Today’s passage is Mark 3:20-35.
After choosing his 12 disciples, Jesus went with them into a house where so many people crowded into that they couldn’t eat. His own family thought he was crazy and went to get him. When the Pharisees accused him of using Satan to drive out people’s evil spirits, he contradicted them, saying that a house divided against itself can’t stand. He said that anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven. When Jesus was told his mother and brothers had arrived, he said that the believing, God-obedient
crowds were his family.
Is your family of one mind and faith with you?
When do you do the wrong things for the right reasons?
Today’s passage is bookended by Jesus’ family.
First they say Jesus is crazy, then they go to take him home.
They’re right that it’s not normal to heal people by the touch of the hand and to drive out evil spirits, freeing people from demonic possession.
Are they embarrassed about their family member or are they worried he will come to harm from the Pharisees?
Their arrival prompts Jesus to establish a new point of view about who is your true family, your blood relations, your physical family, or your spiritual family united in faith?
Pastor Kim in her Sunday sermon did something similar when she said to ignore Lunar New Year because it was full of idolatry and had nothing to do with our faith in Christ and our spiritual community.
Instead of worshipping ancestors and idols and evil spirits, we needed to come to worship and be with our spiritual family.
But if we were going out to our unbelieving family then we need to evangelize them.
It was a brave message.
I don’t get along with everyone in my family.
We don’t agree on Jesus.
My mother doesn’t believe in God and doesn’t want to talk about Jesus.
She wants to only talk about nice things and having family gatherings where everyone is nice and we never talk about anything serious like salvation.
My youngest daughter Tess is a little like her.
She wants things to be fun, feels most comfortable when she’s with a lot of her family members not talking about anything serious.
She avoids spiritual topics.
I don’t get along with everyone in our church or at mokjangs.
This is because I lose focus on what is truly important, which is our salvation and helping each other on our spiritual walk.
People in our mokjangs all have different backgrounds and different stories.
Not all church members like me either.
One member I know is an alcoholic but doesn’t admit it or ask for help.
Another member is a woman who wants to control her husband and sons but can’t see her own life is out of control because she can’t repent.
Other members are stuck repeating the same thing over and over, testing my patience, training my patience.
I am a problem because I don’t know enough Korean to share my story with everyone or hear their stories. But all of us are together because God has called us to faith and to love.
I love my mother because she is my mother.
I love my daughter because she’s my daughter.
I pray for both of them to meet Jesus.
I love my fellow church members because we have all been called to faith and be the body of Christ.
My unbelieving family members are not part of God’s family of faith.
Because of that, they are not spiritually connected to me, which makes me sad.
It also makes me pray for them so that we can be together and maybe one day share our lives and love more deeply than we can now.
I know more about my fellow church members than I do about my own family members.
This is because we trust in the Lord not each other.
We depend on God not each other.
We have no shame in front of each other because we are all equal sinners before God and brothers and sisters in Christ.
My biological family has much less trust in each other and keeps many secrets, which weigh them down.
Wooridle training in God-trust has freed me from so much of that.
Keeping secret sins is to live with an evil spirit that makes you a prisoner, keeping you from being a joyful member of the family of God.
Application: keep praying for my family members to meet God and join me in being free to share God’s joy.
Lord, let be open with my faith family and discerning with how to share my hurts and how to help others on their walk with you.
