text is before us. What is this sin against the Holy Spirit? We are going on a bit of a tangent – but I have discovered that this is one of those questions that lots of people have but they are afraid to raise their hands and ask it.

     It intrigues me that the names of God and Jesus are used as swear words – have their names taken in vain in our culture – but not the Holy Spirit. Not that I think that is the limit of sinning against the Holy Spirit – but it is intriguing.

     Sinning against the Holy Spirit takes place when something that is obviously the work of God – something that causes people to say “God did that.” And people say “No, you are wrong that is the forces of evil.” It is the Holy Spirit who brings about the transformations and renewals that cause us to stand in awe and say – “Wow, isn’t God good?” When those actions of God are named by people as evil – even when they know that they come from God then there is a problem. Sinning against the Holy Spirit occurs when people refuse to recognize that something is from God when quite clearly it is from God.

     For example the religious authorities said that Jesus was doing these miracles by the power of the evil one. That is a clear example of saying that which is good is in fact evil.

     A wise minister once told me – “If you meet people who are afraid they have committed the unforgivable sin, tell them this, ‘If you are worried about it, then you almost certainly have not committed the unforgivable sin. Because people who commit that sin are so opposed to God’s action they would not care if they had so deeply rejected God.’”

     This has not been an invitation to worrying about whether we have committed this sin – instead I hope that in trying to clarify what Jesus is saying we have a better understanding of what is in view and also have some comfort that we are not among those who are guilty of this sin.        

 

     Jesus having been accused of being in league with the devil – makes clear that that is not what the relationship between Jesus and Satan is like at all. Jesus makes a strange statement that no one can rob a strong man’s house unless they tie up the strong man and then they can steal all they want.

     First, to be clear Jesus is not advocating robbing people, nor is he giving advice on how best to pull off a robbery.

     The strong man is the devil – and Jesus says that he is in the process of robbing the devil. Jesus is in the process of taking from the devil all those things – all those people that the devil think are the devil’s possession.

     And again we have come to a text that makes us as North American Christians a little uneasy – we are uncomfortable about thinking about the devil in this way – in fact we would sooner not think about the devil at all. But for most of our Christian sisters and brothers around the world this passage speaks powerfully to their experiences. Jesus is in the business of tearing out of the devil’s control people who have been held in the devil’s power. There is a struggle between good and evil – between God and the devil going on – and through Jesus death and resurrection and through the coming of the Holy Spirit – God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is in the business of robbing the devil. For the devil has been tied up – and people are being freed from their bondage to the destructive powers the devil uses.

     This mission that Jesus was on was dangerous – it meant confronting and defeating the devil – it meant enduring opposition from people who should have been his allies – it meant being thought “out of his mind” by his family. This was no safe journey he was on – it was a journey in which he was following the will of God.

 

     Jesus’ family, specifically his mother, Mary, and some of his brothers, arrived and being polite did not break into the meeting of Jesus and his followers – but waited outside. Someone told Jesus that they had arrived. And in what is one of Jesus’ most shocking statements – he said – “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And then looking at the room of his followers he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” 

     Jesus has just declared that there is a loyalty more important than family – even for us that sounds harsh – at the time that Jesus first said this it was over the top insane. Commitment to family was everything – and Jesus has just declared that loyalty to God’s will is more important. In fact, loyalty to God’s will trumps everything – there is nothing else that matters. Doing the will of God is more important than what friends think of us. Doing the will of God is more important than what society tells us is the way to live and be. Doing the will of God is more important than keeping the economy going. Doing the will of God is the highest calling – the most fulfilling reality that we can have – and it is not safe.

     Following the will of God puts us in a new family – a family committed not to being a safe haven in the storms of life – instead it is a family committed to following Jesus on his dangerous mission of robbing the devil, a family committed to choosing God’s way even when that way is difficult and other paths seem less demanding.

 

     Jesus did not live a safe life. We have a choice to make will we follow the path Jesus has set out – a path of following not a safe path but a path that bring s freedom to people caught in bondage – a path that will invite us to live by a pattern that will mean that we are challenged and questioned. We often hear about conversion – about being born again – and we are not quite sure what that means – it is a loyalty shift. It is a commitment to being part of the family of Jesus – making our loyalty to him the #1 reality in our lives. Following not a safe path – but a path that is good.