Finding Faith ... in preaching the gospel, regardless of repercussions

EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2017 I began a new venture as a synodically authorized minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. The ride over the past 3 1/2 years has been an amazing journey of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on June 6, the second Sunday after Pentecost. This was the ninth in-person/livestreamed service in more than a year after our church was shuttered because of the COVID pandemic. The first in-person/livestreamed service was on Good Friday, but there was no sermon.

This week's preaching text: Mark 3:20-25

20 and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” 22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” 23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

Message:

My mother. ... My dear mother.

When we were growing up, all eight of us. ... My mother had a saying for whenever one of us Brooks kids would get into some kind of shenanigans. I'm guessing that many of you may have heard this from a parent or grandparent too. One of us might act up at church, and it would embarrass her. And she would shout, "The devil made him do it."

One of us might make a scene at a family gathering. And, again, my embarrassed mother would plead, "I don't know what's gotten into them! The devil made them do it!" ... It seems that whatever inappropriate behavior one of us did, whenever one of us Brooks kids was acting out, my mother found it acceptable to blame it on the devil. ... Or "Beelzebul" as our text refers to him today. Maybe one of your parents or grandparents said something similar. I think it was a popular phrase in that demographic.

My mother's fondness for this saying came to mind this week as I was studying the gospel text, which admittedly is a doozy of a read, right? ... It's it's all dressed up in this apocalyptic language. And then there's these weird, twisted parables that Jesus tells us. And, so I don't blame you if you find that the text might be a bit challenging. I found myself scratching my head a few times this week too.

But, what I think in it's most basic form, today's gospel is telling us, is that you have these two forces on either side of Jesus who are really troubled by his ministry: by his world-changing news.

On the one hand, you have Jesus's family, who we are told go to the lengths of restraining him because of the fear other people. ... Probably the neighbors or those folks at the church picnic that said, "Jesus has gotten out of his mind!" ... Right? He was acting out, or in other words, "The devil was making him do it!"

And then, on the other side, you have the religious leaders, the scribes that are mentioned in this text, who came all the way down from Jerusalem because of this troublemaking, world- changing Jesus. .... This rabbi that was upending things. ... And they were so disturbed by this rabbi. that they declare: "He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." ... Or in other words, as Mom Brooks said, "The devil made him do it!"

So, Jesus's family thought he was over the line and therefore, had to be reigned in. And then, on the other side, were the scribes who were besides themselves about this crazy rabbi, this teacher who was upending the world, who taught such outlandish things.

And so just what was so outlandish? ... The text mentions Jesus's ministry of healing, and Jesus' ministry of exorcism, and Jesus's ministry of forgiveness. ... That is what was so outlandish. ... That was what was so challenging that it would bring the religious leaders out of their temples, all way down to Galilee. ... And that was what was so outlandish, that it encouraged his mom to want to protect him.

Because that ministry poked the ruling powers in the eyes. ... Romans didn't care about healing. The Romans didn't to give 2¢ about forgiveness. And frankly, even the scribes, the anointed religious leaders of the day have their own entirely different take on what a holy life was.

And God bless their little hearts. Jesus' family just wanted to protect him, to rein him in for his own good.

Faith Family, that's the problem with Christ's teachings, isn't it? ... Those teachings scare both the powers that be and the families and loved ones of those who love those prophets. ... Those who would espouse these teachings ... such powerful, world-changing teachings.

So, because we can't understand these teachings through this worldly lens that we've been conditioned with, then the only explanation as this text goes on to tell us is that Jesus must have been possessed by Satan. That's what this text is talking about.

Faith Family, that it isn't an easy text that we deal with today. ... It made me sit and wonder more than once this week. It's easy to get lost in these crazy parables of Jesus that have no explanation, and in the apocalyptic language of this text, but rest assured, the message really is as simple as this: Jesus is looking for each of us. ... Each of you here. ... Each of you watching on Facebook, to invite you to bring the Holy Spirit into your own lives.

In this text, he is telling us that the only true blasphemy is misleading the Holy spirit's work. The world often doesn't understand the workings of the Holy Spirit. How can we when we're raised with an earthly lens earthly lens which misconstrues the Spirit's work of healing and forgiveness as the work of the devil. ... And under that scenario, the powers that be have everything to lose in this world.

The powers that be try to squash these world-changing teachings. They try to embarrass us out of these life-changing teachings. They've tried to convince us that healing and forgiveness is the work of the devil. And so our loved ones who care about us want to protect us from the harsh realities of this kingdom, this earthly kingdom. ... That's what Jesus's family did.

That is what today's gospel text is about: The tension between Jesus's teachings that are so unlike this world and the everyday expectations of an earthly kingdom. ... This text is about the tension between Jesus' family, the ones that wanted to protect him from the world and those religious leaders, the scribes, who were challenged by these new and unheard of teaching.

So the question that is posed to those of us sitting here today, or to those listening online, is: Do we follow Jesus' example and we preach the gospel regardless of the repercussions?

Christ, in this message today, invites us into this struggle, regardless of anything that we may face from our families or from the scribes because Jesus will always be persistent in his ministry of healing and exorcism and forgiveness.

And that is the Good News on this Sunday, the second Sunday after Pentecost, June 6, 2021. ... Amen.