Another Sermon

Divinity Is Diverse (Deal With It!)

St. Mark 3:1-6, 20-35

A Guest Sermon Prepared & Delivered by James E. Norton

First Presbyterian Church, Fairmont, WV 26554

June 10, 2012

            Some of you may recall that a similar passage to this morning’s Gospel lesson was read a month ago.  The scripture then was selected because of its fitting in with the theme of our Mother’s Day observance.  Today another version of the same passage appears in the Common Lectionary, that collection of prescribed scriptures designated to be read on each Sunday of the year.  The practice by Presbyterians, United Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Roman Catholics and other churches of reading the same scriptures on most Sundays is intended as a witness to our oneness in Christ.

            But coincidentally, reading and hearing essentially the same passage within the space of a month, brings us once again to a reconsideration of family.  Usually we think of family as a biological unit, the nuclear family, the germinal family, the family that consists of a mom and dad and their genetic offspring.

            But that description of family hardly seems the norm any more.  Roughly half of marriages end up in divorce, meaning among other things that families are more apt to be single parent families, or those where children are being raised by extended family members, adoptive or foster parents, or families comprised of adults and children who are blended into second and third marriages.  Consequently, more and more families live in situations where there is a mixture of different traditions and values, and sometimes that can lead to more complicated circumstances.

            Actually the situation today may be more similar to the earliest ideas of family, or at least as far as we know them from our Judaic-Christian heritage.  Our spiritual ancestors, the Hebrews, had a much more expansive view of family.  Family included not only immediate family members who were related by blood or marriages (there were many wives in such families, each having borne children to the head of the household), but that’s not all who were included in the family: there were also the slaves, concubines, strangers, aliens and poor people who came to the family seeking help.  All were adopted into the family, and for the males that meant circumcision as a sign of their covenant as a family member.  Covenant, coming from a Hebrew word meaning “to cut,” was a sign of one’s adoption into the family who was not family by birth.  Now that’s “blended” with a vengeance.

            Jesus, however, in this morning’s passage extends the idea of family even further.  Family is everyone who “does the will of my Father.”  Now, sometimes this saying of Jesus is interpreted in a disturbing way, disturbing because it can be taken to mean that family members are only those who are, say, Christian, those who share a common faith, a common world view, a common value orientation, common lifestyles, common traditions and beliefs.  Perhaps we can even take it to mean that the Family of God includes those who can “get along comfortably.”  That is, they always agree about what the will of God is, they are all either conservative or liberal, but never both.  They’d rather not entertain other perspectives, other ways of looking at the same thing.  They always follow the same ideas about everything, they love the safe womb of sameness, and in their congregation there never is heard a discouraging word, and the sky is not cloudy all day.  Jesus’ saying could be interpreted that way, if we are deaf, dumb and blind, and if we fail to pay attention to the context in which the passage occurs.  But when we look carefully at the whole story we come to a very different conclusion.

 

            A man with a withered hand requests healing.  The Pharisees object.  After all, it is the Sabbath.  Jesus asks whether it is better to heal or to kill.  Jesus heals the man with the withered hand.  Jesus certainly isn’t behaving like a conservative on this occasion.  The Pharisees who see Jesus’ action as an unforgivable infraction go off to plot how to kill him because he is being so radical.

 

            Jesus goes home.  He has created quite a stir.  His family hears about the controversy and tries to plead insanity on Jesus’ part.  “Please overlook his action because he’s out of his mind,” they explain.  “Ah, really,” reply the Pharisees, “If he’s out of his mind, then he must be healing by the power of Satan.”  Jesus learns what they are saying about him and he responds rather rationally, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  One cannot use the power of Satan to cast out Satan.

            And then comes Jesus’ astounding declaration: “All sins will be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”  The Pharisees, who understand and know how to manipulate the law to suit their own self-interest, suddenly become hoisted with their own petard; now they are the victims of their machinations against Jesus.  Jesus moves the argument to that which is beyond the Law: the Holy Spirit, which they cannot know, understand or manipulate.  This is the context, coming out of conflict and controversy, in which Jesus claims as his family those who do the will of God, which is to say, who do God’s will as that is communicated to them through the Holy Spirit.  Jesus, in his response, takes power away from the very powerful, law-abiding Pharisees, revealing their ineptitude and causing yet again their public humiliation.  One does not do that to the powerful without grave consequences.

