Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC's - Second Sunday after Pentecost - 06/07/15 Sermon - “A house torn apart by divisions will collapse"

Sunday 06/07/15 Freeville/Homer Ave UMC’s

Sermon Title: “A house torn apart by divisions will collapse”                   

Old Testament Lesson: 1 Samuel 8:4-20 (11:14-15)

                                            

New Testament Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Gospel Lesson: Mark 3:20-35

          My brothers and sisters, my friends, welcome once again on this the Second Sunday after Pentecost. Pentecost, that day so long ago where the Holy Spirit of God moved like a mighty wind, like a Holy Fire. That day where the disciples and the early followers of Jesus Christ were filled with God’s Spirit. On that day, the Christian Church was officially born, and the disciples and the early followers of Jesus Christ went forth preaching the gospel. They formed communities that cared for the poor, the sick, the rejected, the leper, and etc. Almost 2,000 years ago on Pentecost, the early Christians began building the kingdom of God on earth, as they, and we still, await God’s coming kingdom.

            With that said, I have a question for us all here this morning. How many of us have ever had family members or friends say to or of us, “he or she is out of there mind?”

          How many of you have ever had family or friends verbally disown you, as to say, “I am not with him or her, and am separating myself from them?”

          For those of us who have experienced such hard and harsh treatment by friends and family, we can certainly connect with that very real pain.

          In this morning’s gospel reading from Mark 3:20-35, it begins by saying, “Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers to even eat” (Mark 3:20, CEB).

          In the next verse of the gospel of Mark, chapter three, it says, “When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!” (Mark 3:21, CEB).

          Now when the gospel of Mark 3:21 speaks of Jesus’ family, this could have been extended family, it could have been friends, or it could have just people who just knew of Him. Yet this family, these friends, said of him “He’s out of his mind!” (Mark 3:21c, CEB).

          Not only this, then the legal experts and the scribes from Jerusalem show up. In Mark 3:22 it says, “Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of the demons.” (Mark 3:22b, CEB). There were saying then, that Jesus is evil and or was possessed by evil.

          So let’s get this story straight then. Jesus enters a house in Galilee, the place where he called Peter, Andrew, James, and John, to “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (Mt. 4:19b, NRSV). In this same place, Jesus’ friends and or family members on this day announce, “He’s out of his mind!” (Mark 3:21c, CEB). Oh and the scribes and lawyers from Jerusalem also show up to say that he is possessed by the devil and is casting spirits out of people with the power of the devil.

          I know that some of us often think of Jesus being meek and mild, but imagine this type of treatment and rejection, that Christ faced on this day? Imagine if you were in his shoes, or his sandals? Imagine what this rejection must have felt like?

          To me then, the gospel of Mark reading for today can be seen as an indictment or an attack on who Jesus claimed to be. On this day, Jesus endures heavy persecution, from those who felt that Jesus was not a person with any Godly power or authority. In fact, anything that Jesus did that even remotely looked good, was only possible because according the scribes, lawyers, and perhaps even the Pharisees, was because, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of the demons.” (Mark 3:22b, CEB).

         

          For those who have read the gospels a lot, you know that it was not uncommon at all for Jesus to get challenged by the scribes, the Pharisees, the lawyers, and etc. By this I mean, many envision Jesus healing, teaching, loving, or the cross, or the empty tomb, but what about Jesus getting harassed and heckled constantly? Many of us tend to omit these images of Jesus Christ from our memory banks.

          These hecklings, these harassments, these challenges, were constant for Jesus, and were almost always in response to whom Jesus Christ was claiming to be, or to whom people claimed Jesus Christ to be.

          Perhaps for this reason then, we have the Old Testament scripture reading from this morning, from 1 Samuel, that discussed that King Samuel was getting old, and the fact that his “sons don’t follow in” his “footsteps” (1 Sam. 8:5, CEB). Due to this, it says this morning in 1 Samuel that a new king was needed, and this king ultimately ends up being King Saul.

The Israelites accepted Saul and his authority, although the real problem was that the Israelites struggled to trust God. Yet in 1 Samuel 11:15 it says, “So everyone went to Gilgal, and there at Gilgal they made Saul king in the LORD’s presence. They offered well-being sacrifices in LORD’s presence, and Saul and the Israelites held a great celebration” (1 Sam. 11:15, CEB). People have a way of testing, hazing, and pressing leaders to see if they are who they say they are. This morning, King Saul passed that test.

          This morning, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the King of Kings, God in the flesh, is continuing to get tried and tested by all. As if the people were saying to him, “How do we know that you will lead us like a Samuel or a Saul?” “How do we know you are who you say you are?”

          We know from the gospels and from other New Testament scriptures that even the apostles and the early followers of Jesus Christ didn’t fully understand who he was until after his resurrection. They didn’t even get it more fully until the day of Pentecost. So what did they have within them then?

          The answer is, they had faith. The Apostle Paul this morning, speaks of such faith in his second letter to the church in Corinth, or the Corinthians. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:13, “We have the same faithful spirit, as what is written in scripture: I had faith, and so I spoke. We also have faith, and so we also speak” (1 Cor. 4:13, CEB).

