The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Mark.
Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they
could not even eat. And when his family heard it,
they went out to seize him. For they were saying He is out
of his mind. And the scribes who came down
from Jerusalem were saying, He is possessed by Beelzebel and by
the Prince of demons. He casts out the demons, and he
called them to him and said to them in parables, How can Satan
cast out Satan? If a Kingdom is divided against
itself, that Kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house is divided against itself, that house will
not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up
against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming
to an end. But no one can enter a strong
man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first finds the
strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his
house. Truly I say to you, all sins
will be forgiven the children of man, but whatever blasphemies
they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.
For they were saying, He has an unclean spirit, the gospel of
the Lord. Please pray with me.
You know, Lord, how we struggle to respond to appropriate
authority. You know that sometimes we
conflict with truth. Right now we welcome you to come
and speak to us. Show us what is true and how to
respond to truth in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen. Can I have your seats?
Imagine it is the early 1600s and a man by the names of
Galilee or Galilee points a telescope to the sky and he
makes a shocking observation. The earth moves around the sun.
But soon this question by Galileo proves to be another
question, because it becomes a question of who has the right to
speak about how the universe operates, Who has the authority
to define reality? And this question becomes very
risky than even the astronomical question.
Why? Because Galileo is not only
speaking about astronomical information, he's revealing a
new kind of truth. The truth that he speaks about
conflicts with established authorities.
The facts that he's sharing are conflicting with the interests
of fellow scientists, but importantly, with the religious
leaders of the days. In their eyes, Galileo is not
just speaking something wrong. He's very disruptive.
He's dangerous. He's causing a conflict with the
powers of his days. This is what exactly we see in
the reading in Mark, which we have taken, Mark chapter 3,
verse 20 to 30. Jesus defines reality by his
ministry in ways that conflict with the people around him,
especially those whose mindset is contrary to the Kingdom of
God. And these people look at him as
a threat. Let us look at this conflict of
kingdoms and we're going to see 3 movements here in the conflict
is defined, the conflict is examined, and finally the
conflict is endorsed. A conflict of Kingdom begins
when truth challenges existing authority.
In verses 20 through 22, we see how God is truth disrupts the
established order. By this time of the narration,
Jesus's ministry is rather like sold out.
He never plans events. He doesn't even send out
invitations. However, many people come to Him
in multitudes. They come to hear His teachings.
They come to receive healing from Him from physical and
spiritual illnesses. Mark tells us in verse 20 that
when he Jesus, went home and the crowd gathered again, there is
something we should notice about these crowds.
These crowds have a meaning visibly.
These are a sign that a new Kingdom has arrived and a new
order has been established in one or another.
These people are subjects of this King who has come.
Of course, many of them have not yet understood who Jesus is
truly and his mission. But however, they know that they
need him very much. That is why they keep seeking
Him despite of their different motives and their needs.
Their lives are beginning to revolve around this man, Jesus.
This is the question for us. Where do our lives gather?
To follow Jesus is to let our lives revolve around Him, our
time, our decisions and our hopes.
We don't have to understand everything to come to Him.
We just need to come because He invites us, because where we
gather reveals who is king for us.
But apart from this crowd of people gathering, there is
another group around Jesus. Not everyone is yearning for the
King. Some are confused and afraid.
This new Kingdom does not fit their expectations.
It challenges their assumptions. It threatens their interests.
And confusion often turns out into resistance.
Fear gives way to counter attack.
This confused group can fall into two categories, each
category resisting the Kingdom in a way that reflects how
certain people respond to the light.
Some decide to extinguish the light, while others opt to
obstruct the light. Let us first look at those who
switch off the light. In their mind, they mean well.
They think they are preserving the light.
They snuff out the candle because they believe they are
saving the candle from burning out.
They are sparing the candle for maybe some more appropriate use.
But a light put out is not light at all.
In Mark, this category of people includes Jesus's family, his
mother, and his brothers. When they hear that Jesus is so
busy ministering that he cannot even eat, they come to stop him.
In verse 21, Mark tells us what prompted their action.
They were saying He's out of his mind.
To them, Jesus is overworking. He's neglecting his body by
ignoring his need for food. They think that no sensible
person can do such a thing. Therefore, they try to come and
rescue him from harming himself. Indeed, their concern is
genuine, but their understanding is small.
