Jesus came home with his disciples.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, "He is out of his mind."
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said,
"He is possessed by Beelzebul,"
and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons."
Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables,
"How can Satan drive 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;
that is the end of him
But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder the house.
Amen, I say to you,
all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be
forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin."
For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
His mother and his brothers arrived.
Standing outside they sent word to him and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
"Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you."
But he said to them in reply,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother."
---
unless he first ties up the strong man.
Then he can plunder the house.
Amen, I say to you,
all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be
forgiven them.
But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit
will never have forgiveness,
but is guilty of an everlasting sin."
For they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
His mother and his brothers arrived.
Standing outside they sent word to him and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him,
"Your mother and your brothers and your sisters
are outside asking for you."
But he said to them in reply,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
And looking around at those seated in the circle he said,
"Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother."
---
What is the best visible expression of true Christian faith? It is community!
Jesus, true to His claim, is the Shepherd who came to gather the lost sheep of humanity. Where there were 12 people who were from different backgrounds, He formed a group of Apostles. Where there were public sinners, the misfits, the deformed, and the poor, He touched, healed, and gathered around Him. Jesus was busy building a community of people, healing the wounds of brokenness within men and among men.
Sin and the devil causes fractures within us and among us but for those who are called to follow Jesus, we are bound by the love of the Spirit. To sin against the Holy Spirit means to go against the call of communion; and there is no forgiveness in that in the sense that one cannot include someone who wants to exclude himself!
But the call to community in Jesus is also a challenge. It is a community not bound by blood nor association. It is a community bound by faith and obedience to God. God is the source of all unity. Anyone who wishes to be faithful to God will naturally find this unity in Jesus who showed us how to follow God’s will. Because in Jesus, doing the will of God means taking God as Father and taking upon oneself the obligations of being a beloved child of God, making one a brother, a sister, and a mother to Jesus and siblings to each other. In this communion, we see that God’s will is expressed in the person of Jesus, in what Jesus does, and in the life of the community, which is the Church today.
