Synopsis of OT X (June 9) homily on Gen 3. 9:15; II Cor 4:13--5:1; Mk 3:20-35
Introduction: The readings for today, the Tenth
Sunday [B] in Ordinary Time, give the name “sin” to our offenses against God.
When we sin -- violate God’s Commandments -- we distance ourselves from Him;
when we refuse, or fear, to admit our sins, we deny ourselves God’s freely
offered pardon and forgiveness.
Scripture lessons: In describing Adam and Eve’s first
sin, disobedience, our first reading, taken from Genesis, explains the
beginning of evil in the world with its destructive results. The loving
relationship joining man to God is destroyed, and the relationship of mutual
love between Adam and Eve is weakened. Their default to a “blame game” allowed
each to avoid taking personal responsibility for their joint choice. In the
second reading, Paul declares to the Corinthians that the many adversities of
his missionary work were God’s plan for his spiritual growth; his sufferings,
offered with Jesus for the Salvation of the world, would result a glorious
reward for him and for all believers who did the same. Today’s Gospel passage
reveals how Jesus himself was misunderstood by his own relatives and was
criticized, slandered and rejected by the Sanhedrin-led scribes and Pharisees.
His sufferings for us give us courage and his offer of healing, strength and
forgiveness, so that we can do as he did when we face unfair treatment and
criticism in our lives.
Life messages: 1) Today’s Scriptures challenge us to face
rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. Very often our friends,
families, or childhood companions fail to listen to us and refuse to
accept the words of grace, love and encouragement that we offer to them because
they are too familiar with us. But we have to face such rejection with
prophetic courage because by our Baptism we are called to be prophets like
Jesus, sharing his prophetic mission. As prophets, our task is to speak
the truth and oppose the evils in our society without condoning or encouraging
sinful behavior even in our dear ones.
2) We need to have the courage of our convictions: Modern
“liberal-minded” people may find genuine Christians’ belief in and practice of
Christ’s ideas and ideals crazy too. Hence, what is needed in a Christian is
the courage of his or her convictions based on the authority of Jesus as God
and the truth of his doctrines.
3) We need to live as members of God’s family:
Let us remember that by Baptism we become the children of God, brothers
and sisters of Jesus and members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God.
Hence, let us observe our obligations of treating others with love and respect
and of sharing our love with them in corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We
are also His disciples, and so are obliged to be hearers as well as doers of
the word of God. Let us keep our souls daily cleansed and filled with the
Spirit of God, leaving no space for the evil spirit to enter our souls.
OT X (B) June 10, 2018- Gen 3. 9:15; II Cor 4:13--5:1; Mk
3:20-35 (L/18)
Introduction: The readings for today, the
Tenth Sunday [B] in Ordinary Time, give the name “sin” to our offenses against
God. When we sin -- violate His Commandments -- we distance ourselves from Him;
when we refuse, or fear, to admit our sins, we deny ourselves God’s freely
offered pardon and forgiveness. In describing Adam and Eve’s first sin,
disobedience, our first reading, taken from Genesis, explains the beginning of
evil in the world with its destructive results. The loving relationship joining
man to God is destroyed, and the relationship of mutual love between Adam and
Eve is weakened. Their default to a “blame game” allowed each to avoid taking
personal responsibility for their joint choice. In the second reading, Paul
declares to the Corinthians that the many adversities of his missionary work
were God’s plan for his spiritual growth; his sufferings, offered with Jesus
for the Salvation of the world, would result a glorious reward for him and for
all believers who did the same. Today’s Gospel passage reveals how Jesus
himself was misunderstood by his own relatives and was criticized, slandered
and rejected by the Sanhedrin-led scribes and Pharisees. His sufferings for us
give us courage and his offer of healing, strength and forgiveness, so that we
can do as he did when we face unfair treatment and criticism in our lives.
Anecdotes: 1) “What’s in a name? and “Whatever
Became of Sin?” Among William Shakespeare’s prolific contributions
to English literature, there are literally thousands of memorable lines that
continue to be quoted because of their eloquence and timeless significance. One
of these is the famous line, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose,
by any other name would smell as sweet” (Romeo and Juliet, act 2,
sc.2, l.43). I would paraphrase it, what’s in a name? That which we call
sin, by any other name would still be sin! There appears to be a tendency
in contemporary society to disregard or minimize sin or to call it by another
name. Similarly, there is a tendency to ignore evil. The sense of shame
regarding sin was renamed and the so-called “guilt complex” have become public
enemy number one. In today’s readings, Yahweh God in Genesis, St. Paul, and
Jesus call sin a sin. (Patricia Sanchez)
2) “Whatever Became of Sin? “In his study of the
subject, entitled, “Whatever Became of Sin? psychiatrist
Karl Menninger stated that although sin was once a strong word, which described
an ominous aspect of every human being’s life, life-plan and life-style, the
word, along with the notion of sin has all but disappeared. The reality of sin,
however, has not disappeared; it has simply been renamed. Sin may masquerade
under several aliases, but it remains, nonetheless, what it is. For example,
the sins of Auschwitz and Buchenwald, the sins of Vietnam, Bosnia and Rwanda
have been hidden behind an acclaimed patriotism or other ideologies. Soldiers,
who have systematically gang-raped and slaughtered helpless women have claimed
justification for their actions due to the exigencies of war and their “moral
obligation” to obey their superiors. Other heinous sins have been dismissed by
excusing their perpetrators on ground of temporary insanity, or a troubled
youth, or emotional instability. Some sins have been paraded under the guise of
freedom of choice, ignorance, and aggressive or self-destructive behavior.
Menninger suggested that one of the reasons that sin is not recognized and
named for what it is may be due to the fact that the major responsibility for
identifying and dealing with misbehavior has been taken over by the State. Much
of what is really sin is now called crime, and actions which are
blatantly immoral, are now labeled illegal. Murder, robbery,
treason, adultery and lying have become defined as criminal acts with
prescribed punishments. Because of this shift in responsibility, the
consequences of sin have become depersonalized and the reality of sin as a
breach in the relationship with God and with others has been overlooked. The
readings for today’s liturgy invite the gathered assembly to take a hard look
at sin, to call it by name and to take back our responsibility for it.
Similarly, we are challenged to look evil in the eye and, without blinking, own
it for the reality that it is.
3) Don’t allow rejection to derail your dreams:
Brilliant British theologian G.K. Chesterton could not read until he was eight
years old. A teacher said if his head were opened they would probably find a
lump of fat where there was supposed to be a brain. That teacher was wrong.
Einstein’s parents were informed by a teacher that he would never amount to
anything. Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit, was rejected
by seven publishers. Richard Bach got twenty rejection slips before Jonathan
Livingston Seagull was published. Dr. Seuss, one of the most popular
children’s authors of all time, got more than two dozen rejection slips before The
Cat in the Hat made it to print. Ruth Graham felt an uncontrollable urge to
run out of the meeting the first time she heard Billy Graham preach. She was
not convinced of his preaching ability. She was put off by his preaching style.
Billy had to improve his preaching before Ruth would become his wife. Today’s
Gospel tells us how Jesus encountered rejection with prophetic courage.
4) Preachers rejected: Ezekiel and Jesus. Ezekiel
was called to be both priest and prophet to God’s people during the most
devastating time in their history. Six short years after he began
preaching to Israel in the year 593 B.C., the holy city of Jerusalem was
captured and destroyed, and just about every last person in Israel was carried
off in chains to exile in Babylon. What is worse, Ezekiel saw it coming
and told people. He told them it was God's way of punishing them
for being so thick-skulled and hard-hearted (3.7). Predictably,
they refused to listen. This was the good news according to
Ezekiel! This was the hand God asked this preacher to play! The chosen
people didn't believe him, of course, even when the
Babylonians started setting fire to their homes and hacking down the carved
pillars in their beautiful temple. They stubbornly denied the truth
about themselves the whole time they were being dragged off, kicking and
screaming to Babylon. And it was not until there, years later, with no
Temple in which to offer sacrifice and no other sacred rituals permitted to
them, that they began meeting in Ezekiel's house (8.1), where this
bug-eyed prophet also learned how to become their priest. Softened
up by the experience of desolation they could no longer deny, they began,
for the first time, to listen to this old friend who had never given
up on them and who reminded them of the God Who had no intention of
giving up on them either. Today’s Gospel tells us how Jesus, the real
Messiah, was rejected by his relatives and slandered by the Sanhedrin
observers.
