Being Part of the Clan (Reflections on Pentecost 2, Year B)

 

“And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (Mark 3:25) 

Do you ever think your family is weird? Are there folks who swim in your gene pool you just don’t understand or who don’t understand you? Well join the club. Nobody’s family is the Brady Bunch. TV sit-com clans were pulled out of somebody’s Pollyanna imagination, because—I swear—I’ve never met a family that didn’t have its issues. In the Gospel lesson for Pentecost 2, Year B (Mark 3:20-35) we see that even Jesus’ family had their disagreements. 

(Don’t you feel better now?) 

It seems to be our nature to divide our houses. Ever since the Garden of Eden (see the First Lesson, Genesis 3:8-15), human beings have been at enmity with each other. Today our American house couldn’t be more divided if we started shooting each other like we did back during the Civil War. 

In our Gospel lesson, Jesus, accused of having an unclean spirit by those who are jealous of him, declares that a nation or a family at war with itself is doomed to collapse. He speaks about plundering the house of a “strong man.” Most Bible scholars will say he’s talking about Satan. Even if you don’t believe in a personal devil, you’ve got to admit that there’s a powerful urge to do really dumb, hurtful, and vile things to each other. Just turn on the TV news if you don’t believe it. The Strong Man is holding a lot folks hostage in his house—everyone who is bound by selfishness, misplaced values, anger, frustration, jealousy, deluded justification, or anything else falling under the general category of SIN. 

The basic teaching of our faith is that Jesus came to plunder the Strong Man’s house and liberate the captives.  Let’s face it: whatever may divide us in politics, race, sexual orientation, religious identity, or just a good ol’ fashioned tendency to want our own way at the expense of everybody else, we all have two things in common: 

1.      We’re all sinners.

2.      We all need God’s forgiving grace. 

When I was vicar at Grace Lutheran of Yorktown Heights, New York, my old boss, the Reverend Doctor Tim Kennedy, would start his First Holy Communion class by telling the kids that the sacrament of the altar was a glue that united this divided house. When we take Holy Communion, we are becoming part of the holy community. In this sacrament we recall that human beings are capable of devising something as evil as crucifixion, and that God is capable of loving us enough to be crucified for our sake. Everyone who comes to this table is an heir of guilt and shame, and everyone who comes to this table is deeply and dearly loved and forgiven as a child of God. When we take the Lord’s body and blood, we are admitting that we are one with everyone else who takes communion, and with everyone else who ever has taken communion, and with everyone else who ever will take communion until time itself comes to an end. 

Division is a side-effect of sin, but God’s love unites. Yes, even Jesus’ nuclear family had some stuff going on, but “family” is a relative term for Christians. Those who seek the will of God—in spite of our differences—are all part of the same bloodline. All brothers and sisters in a family which is always growing and always embracing. 

It’s good to be at the table with you all.