Crazy Good News
Transcripts are AI-generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I saw some faces of some kids who I think are not too sure about this Christmas carol thing, but I think music is an incredible thing for the soul and for all of us. Well, let's dive right in tonight. This thing is not, oh, going down. Um, we pull up the text. We are in Mark still, we are walking through the gospel of Mark in a, in a deep way. We're not just going over the highlight reels. We're really getting into it.
So tonight we're looking at Mark 3. Uh, I think it's 22 through 35, but my notes here say 20. So what's two verses? Um, it's not up there and I don't have the text, so we'll just, we'll wait on that for a second. But essentially what's happening in Mark 3 at this time when we look at the text, is gonna be, um, that, that Jesus is, uh, gathered with a crowd and that he's going to begin to talk about some accusations being launched against him.
So the text reads: “Then Jesus entered a house, and again, a crowd gathered so that he and the 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.”
Matt talked about this a little last week, uh, that the people are pressing in on him the next. And it says: “And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, he is possessed by Babel, by the prince of demons. He is driving out demons. And so Jesus called over, called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables.
How could Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, the 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.
In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man's house. So truly, I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. They are guilty of an eternal sin. And he said this because they were saying he has an impure spirit.
And then Jesus', mother and brothers arrived standing outside and 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, and he looked at those seated in a circle around him and he said, here are my brother and my brothers. Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”
We're gonna dive right in. Jumping straight in at this basically Jesus unsettled the very fabric of Second Temple Jewish life. So much so that it is not just the scribes who have been angered. It is not just the scribes who are skeptical, but his very family is saying, this guy's out of his mind. This guy's crazy and we're gonna go get him. We're gonna go collect him. We gotta get him off that stage. 'cause he doesn't know what he's talking about anymore.
And the scribes no longer think that he is just some weird heretical rabbi. He's not just some off-base rabbi anymore. He's actually demonic. He's impure. That's a big jump from just being some kind of off base rabbi to being the prince of demons. Why, why are they launching these accusations now?
Let's be very clear that this is because Jesus is doing things. He is teaching things. He's proclaiming things that are so unsettling to the status quo, to the powerful, to the leaders, to those who for the most part are getting to interpret and enforce God's word on the people. At this time that Jesus is having this experience of being called a demon, it was believed that the age of prophecy was over. So prophets were no longer speaking. God was no longer speaking through these prophets. God was only communicating with the people through the scribes, through the theological powerhouses that are calling Jesus a demon. So they have the ability to theologically, gaslight the people into thinking He is not just a rabbi who's a little bit woo-woo. He's actually a demon. 'cause they get to speak for God. And this means that the theological scribes want so badly to uphold a theological norm, want so badly to uphold a social order that they are now launching accusations against Jesus, that he's possessed because they do not want him disrupting this power, this authority that they have to interpret and to enforce God's law.
But what is a demon? What's an impure spirit? What's, uh, Satan, right? Like, I think those are really, really loaded words, uh, for some of us who may have grown up in churches that use those words in a very real, supernatural, very scary way. And then for those of us who did not grow up in churches like that, those words just seem like, uh, it's a little bit like, that's very like horror movie sci-fi. That's that's a lot. That's too much. But I think it matters to find a middle understanding of of what this is.
So what is it? Without going too deep, deep into the weeds, basically all things demon or associated with, uh, Satan, or it's actually the Satan, which means the adversary. All things demonic or all things with Satan, were meant to be the opposite of God. Maybe some of you have heard the word anti-christ. They were meant to be opposite of God's character, opposite of God's kingdom, opposite of what God wants for the world.
And if God, as we hear about each week and is hopefully we are starting to truly believe if God is for life, if God is for abundance, justice, mercy, loving kindness, that means that demons or Satan or impure spirits were to represent the opposite of that, the opposite of each of these characteristics of God and of God's kingdom. And so instead of life, Satan is for death. Instead of abundance, there's scarcity. Instead of justice, injustice. Instead of loving kindness, self-hatred. Instead of mercy, cruelty. And the list can go on and it can go on and on.
So Jesus is saying to the people that Satan does not drive out Satan, that if Jesus was anti-life, if he's anti justice, if he was anti love and mercy, then why would Jesus be working in the world proclaiming the world to the world, teaching the people how to work for flourishing, how to move towards justice, how to widen who they love, and how to show and be shown mercy.
This is saying to the scribes in not so many words, that if he were Satan, if he were possessed by this demon, then he'd be happy to leave the world the way it is. 'cause that's where it's headed. 'cause that's what's in the violence, that's what's in the world. Now, if he were Satan, he'd be happy to leave the widows and the orphans the way they are. He never would've fed the 5,000. He wouldn't bother to speak to the woman at the well. He wouldn't offer forgiveness or healing. And if he were Satan, if he were the adversary, he'd actually be happy to participate in the empire's desires. He'd be happy to give in to the social and political reality of the world he was living in.
