Recognizing the Sane in an Insane World

Click here to listen to this sermon.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

Mark’s Gospel is full of short episodes with many significant events. This is especially true as it begins. In Mark, chapters 1 and 2, we read about how Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and then tempted in the desert. We then hear how He preached, healed, and cast out demons. We read about the great crowds that began following Him. We also learn about how He called the twelve disciples. Then, in Mark 3, Jesus returns home to Capernaum, but things have changed. Now, after all that He has been doing, crowds follow Him.

Yet, the path was not without its thorns. In this segment of Mark, the conflict between Christ and His family, as well as the religious authorities, reaches a boiling point. His response is marked by some of the most direct warnings from the Son of Man during His earthly journey. It’s a moment that calls for introspection and understanding.

After a long preaching journey, Jesus and His disciples need rest and food. A time to recharge and refuel. But no sooner has word hit the streets that Jesus is back in Capernaum than the crowds gather. Jesus and His disciples, despite their physical needs, cannot even find time to eat.

It is at this point that Jesus’ family, concerned for His well-being, decides to intervene. They gather, hoping to reason with Him. “His actions are crazy and unhealthy. He seems to disregard the welfare of His disciples and Himself. We must act.” Their intervention, while well-intentioned, reveals a lack of understanding and belief in Jesus' mission. They fail to grasp the necessity of His relentless sharing of His message of love and forgiveness, especially in the face of opposition from their religious leaders. Their decision to intervene is driven by a belief that “He is out of His mind” (Mark 3:21).  

It is hard to blame Jesus’ family. He is causing a scene. He says He can forgive sins. He tells His disciples He will make them fishers of men. He speaks directly to the demons. He disregards Old Testament laws. He claims to be the “Lord of the Sabbath” and the “Son of Man. It’s the stuff that crazy people say.

But when the whole world is out of its mind, it’s hard to recognize the only One who isn’t crazy, the only One who is in His right mind.

It’s not only Jesus’ family who thinks He’s out of His mind. The teachers of the Law come down from Jerusalem to investigate. They cannot deny His miraculous works; they’ve seen them with their own eyes. There are just too many witnesses who will testify otherwise. So, they can’t call Jesus a fake, but they certainly can’t accept His claims.

Then, an opportunity to undermine Christ’s influence presents itself when a demon-possessed man who is blind and mute is brought to Jesus, and He heals Him. Lest the people now believe in Christ, the teachers of the Law say, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons, He is driving out demons.”

Jesus' opponents are leveling a serious charge, contending that He is more than a sorcerer; He is an agent of the devil, entirely under the devil’s power and authority. It is the “negative” equivalent of someone being “in Christ,” that is, being in, with, and under the devil’s power and influence, not of God. Furthermore, this accusation asserts that the spiritual force that Jesus is allied with is evil and against God. Jesus’ easy conversation with demons undoubtedly contributes to this view (see, e.g., Mark 1:25; 3:11-12).

The religious teachers should recognize by this time what is really taking place. Jesus is fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament. But they close their eyes to that and instead slander and blaspheme Christ publicly. To those who are crazy, it is the One who is sane, who looks to be the insane one, possessed by Satan.

Their accusations demand a public, no-nonsense answer from Jesus. His answer is in the form of parables. The word “parable” in this context encompasses far more possibilities than “teaching stories,” but any such “parable” is context-oriented; that is, it seeks to speak to an issue at hand, not to utter general or timeless truths. Parables are narratives of varied length, generally with few characters, focused on brief action, using few emotions, and emphasizing the ending. Often, Jesus supplies the meaning of the entire parable (Luke 18:1) or the significance of each important character and action (Mark 4:13-20).

In the case of Mark 3:24-26, Jesus goes after His opponents aggressively, setting them up with several generalities, then hitting them with the final “particular” charge. There can be no mistaking that each side knows the other to be an unbending foe. There is little hope of an amicable resolution of the opposition.

The first part of Christ’s answer appeals to their logic and common sense: “How can Satan cast out Satan?” This is a rhetorical question, with no expectation of an answer, like Jesus’ question of the Sabbath in Mark 3:4 from last week’s Gospel. Jesus shows the folly of claiming that He defeated the demons by Satan’s power. Since the fall, Satan may properly be understood as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31). At the same time, His authority is only what God allows (cf. Job 1:12; John 16:11; 1 Peter 3:18-19). Jesus’ point is that Satan cannot be divided against himself and yet retain some measure of power on earth. Casting out demons from their established places is a frontal assault on Satan’s toehold on earth. Satan would never agree to this.

Christ then proceeds with His logical exposure of their argument. A kingdom divided won’t stand. Satan would have to be crazy to oppose himself. This is the same point made in verse 24, but it is more pointed within the context of the division within Jesus’ family (Mark 3:21). If the kingdom example is too far from His hearers’ experience, then a divided house is easily known by all.

It is not Satan’s wish or work, but his kingdom is coming to an end through the arrival of Jesus’ kingdom. Upon the return of the seventy-two disciples, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). The death and resurrection of Jesus is the central judgment of God over Satan. “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (John 12:31).

While referring to Satan as the strong man, this comparison doesn’t give Satan credit for having actual authority over the world. It speaks to perception rather than the spiritual truth. Satan claims ownership of the world (Matthew 4:9), just as He promised the knowledge and equality of God to Adam and Eve. However, even if Satan appears to us as the strong ruler of the created world, Jesus' parable reminds us of His overpowering of Satan. The strong man is bound, and his house is plundered, while he, Satan, grinds his teeth in fruitless anger. Each demon cast out is another limb of the strong man being bound. Each man delivered from a demon is Satan’s former prize taken away.

Jesus’ answer is simple logic, and His opponents should recognize its truth, but they have set their hearts against Jesus and, in this case, against the work of the Spirit of God. That’s why Jesus issues a sharp warning: “You blaspheme Me. That can indeed be forgiven. But if you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, that can never be forgiven.” Thus, Jesus warns them that they have come very close to a sin against the Holy Spirit. Despite the opposition and ignorance that Jesus faces, He comes to forgive even the harshest attacks upon Himself.

But when people deliberately identify Christ with Satan and speak of His Word as satanic, the Holy Spirit can no longer do His work in their hearts, the work of bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When the Pharisees speak of the Spirit in Christ as satanic, they are indeed close to having committed a sin that cannot be forgiven. But those troubled in their hearts, whether they are guilty of this sin or not, can be sure that they have not committed it. Their concern shows the Spirit is still carrying on His work in their hearts. Nor can we pass judgment on others; only God knows the condition of man’s heart. We, on our part, must continue to warn against it, even as Jesus did.

The resistance to Jesus continues in this reading, this time on the part of His closest family. From verse 21, we know their purpose in coming to Him. His family feels Jesus is not acting rationally in devoting Himself so entirely to His work.

It is striking that Jesus’ mother and brothers do not confront Jesus themselves. They send a messenger to Jesus through the crowd. Familial connections have become secondary for Jesus—and His mother and brothers seem to sense it. He is no longer one of His mother’s boys, as it were.

This allows Jesus to express a truth they need to hear, and we all need to take to heart—how we, too, become Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Jesus asks, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” He answers His own question by pointing to those seated around Him—His disciples, undoubtedly more than the Twelve. “Here are My mother and brothers,” He says. Jesus is not rejecting His own flesh and blood but pointing out that there is something more important than human relationships in the Kingdom of God, the Church.

That’s not easy to hear. Virtually every culture—and especially cultures in the Middle East—values family and tribe over those who may simply be friendly or like-minded. As the saying goes, “Blood is thicker than water.”

Jesus stands this truism on its head. For Him, water—the water of Holy Baptism—is thicker than blood! His understanding is played out later in the Gospel in two places: in Mark 14:13-14, Jesus prepares to eat the Passover with His disciples, not with His biological family, as the Law requires (Exodus 12:3)—because the disciples are His real family. In Mark 16:7, the women are told to go to “His disciples and Peter,” not to His mother and biological brothers, with the news of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Astonishingly, Jesus contravenes every convention of the ancient world by subordinating natural, familial relationships to those in the family of God. That is still hard to hear today, as the temptation to put relationships with family and friends above God can be overwhelming. But the Lord wants us to have both relationships and have them as healthy as can be. He stands first in our lives because He placed Himself last to bear our sins and make us children of God.

Jesus defines His family this way: “Whoever does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.” What is the will of God? Is it the Law as such, the Ten Commandments, and possibly the ramifications added by the teachers of the Law? Then none of us would qualify, nor would Jesus’ own disciples. The will of God is that will as expressed in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. Doing the will of God is believing and trusting in what He has done for us through Christ Jesus. That will also bring with it a love for all the other commands of our God.

But I don’t think this world will understand. One of the effects of sin in this world is that it has made us collectively crazy. By crazy, I mean confused, disoriented, and mixed up about reality. Our conception of God, the world, humankind, and the meaning, value, and purpose of life are all distorted and perverted by sin. The serpent’s promise to make us wise turns out to be a lie. It has a reverse effect.

But God has called you out of that darkness and into His marvelous light, away from the “wisdom” of this world to the “foolishness” of the cross, from the craziness of sin to the right mind of Christ. Jesus, the One who is the only true human and, at the same time, true God, often looks and sounds crazy to humankind, whose collective mind and perception of reality are hopelessly confused. Therefore, to be a Christian, to be perfectly sane, will appear to the world like you are crazy and out-of-step with the times. But the good news is that you will look and sound more like Jesus.

The bottom line is that we can learn something from those who think Jesus is out of His mind. We can learn something about our inability to think and perceive rightly. Even more, we listen to the good news of the God-man who speaks the life-giving promise of the Gospel to those who remain confused and imprisoned by the world's insanity.

St. Paul writes: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

If the world thinks you’re crazy, you’re probably on the right track. You know the truth. You have the Truth! Go in the peace of the Lord and serve your neighbor with joy. For Jesus’ sake, you are forgiven for all your sins.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.