Sunday Readings: Genesis 3.9-15; 2 Corinthians 4.13-5.1; Mark 3.20-35
Jesus went home with his disciples and again a crowd gathered, so they could not even eat. When his family heard this, they went to restrain him, for people were saying, “He is out of his mind.” . . . To scribes who came from Jerusalem, Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For the scribes said, “He has an unclean spirit” (Mark 20-21).
Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came. Standing outside, they sent a word to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him—”Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you. Jesus replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus looked at those who sat around him, and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”(Mark 3.28-35).
Jesus’ family appears at the first part of Sunday’s gospel and the last. In between scribes from Jerusalem accuse Jesus of healing and casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Showing himself an able debater, Jesus counters, “How can Satan cast out Satan?” Four parables follow to refute the scribes’ charge. Finally, Jesus addresses his accusers directly, warning them that God forgives every sin except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To resist the urgings of the Spirit is to reject God and make forgiveness impossible. The Spirit is the giver of our lives, our senses for perceiving God in creation and our minds and hearts for discerning God’s presence in our experience.
The arrival of his family prompts Jesus to enlarge his definition of family. “Those who do the will of God are brother, sisters, and mother to me,” he says. By this definition all can belong to Jesus’ faith family, including his blood family, the scribes, the seekers.
- How do you practice giving attention to the Spirit of God in your life?