The first reading: Gen 3:9-15, explained: The Genesis account explains the causes of human shame and sin, asserts the sovereignty of the one God over all creation, and expresses the superiority of the worship of that God over rival religions. “Each of the three punishments given to the snake, the woman, the man, has a double aspect, one affecting the individual and the other affecting a basic relationship. The snake previously stood upright, enjoyed a reputation for being shrewder than other creatures, and could converse with human beings as in vv. 1–5. It must now move on its belly, is more cursed than any creature, and inspires revulsion in human beings (v. 15). I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at His heel. In Christian tradition, the snake was identified with the devil (Wis 2:24; Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9; 20:2), whose eventual defeat seemed implied in the verse. Because “the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8), the passage was understood as the first promise of a redeemer for fallen humankind, the Protoevagelium. Irenaeus of Lyons (ca. A.D. 130–200), in his Against Heresies 5.21.1, followed by several other Fathers of the Church, interpreted the verse as referring to Christ, and cited Gal 3:19 and 4:4 to support the reference. Another interpretive translation is ipsa, “she,” and is reflected in Jerome’s Vulgate. “She” was thought to refer to Mary, the mother of the messiah. In Christian art, Mary is sometimes depicted with her foot on the head of the serpent.” (USCCB commentary). Historically, this has elements of an early explanation of the very common human fear of snakes. Theologically, it reminds us of the early rivalry between worshipers of Yahweh and worshipers of Baal. The cult of Baal included sacred prostitution as a fertility rite, of which the serpent was an apt symbol. So, the shame that the couple feels over having been deceived by the representative of Baal is a caution to Yahweh's faithful: “Don't mess with the religion of Baal or you will be shamed.”
The second reading (II Cor 4. 13-5) explained: In spite of the unfair criticism leveled against him and his gospel ministry by some Corinthian Christians, Paul is optimistic about his future and that of his critics, waiting for “eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” When Paul left for other mission venues, the Corinthian community was so flourishing that it got rather wild, and Paul wrote his first letter to them to correct some abuses. He promised another visit but changed his plans. This earned him serious criticism and ridicule from some Corinthians, so his second letter to them is somewhat defensive. He asserts his authority as an apostle (always in issue, given his late conversion), and seizes their criticism of his inconsistency to write a magnificent salute to the fidelity of God. Like the Psalmist, Paul clearly proclaims his Faith, affirming Life within himself despite death (2 Cor 4:10–11) and the Life-giving effect of his experience upon the Church (2 Cor 4:12, 14–15). Paul imagines God presenting him and them to Jesus at the Parousia and the judgment. In a series of contrasts Paul explains the extent of his Faith in Life. Life is not only already present and revealing itself (2 Cor 4:8–11, 16) but will outlast his experience of affliction and dying: this Life is eternal (2 Cor 4:17–18). Paul is still speaking of himself personally, but he assumes his Faith and attitude will be shared by all Christians. The renewal already taking place, even in Paul’s dying, is a share in the Life of Jesus, but this is recognized only by Faith (2 Cor 4:13, 18; 2 Cor 5:7). (USCCB commentary).
Gospel exegesis: The context: The
well-loved carpenter turned crazy preacher? Putting evil in its place and
naming sin for what it is, Jesus reminds us in today’s Gospel, that sin and
evil must be confronted whether it is in ourselves, our relatives, our friends
or our enemies. The first part of today’s Gospel tells us how
Jesus’ relatives and fellow-villagers wrongly judged him as out of his mind and
consequently tried to take him by force back to Nazareth to do his safe and
secure job as a good carpenter. That is why Jesus remarked, “A man's enemies
will be the members of his own household.” (Matthew 10:36). There were four
reasons why Jesus’ people thought he was mad and attempted to dissuade him from
his preaching and healing mission. First, Jesus had abandoned his safe and
secure job as a much-needed village carpenter with steady income to become a
wandering preacher with no residence or steady income. Second, Jesus had chosen
a band of fishermen with no political or social influence, a hated
tax-collector and a fanatic zealot as his disciples. Third, Jesus had begun to
criticize the power lobby - the scribes and Pharisees - in the Jewish religious
headquarters, Jerusalem, labeling them hypocrites. Jesus’ relatives might
really have been afraid that Jesus would be arrested, and they would be
persecuted with him for criticizing those in power. Fourth, Jesus had
silently claimed to be the long-awaited Messiah and had worked miracles to
support his claim.