 

            But following the will of God through the guidance of the Holy Spirit seems rather nebulous, doesn’t it.  How do we do that?  Might that mean that responding to God’s will is to live out the sense of God’s purpose for one’s life?  Does it then also follow that one’s purpose or passion in life will be very different from another’s sense of calling, thereby bringing potential conflict?  Could the Divine come to and live through humans in diverse and manifold ways.  If so, differences might very well lead to misunderstanding and confusion, especially if we cannot learn to live in a world where there are “different strokes for different folks.”

            A movie, October Sky, based on a true story that took place in the Fifties in Coalwood, WV, tells the story of Homer Hickam, a high school student who was so fascinated with the launching of Sputnik 1 that he developed skill in building and launching rockets.  The problem was that his father, John Hickam, a coal miner, wanted his son to become a coal miner, like every other kid in town.  (The law in this family and town says, “Thou shalt become a coal miner.”)  Near the end of the movie, after having saved the mine and the lives of many miners, the father says to Homer, his son, “I was born for this”—for helping people in the coal mine.  In sharp contrast, Homer finally musters up the courage to tell his Dad that he was born to build rockets.

            It seems clear that Jesus is saying that blaspheming the Holy Spirit is denying or denigrating the essence of who and what a person is or is meant to be.  Jesus knew he was born to heal and to sacrifice for the well-being of others.  How important it is that we know what we were born for.  The diversity of Divinity means that two people can follow the will of God for their lives and move in opposite directions and still be members of the same family.  One can mow the lawn on Sunday, the other would never mow the lawn on Sunday.  One can go left, the other can go right.  One can endeavor to reduce the national deficit, the other can strive toward expanding human services. One can be disabled, the other can be temporarily able-bodied.  One can be a Buddhist or a Muslim, and the other can be Christian.  One can be straight, the other gay. 

 

            If we learn anything at all from this morning’s Gospel lesson, it is that to be mother, brother, sister to Jesus means being true to the essential calling, the divine spark, the passion within each of us whereby we know what we are meant to be.  Denying that is blasphemy. Jesus’ sharp warning about the unforgivable sin is about condemning others, discarding them as if they were of the devil, insisting that others have to agree with us and our ways, actually, denying the very creativity and handiwork of God.  All are God’s children, and our concern must be to find out how we embrace everybody.  We are all equal, of equal worth in the sight of our Father.  Divinity is diverse (deal with it)!

PRAYERS

 That the ancient differences that have led to enmity may be bridged by mutual respect and understanding, God hear our prayer: AND IN YOUR LOVE ANSWER.

            That we may be freed from narrow affections and partisan considerations, that our hopes will be inclusive rather than exclusive, and that your Holy Spirit will lead us away from hatred, prejudice, and contempt for those who are not our own race or color, class or creed, to the end that we may be brought by You into unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace, God hear our prayer: AND IN YOUR LOVE ANSWER.

            That those listed in this morning’s bulletin in need of special prayer as well as others we name silently in our hearts, those who suffer from diseases that destroy the body, or disrupt the mind, or assault the soul, will receive the help and support they need and restoration to health and wholeness, God hear our prayer: AND IN YOUR LOVE ANSWER.

            That as your purposes were achieved through such persons as buck-passing Adam and Eve, conniving Jacob, egotistical Joseph, stammering Moses, boisterous David, diligent Ruth, charming Esther, courageous Deborah, promiscuous Rahab, weeping Jeremiah, and hosts of other diverse persons, we, as well, may see how your purposes are being worked out in our lives and work, God hear our prayer: AND IN YOUR LOVE ANSWER.

             We offer these our prayers this day, O God, in the name of the One who came to give us life, Jesus, your Son, our brother who taught us the prayer we now say together: