Lectionary readings: Genesis 3:8-15 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 4:13 – 5:! Mark 3:20-35
Ok, so I need to admit it – I love the Indiana Jones films and usually try to watch them when they come on the TV. In The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), we are taken deep into the Amazon Jungle, to in a temple full of artefacts from ancient civilisations; also thirteen crystal aliens. Soviet agent, Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko, (the baddy), demands to receive all the knowledge possessed by these aliens. Alas, it is overwhelming and blows her mind … and the rest of her into oblivion.
It is a salutary warning about what it means to be a creature and not the creator. Or as Samuel Terrien puts it : …… the sin of hubris par excellence (is) a lust for self-deification (Till the heart sings. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 24-27.
Right at the beginning of the book of origins – Genesis – we discover what it means to be human and we watch the dynamics of sin unfolding. People sometimes try to convince me that children are sweet and innocent; well they are on some levels. But when I found writing scrawled on the wall behind the sofa (just where mummy couldn’t see it), the elder child blatantly lied and said her younger sibling – who at that point had not learned to write – had done it. And so it has been since the beginning of time, that successive generations of human beings follow in the family tradition and alienate ourselves from God. Scribbling on the wall-paper is a very minor indiscretion; trying to make gods of ourselves is not.
The journalist Francis Spufford in Unapologetic (London: Faber & Faber 2012) coins a wonderful little equation to help understand the all-too present reality of wrong-doing: sin = HPtFtU. That is the Human Propensity to F**k things up. (Too many years hanging around in churches means I usually substitute ‘foul’ as the F-word! I leave it to you to choose your slang.)
It is a really good definition because it describes human sin against God and the concurrent oppression within human communities really well. Have you noted the floodgates of oppression opened up by human iniquity; releasing an oppressive dynamic in human communities that makes prisoners of everyone?
Yet in Psalm 130, the psalmist cries ‘out of the depths’; not just of the anguish over personal wrongdoing, but over all the places of pain, oppression, alienation that leave people in deep despair, drowning in the misery of human chaos; wars, trade wars, Grenfell Tower, the Middle East, terrorism with its indiscriminate taking of human life, redundancy, death by drink-driving, divorce, dementia. And so the list goes on.
And it would be a gloomy, dismal place to be were it not for the sense of calm hopefulness as the psalmist contemplates the steadfast love of God which mediates forgiveness and redemption. In the letters of St Paul, this is rendered by the one simple word: grace.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:8
And in St Mark’s story of good news, this grace is revealed in Jesus.
The story began well enough: Jesus entered the house, but it was so over-crowded that the meal could not be served. All of a sudden, two very well-meaning groups arrive: the family of Jesus hearing the reports of his alleged madness, arrive to take him home; at the same time, the scribes from Jerusalem have turned up to give their opinion. Well, as the highest religious authority, I guess they had an important responsibility to ‘defend the faith’. And I am left wondering whether it is worse to have your sanity under question, or to have your parentage doubted as you are declared the spawn of Satan.
In the closing years of the twentieth century, humanity made gods of ‘science’ and ‘reason’, confining demons, Beelzebub and Satan to the medieval texts and images. But increasingly, we are still reminded that there are other ways of understanding the world, and that far from being a problem of ancient times, evil and darkness are still very much present in the world today. Science and an ability to think things through have yet to solve all of the world’s problems.
This passage then, has much to say about how we deal with the issues today. We may call things by another name – for instance, we recognise the dangers of being bound by addiction, we see what happens when people lose their moral compass, and we understand only too well the difficulties individuals, families and societies face when they choose to set their own rights over and above those of other people.
Yet the Markan reading helps us to once more how Jesus addressed the issues. There are two distinctive counter-arguments from Jesus, one dealing with the demonisation of the other person and the second offering a very helpful approach to addictive lifestyles.
Although claiming upholding the law and tradition, those scribes used an age-old ruse: if you want to discredit someone, demonise them. Jesus simply points out how illogical it would be for Beelezebub, the ruler of the demons to cast out his own demons! Jesus said that if this were true, then we are looking at a house divided in terms of Satan which would seriously diminish his power to bring chaos. If you want to see how this works, just watch how modern political parties who seem to revel in tearing each other apart, forgetting that in doing so, they destroy their own party. This is nothing new: the Jerusalem hierarchy continued to live under an ancient system, but its day were numbered, parties and factions discredited one another. But Jesus points to a new way of doing things, God’s new kingdom which was being ushered in. If you know the Advent readings really well, you will understand the shoot that would come out of the Stump of Jesse, the branch growing out of his roots (Isaiah 11:1) was here right in front of their very eyes..
Secondly, Jesus told as story about a really big, strong man. If you want to rob such a person, you’re going to have to tie him up first. I am not a very large person or very strong, so I freely acknowledge that there are many tasks for which I need help. And here is the bottom line – it is not until the problem is acknowledged, that help can be sought. And in terms of a way out of the mess we have created, there really is only one answer, and it can be found in Jesus.
At the beginning of Mark’s Gospel, John the Baptist described Jesus in this way: The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Mark 1: 7-8).
Here we catch a glimpse, an echo of the promise given by God to the exiled people at the time of Isaiah reminding them that there would be a glorious time of redemption and homecoming. And then there is the declaration from Jesus answering an unasked question preaching a message of grace and mercy (see Mark 3:35). Whatever, the darkness, the oppression, the old habits that bind us, Jesus promises the hope of release.
Except for the unforgiveable sin – the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. By judging Jesus to be of the house of Satan, the scribes put themselves outside of kingdom and outside the love of God.
Katherine Hankey (1834-1911) wrote the lovely old gospel hymn, Tell me the old, old story, in which she describes redemption as ‘God’s remedy for sin’. There is no need for anyone to put themselves outside the love of God, for who does not long for forgiveness and freedom from whatever holds us captive? It is a gift worth sharing because someone else may need to know that the compassionate and reconciling love of God is available to all. Better still if you can live it out in practice.
Worship at home 