The Sanhedrin slander refuted: The second part of
today’s Gospel passage gives Jesus’ crushing reply to the slander propagated by
the observers sent from the Sanhedrin, that Jesus expelled devils using
the assistance of the leader of devils. Jesus refutes the false allegation raised
against him by the Sanhedrin scribes with three counter-arguments and a
warning: 1) A house divided against itself will perish, and a country engaged
in civil war will be ruined. Hence, Satan will not fight against Satan by helping
Jesus to expel his coworkers. 2) If Jesus is collaborating with Satan to
exorcise minor demons, then the Jewish exorcists are doing the same. 3) Jesus
claims that he is using the power of his Heavenly Father to evict devils just
as a strong man guards a house and its possessions from the thief. 4) Finally,
Jesus gives a crushing blow to his accusers, warning them that by telling
blatant lies they are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and, hence, their
sins are unforgivable.
"Who are my mother and my brothers?" The
context: As Jesus became a strong critic of the Jewish religious
authorities, his mother and cousins came to take him to Nazareth by force,
perhaps because they feared that Jesus would be arrested and put to death.
Today’s Gospel episode seems to suggest that Jesus ignored the request
of his mother and close relatives who had traveled a long distance to talk to
him. But everyone in the audience knew that Jesus loved his mother and had
taken care of her for thirty years. Besides, Jesus’ plain answer, “Whoever
does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother” was actually a
compliment to his mother who had always listened to the word of God and obeyed
it. Jesus was declaring, “Blessed are those who hear and keep the word of God
as she is faithfully doing" (Vatican II, Lumen Gentium,
58). Jesus was also using the occasion to teach the congregation a
new lesson about their relationship with God. Being a disciple of Jesus, or a
Christian, is first and foremost a relationship – a relationship of love and
unity with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and with all who belong to God
as His children. Jesus has changed the order of relationships and shows
us here that true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. God’s
gracious gift to us is His adoption of us as His sons and daughters. This
gift enables us to recognize all those who belong to Christ as our brothers and
sisters. Our adoption as sons and daughters of God transforms all our
relationships and requires a new order of loyalty to God and His kingdom.
“Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say, who obeys
Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who fulfilled the
will of His Father. But he who not only obeys but converts others, begets
Christ in them, and thus becomes like the Mother of Christ" ("Commentary
on St. Matthew", 12:49-50.)
Did Jesus have brothers and sisters? Catholic Church
teaches that Jesus did not have blood brothers and sisters. The problem arises
because we read in Mark about the crowd asking, "Isn't this the
carpenter, the son of Mary, a brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?
Aren't his sisters our neighbors here?" (Mk 6:3). A similar reference
occurs earlier in Mk 3:31 — "His mother and brothers arrived...."
At first hearing, the words seem to state that Jesus did indeed have blood
brothers and sisters. But the Greek word adelphos, was used to describe
brothers not born of the same parents, like a half-brother or step-brother. The
word also described other relationships like cousins, nephews, etc. For
example, in Genesis 13:8 and 14:14-16, the word adelphos was used to
describe the relationship between Abraham and his nephew Lot and the relation
between Laban and his nephew Jacob. In the Gospel, Mary of Clopas is called
"the sister" of Mary, the Mother of Jesus where sister means only a
cousin. In Hebrew and Aramaic languages, no special word existed for
cousin, nephew, half-brother, or step-brother. So, they used the word brother
in all these cases. The Greek translation of the Hebrew texts used the word adelphos.
In addition, other Gospel passages clarify these relationships between
James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. James the Less and Joses were the sons of
Mary the wife of Clopas (Mk 15:40, Jn 19:25), and James the Less was also
identified as "the son of Alphaeus" (Lk 6:15), a synonym of
“Clopas." James the Greater and John were the sons of Zebedee with a
mother other than our Blessed Mother Mary (Mt 20:20ff). After the birth of our
Lord, although the Gospels do not give us many details of Jesus’ childhood, no
mention is made of Mary and Joseph ever having other children. Never does it
refer to the "sons of Mary" or "a son of Mary," but only the
son of Mary. By this time, St. Joseph has died. Since Jesus, the first-born,
had no "blood brother," when He was hanging on the cross, He
entrusted Mary to the care of St. John, the Beloved Disciple. Interestingly,
the Orthodox Churches solve this problem over brothers and sisters by
speculating that St. Joseph was an elderly widower who had other children
before he married Mary. The earliest explanation of who the brothers and
sisters were, found in the second-century document known as The
Protoevagelium of James, is that they were stepbrothers through Joseph.
According to this document, Joseph was an elderly widower who agreed to become
the guardian of Mary, a consecrated virgin. Being elderly and already having
children, he was not seeking to raise a new family and so was an appropriate
guardian for a virgin. This theory is consistent with Joseph’s apparent death
before the ministry of Jesus. It is the standard explanation in Eastern
Christendom of who the brethren of Christ are. Shortly before the year 400, St.