They know him merely as their son and as their brother, but
not yet as a king. Jesus is beyond their
expectation. His mission surpasses what they
imagine. But this is not the first time
that Jesus's family has misunderstood his ministry.
Luke reports a similar event when Jesus was around age 12.
His parents lost him for days during a religious festival in
Jerusalem, and when they found him, his mother questioned him,
saying, Child, why have we treated us like this?
Luke, your father and I have been searching for you in great
anxiety. And Jesus replied to them saying
that he must be in his father's house.
Luke notes at the end that they did not understand what he
meant. And now, we mark, the same
misunderstanding returns. The family is anxious about
Jesus's welfare. They do not understand his
Kingdom of selfless service. Therefore, they conclude that
he's out of his mind. Sometimes the strongest
resistance to Jesus comes from the closest places, those around
us. They don't always look like
Hostess hostility, but sometimes it looks like concern, like
care, like common sense. But love without understanding
can still oppose the Kingdom. And we do this often to
ourselves and to other people. We grow uncomfortable when
obedience looks excessive, when faith looks impractical, and
when obedience disrupt normal life.
We might say that be reasonable, slow down.
Don't take this too far and without meaning.
We try to switch off the light. We want a Jesus who fits our
expectations, who honors our boundaries, who does not cost us
too much. But Jesus is not only our
comfort. He is our King, and his Kingdom
will sometimes stretch us. It will interrupt our routines
and will challenge our sense of sensibility.
Let us stand to the second way of responding to light, which is
obstructing. You know that light travels in a
straight line, and anything that stands in that line which is not
transparent gets in the way of the light.
And when light is blocked, shadows are formed.
The light is still on, but its power is distorted, it is reach
is limited, and its intensity is weakened.
The obstruction does not destroy the light, it simply prevents it
from being fully filled. In verse 22, we meet this second
category of people, those who block the light and distort it.
Here in we see a delegation of legal experts arrive again from
Jerusalem, the religious capital, and they're here for an
official mission. They are here to investigate
this man Jesus, who is casting out demons.
And after their own examination in their own criteria, they
reach to conclusions. Their first claim is he's
possessed by Belzebub. In other words, Jesus has an
unclean spirit, not just any spirit, but the chief of all
unclean spirits. And their second conclusion is
by the Prince of demons. He casts out demons.
Therefore, their conclusion is that Jesus is not a messenger of
God, He's Saturn's agent. We should notice that they don't
deny the power and the miracles. They recognize a Kingdom of
supernatural authority. Yet they take what is true
observation and they become of it a false conclusion.
Jesus is power is real, but they label it as evil.
And in doing this they are distorting the light within
their own hearts, but also in the hearts of their audiences.
It is possible to see the light and to distort it.
And we do this too. When Jesus confronts our
assumptions, we look for other explanations.
When authority threatens our control, we reframe it.
We say there must be another reason.
There must be another source. This can't be really good,
asking me to do something like this.
Up to this point, the conflict has been named.
Light has entered the world, and it has disrupted the established
order. But now Jesus does something
that is crucial. He does not ignore the
accusations around him. Instead, he speaks into these
accusations. The conflict is no longer just
visible, but it becomes a logical conflict.
Jesus reveals the weakness of the false accusations about the
Kingdom of God. Beginning in verse 23, Jesus
calls Caesar choose us to himself, and he asks one simple
question. How can Satan cast out Satan?
Then Jesus illustrates this point with three with two
images. A Kingdom divided against itself
cannot stand, and neither a household divided against itself
it can't stand. His point is to say that power
structures do not survive when they are destroying themselves.
So, taken seriously, the scribes are contradicted, are
contradicting themselves. Jesus is reputation rests on one
simple truth. Evil is organized, it is
intentional, and it's coherent. Jesus reminds us that the
Kingdom of darkness is unified, it is strategic, it is
consistent in its aim. And he reminds us that we
shouldn't be surprised sometimes when temptation feels
coordinated and when lies are consistent and when resistance
to truth feels organized. Jesus wants us to be a lot,
because if darkness does not wage war against itself, then we
shouldn't as the people of light, because division weakens
our weakness. As student of light, unitary is
our strength. Let me suggest a couple of ways
how we can demonstrate unity even this week by praying
together, lifting our hearts together in prayer, by
encouraging one another. Those who are feeling burdened,
let's encourage them in faith, but also by serving alongside
one another in ministry and in outreach, but also by forgiving
quickly, letting go of some of the grudges we have, and
restoring relationships. Having said this, Jesus ends his
response with the conclusive decision in verse 27.