But it's so revealing of the scribes really, right? It's so revealing of the scribes that they are trying to portray all of Jesus's ministry, all of his care for the world, all of his flipping power structures upside down to be of Satan and not of God. Because Jesus's truth does not benefit them, does not uphold the power that they want to continue to hold.
And I see this so often in our reality right now. Anybody ever see those like horrible tweets? I guess it's not called tweets anymore. Xs, I don't know, right? Launching accusations when people are trying to work towards justice and mercy and love in our world, that that is demonic according to some that when there are people in our midst working for the flourishing of all people. And when they do it unapologetically and when they do it loudly, when they disrupt the status quo, it's not very long until someone comes along and says that what they're doing is demonic or what they're doing is crazy or that person is out of their mind and should not be listened to.
Demonic, impure, corrupting, crazy. These are all words that I've become familiar with being launched against me. Perhaps some of you, I think I've heard some people's stories that some of us in this room have been gaslit in theological ways to believe that we are crazy when we are trying to move towards love. That we are demonic when we have widened our understanding of who God loves. All these words.
I see in our world, parents supporting their transgender children so that they can assess and access and discover necessary ways of living and healthcare, life-saving social support. I would not just argue that that is doing the Lord's work. I've experienced firsthand how that act of a parent promotes flourishing life and abundant love and bringing someone to a life of joy. But to so many people in this country that is demonic. To so many established churches to large and a loud portion of people that is not just disagreeable or a little off base, it's impure.
Women demanding that their autonomy and their choice matter. In fact, women doing anything other than exactly what men want them to do for generations has been labeled demonic and impure. And yet that too is for flourishing. That too is for dignity of people who are created in the image of God, not the work of the Satan of demons.
So at the end of this passage, Jesus asserts that his family are all those who do God's will. And notice that he doesn't stipulate, they have to already be believers. They don't already have to be going to a place of worship. They don't have to be considered faithful or important. He just said, all those who do God's will.
I'm not here, uh, to tell you the five steps or the 10 most the best things that you can do to live a better and more Christian life. I don't have the list of things that the gospel can offer for you towards a path of self-improvement. I'm just here to proclaim. And I think the job of a preacher is to proclaim that this is who Jesus is. This is the good news. It doesn't really seem like it 'cause Jesus is in a really unpopular moment here.
But the good news is that Jesus, like me, and possibly like some of you was called demonic, was called crazy, was called impure for shaking things up just a little bit too much for asking a lot of questions and perhaps just a little too much for those in power. For those who were trying to contain all of it to themselves. Jesus was all of these things.
And so he had love for those who did not love, who were not loved. He sought justice for those who repeatedly over and over again sought injustice. And it was not for the Satan, it was because those things are in line with the character of God that the people of Israel had known all along.
And so the good news today is that if every time you push a little bit harder, every time you question a little bit more, every time you try to widen a little bit wider who you love, and you are called demonic and you are called crazy and you are told you are out of your mind and your family does not wanna speak with you anymore, that that is of God.
And in response, Jesus did not close himself off. He opened himself up to a chosen family of imperfect people doing their best at God's will on earth as it is in heaven. And I think that's what church is. Y'all, I think that's what church is, that even for those of us here tonight who have had people try to theologically gaslight us into thinking we are crazy into thinking that the reality of love and abundance, that we want so badly for this world because we see that it is rooted in God. That they are, that when we are gaslit to think something is wrong with us for wanting that that aligns with God. Or when we move towards that because it aligns with our understanding of God, that we can still choose to widen our boundaries to a chosen family. We can still choose to show up to a place with imperfect people to do our best. God's will here on earth as it is in heaven.
Are you there? Have you experienced that? Have you been hurt by churches that push you out the door for pushing a little bit too hard? And are you looking for a place to widen those boundaries of family, be imperfect people together trying our best God's will fully believe that's what church is. And that's one of the only reasons I can still choose to show up every Sunday other than the paycheck they're giving me, right?
So I invite you to think about that as you move into this week. Let it sit with you. Please join me in prayer. God, we thank you for the ways that you have shown to us and revealed to us in Jesus' life. Uh, moments that we find ourselves in that may be tricky, where people can't stand that we are pushing back a little, that we are widening our hearts a little. And so God, we just pray that you continue to strengthen each and every person in this room in their pursuit of all things that we know to be consistent with your character and to give us strength even on those moments where people might launch against us, uh, words very much like they did towards Jesus here in Mar. In your name we pray, Amen.