          Jesus Christ is getting tested then, in part to see if he is the real deal, but also for some, to undercut Jesus Christ, as leaders could then retain their power and prestige.

          So this morning, Jesus is in Galilee, the place he called the first four fishermen to come and follow him. His family or friends, and the scribes, lawyers, and Pharisees are all challenging him. Not challenging his abilities, but challenging the source of these abilities.

          Since the claim is being made that Jesus is driving demons out of people with other demons, Jesus replies by saying in parable, “How can Satan throw out Satan? A kingdom in civil war will collapse. And a house torn apart by divisions will collapse” (Mark 3:23b-25).

          Jesus then says, “If Satan rebels against himself and is divided, then he can’t endure. He is done for” (Mark 3:26, CEB).

          Jesus continues this parable by saying, “No one gets into the house of a strong person and steals anything without first tying up the strong person. Only then can the house be burglarized” (Mark 3:27, CEB). Jesus then says that all people will be forgiven of all they have done, all their sins, and all there insults, except speaking against the Holy Spirit” (Mark 3:28-29, CEB).

          You see, if Jesus is the second person of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and if he calls upon the Holy Spirit to heal, restore, and even resurrect the dead, to reject the Spirit of God, is to reject God. To reject God, is to reject the one who sent Jesus Christ.

          So this morning then, Jesus is rejected by many, called crazy, accused of being demon possessed. Yet Jesus says, do you believe in who I am, and in the one who sent me, or don’t you? We might not got it all yet, but do we believe in him?

          Jesus says too many of us this morning, “A house torn apart by divisions will collapse” (Mark 3:25, CEB). Meaning, do you follow Christ, or you don’t you? For this matter, can we sort of follow Christ, or do we have to fully follow him?

          The centerpiece of the Christian faith, the Turkey on the Thanksgiving table if you will, has always been Jesus Christ. He is the centralizing figure that makes us bear the name Christian. Jesus Christ as teacher, as a source of knowledge, love, inspiration, salvation, and divinity itself, is the centralizing figure of the Christian faith.

          I truly believe then, that the churches of the future will have a strongly united mission and purpose. For example, the mission statement of the United Methodist Church is, “To make disciples of Jesus Christ, for the transformation of the world.” Now the best way to make a disciple of Jesus Christ, is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, and to be excited about that.

          When we are church that is excited about our faith in Jesus Christ, and about making disciples, well that unity is powerful. If a church isn’t united in that common mission and purpose though, as Jesus Christ said this morning, “A house torn apart by divisions will collapse” (Mark 3:25, CEB).

          How significant is it then for a church to be united in its mission and ministry? Well it is as just as important for a country to be united, as President Abraham Lincoln said in his famous “House Divided Speech” in Springfield, Illinois on June 16, 1858, "A house divided against itself cannot stand" (Mark 3:25, CEB).

So brothers and sisters, a church cannot be divided, we must be followers of Jesus Christ, who wish to make disciples of Jesus Christ, who love each other, who love all people, and do so as a family, as a unit. For if we do not, well Jesus Christ, and President Abraham Lincoln quoting Jesus Christ said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand" (Mark 3:25, CEB).

          To reinforce what Jesus said in the gospel of Mark from this morning about not being divided, I want to tell you a story called, “The Opposite of Unity.” This story was taken from Reuters, from Monday July 29, 2002. Here is how the story goes:

“Tradition claims that Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher is built over the cave in which Christ is said to have been buried.  In July 2002 the church became the scene of ugly fighting between the monks who run it. The conflict began when a Coptic monk sitting on the rooftop decided to move his chair into the shade. This took him into the part of the rooftop courtyard looked after by the Ethiopian monks.”

“It turns out that the Ethiopian and Coptic monks have been arguing over the rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for centuries. In 1752 the Ottoman Sultan issued an edict declaring which parts of the Church belong to each of six Christian groups: the Latins, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Cops, and Ethiopians. Despite the edict conflict over the church remains.”

“The rooftop had been controlled by the Ethiopians, but they lost control to the Copts when hit by a disease epidemic in the 19th century. Then in 1970 the Ethiopians regained control when the Coptic monks were absent for a short period. They have been squatting there ever since, with at least one Ethiopian monk always remaining on the roof to assert their rights. In response a Coptic monk has been living on the roof also, to maintain the claim of the Copts.”

“And so we get to a Monday in July 2002, when the Coptic monk moves his chair into the shade. Harsh words led to pushes, then shoves, until an all our brawl is going, including the throwing of chairs and iron bars. At the end of the fight 11 of the monks were injured, including one monk unconscious in hospital and another with a broken arm.”

“How tragic that a church which serves as a memorial to Christ is the scene for such bitter conflict among his followers. This is a far cry from Christ’s call to love one another, turn the other cheek, and his prayer that his followers might “be one”.
          Brothers and sisters, on this day, Jesus Christ tells us that “A house torn apart by divisions will collapse” (Mark 3:25, CEB). When we work together, when love people and each other, when we express the great love of Jesus Christ, we are united. Together, in Jesus Christ’s name, with the power of God and the Holy Spirit, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish! Today then, Jesus tells us of the power of unity, of the power of love, and of power that he had and still has, through almighty God. Amen.