A House Divided

2nd Sunday after Pentecost

Today's readings: 2 Cor. 4:13--5:1; Mark 3:20-35

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A house divided cannot stand.. I love how in Iowa we have amended this parable and turned it into cute little flags I see on front lawns that are half Hawkeye and half Cyclone and proudly declare – a house divided. I’m grateful for those friendly competitions and also equally grateful for Jesus’ much more ominous reminder here this morning: A person at war with their self cannot stand. A Church at war with itself cannot stand. A nation at war with itself cannot stand.

Our gospel reading this morning comes from the third chapter of Mark and follows a long string of healings: Jesus has healed multiple people (even on the Sabbath day!), has called his 12 disciples/apostles, and has now returned home. We are only in the 3rd chapter and already Mark tells us that the religious and political authorities want Jesus DEAD! Even though Jesus has gone home, a crowd gathers and there is mumblings of the things Jesus has been doing and saying. Some people are even saying that he’s gone mad or that he’s being controlled by demonic powers!

His family tries to get to him to restrain him; I would assume out of fear for his life! But Jesus doesn’t shy away; he goes out to the crowd and answers them… in a round about way of course. He asks them how he could possibly be Satan or under Satan’s authority if he’s the one casting Satan out! A house divided cannot stand. If this riddle didn’t land, Jesus follows up with another image of what we might call today a home invasion. Jesus paints a picture of Satan at home and Jesus breaks in (the stronger man), ties him up, and plunders his house – victorious! Now I do want to mention that whether you read this as if Satan were an actual man/being or as if Satan is just the personification of evil, it doesn’t really matter – what Jesus is addressing is allllll that bad stuff (evil/sin) that breaks down life, love and relationship rather than builds up – Jesus has defeated it. Some other sayings may come to mind like: Evil cannot drive out evil, only goodness can do that. You can’t fight fire with fire. Darkness cannot drive our darkness, only light can do that.. you get the gist.

Jesus is not only calling them out for calling him evil, though, he is calling them out for blasphemy, for taking the Lord’s name in vain. They are calling the Holy Spirit of God, which is at work in Jesus, the work of Satan. They see a good thing and they label it bad/unclean/an abomination/unholy/ evil/sinful… THIS Jesus says, is a sin he cannot forgive. They have seen God face to face in Christ Jesus.. they have witnessed the Holy Spirit at work right before their eyes.. and they have called it demonic.

It may be easy for us to shake our heads in disapproval and wonder how they could be so blind to such holy encounters.. but I wonder how often we still have our blinders up.. missing God’s work happening right before our eyes or even calling it demonic.. calling out ‘SINNER!’ ‘DEVIL!’ ‘BLASPHEMY!’ When actually the only real blasphemy is our inability to see Christ right in front of our eyes. And let us not forget these were important religious and political leaders calling Jesus demonic. These were people who had the power to silence him.. and they made sure they did so on the cross. But what constantly strikes me about the gospel stories is how it’s the religious people that Jesus doesn’t get along with.. Jesus hangs out with the sinners, the outcasts, the downtrodden, the ordinary and has a lot of harsh truth to speak to the powers of the day.

I think it’s fair to say that even 2,000 years later religion can still get in it’s own way.. the Church can still get in the way of what is truly holy and sacred. Just like those leaders back then who felt what they were saying and doing was right and just, we can sometimes feel righteous about things too, even if we indeed are not.. The good thing is that Jesus never stops showing up and the winds of the Mighty Spirit never stop blowing. They come to us still to shake us out of our misconceptions and blasphemy and open our eyes to new scared beauty, changing our perspectives and tenderizing our hearts.

We know from Pentecost, that we were reminded of just weeks ago, that the Spirit is wild and unpredictable and always disrupts the status quo. The Spirit rushes in like a violent wind with a scorching flame and it will destroy a divided home. A house divided cannot stand – it will fall. But you know what always comes next? New life. New growth. Hope.

We get it wrong. We witness something sacred and beautiful and we call it sin. We witness to and perpetuate sin and we call it righteous. And so I am grateful for Jesus’ ominous reminder this morning and the power of Holy Spirit among us, because we get to hear the Word of Truth.. and we get to try again. For what did we hear the Apostle Paul say this morning, “Yes.. everything is for YOUR sake, so that GRACE, as it extends to MORE AND MORE people, may increase thanksgiving, to the GLORY of God! So we do NOT lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being RENEWED day by day!”

Ah yes, thanks be to God! May we continue to grow and stretch our spiritual imaginations so that we may extend this God-given grace to more and more people, withholding it from NO ONE! May we learn from Jesus to call what is good HOLY, even if it’s something we would have never considered before. May you witness the sacred and know it when you see it, even if it surprises you. Amen.

Reflection questions:

Where are we divided?

What do we call unholy/unclean/evil/sinful today? Is it possible we've misunderstood?

In what was has the Spirit changed your mind/perspective about something?