Jerome began to popularize the view that the brethren of Christ were cousins,
and this view became common in the West. Nevertheless, the Catholic Church has
faithfully taught that Mary gave birth only to Jesus, whom she had
conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Life messages: 1) Today’s Scriptures challenge us to face
rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. Very often our friends,
families, or childhood companions fail to listen to us and refuse to
accept the words of grace, love and encouragement that we offer to them because
they are too familiar with us. Hence, they are unable to see us as God's
appointed instruments, the agents of God's healing and saving grace. But
we have to face such rejection with prophetic courage because by our Baptism we
are called to be prophets like Jesus, sharing his prophetic mission. As
prophets, our task is to speak the truth and oppose the evils in our society
without condoning or encouraging sinful behavior even in our dear ones. Let us
also acknowledge, appreciate and encourage the prophets of our time who stand
for truth and justice in our society with the wisdom of God in their heads, the
power of the Holy Spirit in their words and the courage of God in their actions.
2) We need to have the courage of our convictions: Modern
“liberal-minded” people may find genuine Christians’ belief in and practice of
Christ’s ideas and ideals crazy too. Hence, what is needed in a Christian is
the courage of his or her convictions based on the authority of Jesus as God
and the truth of his doctrines. Many saints, following Christ's example, have
been taken for madmen--but they were mad with love, mad with love for Jesus
Christ.
2) We need to fill our minds with the Holy Spirit:
Jesus teaches that we can be influenced by the evil spirit if we listen
to him and follow him. Hence, we have to keep our souls daily cleansed and
filled with the Spirit of God, leaving no space for the evil spirit to enter
our souls.
3) We need to live as members of God’s family:
Let us remember that by Baptism we become the children of God, brothers
and sisters of Jesus and members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God.
Hence, let us observe our obligations of treating others with love and respect
and of sharing our love with them in corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We
are also His disciples, and so are obliged to be hearers as well as doers of
the word of God.
Joke of the Week: Rejection at the Pearly Gate,
too: A cab driver reaches the Pearly Gates and announces his presence to
St. Peter, who looks him up in his Big Book. Upon reading the entry for the
cabby, St. Peter invites him to grab a silk robe and a golden staff and to
proceed into Heaven. A preacher is next in line behind the cabby and has been
watching these proceedings with interest. He announces himself to St. Peter.
Upon scanning the preacher's entry in the Big Book, St. Peter furrows his brow
and says, "Okay, we'll let you in, but take that cotton robe and wooden
staff." The preacher is astonished and replies, "But I am a man of
the cloth. You gave that cab driver a gold staff and a silk robe. Surely, I
rate higher than a cabby." St. Peter responded matter-of-factly:
"Here we are interested in results. When you preached, people slept. When
the cabby drove his taxi, people prayed."
Websites of the week: 1) http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark3.htm
4 Additional anecdotes: 1) Rejection hurts:
Arnold Palmer played his last Master’s Tournament in 2002. Palmer, who won the
Master’s in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1964, had seen his game slip away with age
and his stardom fade with the rise of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. A
reporter asked Palmer, “Why did you do it? Why did you quit?” To which Palmer
replied, “I didn’t want to get the letter that former champions Ford, Brewer,
and Casper have already received asking them to step down.” Whether it’s that
girl in elementary school who looked at you in disdain when you offered her a
Valentine card, or the boss that suggests you are not included in the company’s
new plans, rejection hurts. It causes pain. Yet, Jesus faced rejection
heroically and said it’s going to happen and we will be wise to live with it,
for “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say
all kinds of evil against you because of Me.” There is some rejection
that’s worth the cost.
2) “The World’s Strongest Man” Macho men always want
to brag about how strong they are. Some boys on a school playground were
bragging. Johnny said, “My dad has a list of all the men he can beat up—and all
your dads are on his list!” Later that afternoon a knock came on Johnny’s house
and his dad answered the door. A big angry man said, “Are you Johnny’s dad?” He
said, “I am.” “Well Johnny told my son said you have a list of men you think
you can beat up, and my name is on it.” Johnny’s dad said, “That’s right.” The
big guy started rolling up his sleeves and said, “Well, I don’t think you can
beat me up. What are you going to do about it?” Johnny’s dad said, “I’ll mark
you off my list.”