He declares, But no one can enter a strong man's house and
plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.
Then indeed, he may plunder his house.
Think about a game of chess. You know you cannot capture your
opponent skiing unless you have played strategically and you
have tried to defend him by neutralizing several of his
pieces on the board and then you are.
When you have neutralized all those pieces, then you can
secure your victory. Jesus identifies Satan as a
strong man. However, he's not stronger than
himself, Jesus. But though limited, Satan cannot
be defeated when we have half measures.
Jesus comes to neutralize this person, Satan, and every
exorcism that he carries out is a testimony that Jesus has
authority over Satan. And if Jesus is the strong man,
we must not feel that we don't have strength because the strong
man has been bound. We can walk in freedom, we can
comfort sin in honesty, and we can resist temptation, but also
we can live without fear and we can't boldly advance the Kingdom
of light. And now up to this point, Jesus
has exposed the fault logic. He has revealed the truth
battle. He has shown that the stronger
man has already been defeated. But now the moment sharpens
because once truth is clear, neutrality is no longer
possible. In verse 28 through 30, Jesus
presses the issue further. He draws a line.
He calls us for response. This is no longer about
misunderstanding. It's about allegiance.
The conflict has been defined, it has been explained, now it is
to be endorsed and it gives us places a strong question before
us on whose side will we fall. Gives us issues.
A sincere and serious warning to his accusers, saying truly, I
said to you, all sin will be forgiven.
The children of man, and whatever bless them is they
utter, but whoever blasphemies against the Holy Spirit never
has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin, for they were
saying He has an unclean spirit. He warns that their defiant
hostility to the Kingdom of God, the work of God, can put them
beyond repentance. When light is called darkness
and the work of God is named as evil, the heart is hardened
against the grace of God and those who refuse to recognize
God is work refuse to reach out for forgiveness.
And no one receives what we have not sold for.
This is why such concept content cannot be forgiven, not because
God is not merciful, but because the door of repentance has been
shut and from inside persistent rejection of the Kingdom of God
and we call it evil. We have made a verdict against
ourselves that we don't need that Kingdom.
We cannot reach out for that Kingdom.
Jesus is warning not the tender hearted, but the heart that is
hardened. The danger is not struggling
with doubt. The danger is not settling, but
the danger is settling into defiance.
The danger is not asking question, but the danger is
closing off our serves to any possibility of God is work and
how do we close off our serves to God every time when we
dismiss the Spirit is convictions that come into our
hearts, sometimes tenderly and we say I don't want those
convictions every time. When truth comes to us and we
try to explain it away. Every time.
When we label obedience as being too much of an extreme and when
unholiness becomes unnecessary to us, we are slowly drifting
away quietly from the Kingdom of God and our hearts will soon
become too heavy and too blind. CS Lewis says in this famous
quote that Jesus must be either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.
But everything depends on how we view his authority.
When his authority feels unreasonable, we dismiss him as
being a lunatic. When his authority feels
unfamiliar and unsettling, we label him as a liar.
But when his authority is recognized as being true, we
fall before him and we profess who he is.
He's our Lord. The man.
Gary Leo was condemned in 1642 and it took 19193 years when his
books were banned. We are listed as among books
that are condemned not to be read and it took 350 years for
him to be admitted that he was true.
He said what was true? The authorities admitted that
they were wrong. Gary Leo was indeed true.
The truth had been delayed, but it had not been defeated.
Jesus is authority was vindicated sooner because in his
resurrection Jesus trampled against Satan and he defeated
him. The conflict of the Kingdom may
continue on for a while, but the verdict has already been shown
to us. And one day this Jesus will come
back in authority, and all people will confess Him as Lord.
Even those who deny Him, they will confess Him as Lord.
Therefore, invite Him to come in our lives in the name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.