Guys are always bragging about who’s the strongest. Since
1977 there has been a televised event called “The World’s Strongest Man.” Most
of the winners have come from Finland, Iceland, and Eastern Europe. These guys
are required to perform amazing feats of strength like pulling a Boeing 747
with their teeth. These aren’t body-builders; they are bulked up dudes. One of
the competitors from Iceland, who is nicknamed Thor, stands 6’9” and weighs 435
pounds. No six-pack abs on these guys, they go for the full keg! So, who do you
think was the strongest man in the Bible? Are you thinking of the book of
Judges and the guy with long hair who could kill a lion with his bare hands?
Samson was pretty strong, but after he got a haircut in the devil’s barbershop,
he lost his strength. In our passage today, Jesus is going to talk about a
strong man; then He’s going to mention a stronger man. Jesus claims that God
his Father is “The World’s Strongest Man” who would protect us from the evil
one. (Rev. David Duke).
3) A house divided against itself cannot stand."
On June 16, 1858 more than 1,000 delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois,
for the Republican State Convention, and they chose Abraham Lincoln as their
candidate for the U.S. Senate, running against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas.
That evening Lincoln delivered this address to his Republican colleagues and
the main focus of his remarks were on the issue of slavery: “Mr. President and
Gentlemen of the Convention. If we could first know where we are, and whither
we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are
now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated, with the avowed
object, and confident promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under
the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, NOT ceased, but has
constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall
have been reached, and passed. ‘A house divided against itself cannot
stand." "A house divided against itself cannot stand.’" That's a
powerful sentence! Did Abraham Lincoln come up with that phrase all by himself?
No. Well, where did he get it? That’s right … he was quoting Jesus and the
quote is from today’s Gospel where Jesus gives a crushing blow to the Scribes
who accused Jesus of collaborating with Beelzebub for his exorcisms.
4) ‘United We Stand Divided We Fall’: I read about a Church that had grown to the point of needing a new building. After the building was completed, a disagreement arose about which side of the auditorium they should put the piano. Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and the Church ultimately split. The side that “won” kept the building, but they no longer needed the extra seating and could not afford to pay the mortgage … so they had to sell it. (Tim Seevers, in The Pleasant Viewer June 2000). And I also have read about another Church down in Texas where folks go so mad at each other that the Church split and then they fought over the property. Each group filed lawsuits against the other group. During a hearing, it was discovered that the conflict had begun years before at a church dinner (pause) when an elder was served a smaller piece of ham than the child seated next to him. (Jim Belcher, 10/12/09 Sermoncentral.com article).
****
Sermons
A photocopied sign was posted inside a church office. It was one of those humorous full-page slogans that people in different offices duplicate and pass among themselves. Most of us have seen this particular message, I suppose, but posted in a church office, the words took on a new meaning. There it was, taped to the cinder blocks behind a secretary's desk. The sign read, "You don't have to be crazy to work here, but it helps."
At one level, why not put a sign like that in a church? Many churches are busy, hectic, confusing places. There are worship services to plan, educational programs to run, choirs to rehearse, fellowship dinners to organize, and outreach efforts to facilitate. There is a lot going on, and things can get frantic. The running joke in one church I know is that the staff keeps saying, "Next week it's going to get quiet," but the quiet week never comes. The work load can become a little bit crazy.
On a deeper level, there is a great deal of truth to that sign. There is something strange about the church. We are not just another club or civic organization. The church's view of reality is increasingly out of phase from a lot of prevailing views. In the church, we do and say things that do not always make sense to people outside of this house....
The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining Sermons.com at http://www.sermons.com/signup
___________________________
The full text of the following sermon is available at www.Sermons.com.
Members: Please see Mark 3 or Proper 5 for the sermon titled "Family Ties and Good-byes"
Jesus experienced family ties and good-byes. So do we.
According to Mark 3:20-35, Jesus was about to be confronted by his frustrated and conflicted family as crowds gathered around him to hear his stories, behold his miracles, and observe with great interest the conflicts he had with religious leaders from Jerusalem. Conflict. But there were also good, tender, and beautiful joys in Jesus' family. Look at the tenderness at the time of his birth.
Good-byes and ties. All families have stress, as well as happiness, times of anger as well as times of joy, times of agony and times of ecstasy, times of good-bye as well as times when ties bind us together in bonds that seem unbreakable. We can all identify with both the ties and good-byes in Jesus' story, though the reasons for our joys and stresses may be quite different than those in his life.
Our family joys often include good times when we are
children -- vacations, play times with parents, special birthdays, and
holidays. When marriage comes, it is often accompanied by smiles, tears of joy,
blessings, affirmations, and congratulations. Family joys often include a baby
being born. Babies usually bring big, broad smiles, a sense of mystery and
wonder beyond words at the birth process and a sense of fulfillment. The baby's
skin is so soft, we want to continually touch it. Cuddling, holding, and kissing
the bundle of joy is a wonderful part of parenting. It feels right and good to
protect a defenseless newborn. We want to care for this little miracle and plan
for his or her future. Bonds and ties are formed in families of all kinds,
colors, and cultures.
Yet, not everything that happens to us as children is good. In some cases, tragically bad things happen to us as we grow up in families...
The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining
Sermons.com at http://www.sermons.com/signup
__________________________
Constant Controversy
Have you ever been misunderstood? Have you ever been misrepresented? Has anyone ever taken your words and motives and twisted them around and used them against you? If you live long enough in this world you are going to face that kind of a personal attack.
I can remember an instance in another church when a certain group in that church took my preaching tapes and listened to them to find words and phrases they disagreed with. These disagreeable sayings were brought up in a business meeting and used to attack me personally. It hurt at the time, but it was a good lesson to me. It served to remind me that God's servants will be attacked. It also reminded me to think about my words before I say them because I might be called on to give an account of them.
The earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus was surrounded by constant controversy. Nearly everyone He met misunderstood Him and what He came to this world to do. Nearly everyone was guilty of misrepresenting His words and His works. The things He did and said in love were used to attack Him in hate!
Alan Carr, The Servant Under Attack
________________________________
A Change in Control
Last night a friend of mine was talking about his father: he spoke of how, for many years, his father binged out, how his father was a drunkard - a man who when sober was kind and gentle - and when drunk - well he was something else again. He had no control over himself. And this kind and gentle man brought pain and suffering upon others, or at least the force within him did so - the family had to move - to change homes and communities - almost every year - landlords were cheated, employers disappointed, children neglected, friends abandoned - or embarrassed or betrayed.
And this continued on until one day, after taking his children to Sunday School for a period of time, after witnessing the faith of others and what it did for them, he accepted Jesus into his life. He asked God to take control, to guide his actions and save him from his sins and from the power of sin. And then things changed; debts still had to be paid, amends still had to be made, mistakes still occurred. But the inner man -the man that God made - was set free to grow and mature. No more booze, a lot more prayer. And the love and kindness of the man that could be glimpsed before - in the moments of sobriety - became apparent to all - for days, weeks, and finally years on end. The children who were still living at home stopped fearing what would happen next - they began to look forward to being with their father - they began to develop their own faith in God - a faith that still guides them to this day. This man, this father, this husband, experience a change in control - he went from being in the control of the devil to being in the control of God, and the result was the renewal of his inner nature, and in the end, when his earthly tent was destroyed, the result was a building from God - a house not made with hands - eternal in the heavens..
Richard J. Fairchild, Even Though....
____________________________
Questioning the Source of the Power
The scribes and Pharisees cannot deny what Jesus is doing; too many people have experienced it, too many people have been helped. So their strategy is to turn the people against Jesus by saying that He is ministering by the power of an evil spirit.
It's sort of like Environmental groups in Canada receiving funding from people who want them to disrupt energy projects which conflict with their own financial interests. Or someone funding a Women's shelter with drug and prostitution money they make in their biker gang.
You get the picture; suddenly the Environmentalist isn't the noble crusader anymore; the shelter benefits from the addiction and abuse it stands against.
But it's not just a smear campaign that the Teachers of the Law are engaging in; they actually believe it. They are convinced that Jesus is in league with the devil because they can't see how it lines up with how God has worked in Israel in the past and how they understood the Law.
Grant Gunnink, The Unforgivable Sin
_________________________
Humor: Differences of Opinions
Dr. Eugene Brice tells a delightful but disturbing story about a minister who returned to visit a church he had once served. He ran into Bill, who had been an elder and leader in the church, but who wasn't around anymore. The pastor asked, "Bill, what happened? You used to be there every time the doors opened."
"Well, Pastor," said Bill, "a difference of opinion arose in the
church. Some of us couldn't accept the final decision and we established a
church of our own." "Is that where you worship now?" asked the
pastor.
"No," answered Bill, "we found that there, too, the people were
not faithful and a small group of us began meeting in a rented hall at
night." "Has that proven satisfactory?" asked the minister.
"No, I can't
say that it has," Bill responded. "Satan was active even in that
fellowship, so my wife and I withdrew and began to worship on Sunday at home by
ourselves."
"Then at last
you have found inner peace?" asked the pastor.
"No, I'm
afraid we haven't," said Bill. "Even my wife began to develop ideas I
was not comfortable with, so now she worships in the northeast corner of the
living room, and I am in the southwest."
King Duncan, quoting Eugene Brice, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com
_________________________
Family Values
Last week I was reading a newspaper article on family values. The gist of the
article was that everyone wants strong family values but few can agree on what
they are. Then I heard Roger Rosenblatt on public radio being cynical about
family values. Rosenblatt said that there are plenty of perfect families around
like yours and mine. But, there are so many others that fall short, families
like the Walker spy family or the Medicis in Italy or the Macbeths of Scotland
or the Oedipus Rexes of Greece. Rosenblatt's point was that there is no perfect
family and that family values have become so generalized they are meaningless.
He said what is valuable in families is that they are normal people struggling
to do good and be good, strengthening themselves by listening to each other,
paying attention to other families, and encouraging each other to be fair,
honest, and kind. Sounds like a decent list of family values to me, and even a
single parent can do those things.
Some of us, when we think of family, think of more ordinary things, like
clusters of dog hair on clothes and hot dogs with everything smushed in the
glove compartment and peanut butter on the television screen and aging grease
on the hood over the stove. Whatever your view of the family and its values
might be, Jesus wrecks it all. Jesus' words are like answering the doorbell and
getting a bucket of ice water in the face.
Kristin Borsgard Wee, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost (First Third): Do You
Love Me?, CSS Publishing Company, Inc.
_____________________________
There is a positive message to be learned from these words of Jesus. The lesson is that we must keep ourselves alert to the way God is working in the world. Remember that those who were seeking to discredit Jesus were religious people. Their problem was that they just didn't expect God to be acting as Jesus said he was acting, so they missed the movement of God in their midst, and in fact, they called it evil. Today God may be speaking to us in causes that are unpopular, or in political events that cause us to feel threatened and insecure. The cries for justice and fairness in the world may come from quarters that we are not accustomed to listen to. We need to exercise diligence so that we don't miss the voice of God today just because it happens to be spoken by unfamiliar lips.
I once sat in on a class my wife was taking in music
appreciation. The instructor was asking the class members to listen for the
recurring theme as it was passed from one instrument to another and was
modified. I quickly lost it, but others in the class, who had benefited from
their training, were able to keep track of the theme and even state which
instrument was playing it. It is a law of life that we hear what we have
trained ourselves to hear. What we must do is to train ourselves to listen for
the voice of God in areas where we have not expected to hear it. We hear that
voice only by attentive listening: by asking ourselves whether there is a valid
message in those things which make us uncomfortable.
Jesus spoke of an unforgivable sin, not because any act is unforgivable, but to
warn us that our own hardness of heart can close the channels through which
God's forgiveness flows and, as a consequence, leave us feeling alienated. Let
us, therefore, affirm the good that is in others, so that our own hearts become
generous and accepting of others, even as God is generous and accepting of us.
David G. Rogne, Sermons for Sundays after Pentecost, CSS Publishing Company
____________________
M. H. Schubert shares the story about a group of fishermen in the Scottish highlands. They gathered for tea and discussed the day's catch. As a waitress set down a cup of tea, a hand accidently knocked it against the wall. It left an ugly stain. One of the guests got up, went to the wall, and began sketching around the stain with a crayon. What emerged was a stag with magnificent antlers. The man was Sir Edwin Landseer, England's foremost painter of animals. If an artist can transform an unsightly stain into a beautiful masterpiece, think what God can do with our sins. He absolves them and, in their place, refashions us toward full maturity.
James Weekley, Tilted Haloes, CSS Publishing Company
___________________________
When Perceptions Shift
In Mark 3, those who try to turn the work of God into the work of the devil show by so doing that they are so far gone, so deeply enmeshed in a spiritually inverted reality, that there is no reaching them. Some of you will recall the dwarves as depicted by C.S. Lewis in the last book of the Narnia series. The dwarves had been brought by Aslan the Lion into the glories of the New Narnia, which stood for heaven or the kingdom of God. These stubborn dwarves sat smack in the middle of a sunlit meadow full of wildflowers and were being fed fruit and vegetables more exquisitely flavorful and fresh than anyone had ever before imagined was possible.Yet their minds were darkened, their hearts were cold....
