The Collect
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Gospel
Mark 3:20–35
20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.
30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
Commentary on Today’s Gospel Selection;
In the process of doing the background research for this homily, I stumbled across a somewhat unique approach used by another minister. He used, as an analogy, movies of the apocalyptic genre, otherwise thought of as the “end of the world as we know it” genre.
This minister noted the common thread in these movies of the hero/heroine (protagonist) discovering that somehow the world was about to suffer some sort of cataclysmic event, then this person attempts to tell the world, and is either ignored—having been deemed crazy—or becomes the target of governmental henchmen seeking to silence him/her. The remainder of the movie centers around this person trying to tell the truth to the masses and save the world.
The minister in question, noted how that in this passage from the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is somewhat like this generalized protagonist in end of the world movies, in that he knows the truth and others are trying to shut him up.
In verse 22, Marks tells us that the religious leaders of Jerusalem, had left what was to them the center of the Jewish world, and walked over a hundred miles to Capernaum, apparently, for the sole purpose of discrediting Jesus. Like the henchmen in one of these end of the world movies, these men had gone to great lengths to travel, a journey requiring several days of walking, to cast aspersions on Jesus and his teachings falsely claiming that he was in league with Satan, casting demons out of the possessed in the name of Beelzebub.
Jesus used logic to thoroughly rebuke their false premise; “How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”
This simple logical concept, that of “A House Divided Cannot Stand” has withstood the test of time from the depths of antiquity, through the ages, to even the modern day. The enemy, be it thoroughly human, or those of the principalities of this world, (see Ephesians 6:12) has known that by inserting insurgents into the target group, with the intention of those insurgents planting the seeds of division and distrust, the target group looses it cohesion and is weakened so that it no longer has strength in numbers.
Mark tells us in verse twenty that a multitude was following Jesus. The religious leaders of Jerusalem saw this growing—army of sorts—as a threat to their control and collusion with the Roman occupation of Judea, so they sought to introduce seeds of doubt in the minds of the multitude following Jesus. They thought if they could convince them that Jesus was himself colluding with the devil, they could destroy the single-mindedness determination of the multitude to follow Jesus.
We see the enemies of the church universal, and even that of our country and western ideologies in general, sowing seeds of doubt. Attempting to convince the masses that Christianity—in its traditional form—is in effect demonic, as well as Western democratic principles. These insurgents attempt to convince the people that progressive secularism and political socialism are far superior to religion (Christianity in particular) and that socialism, if not absolute communism, is superior to Western Democracies and the Representative Republic form of governance used in America.
The one great lesson that we should have learned from the historic events of the twentieth century, is that absolute secularism and socialism eventually leads to a totalitarianism that borders on communism, if it does not indeed totally embrace communism. Millions of people in the 20th century were sacrificed to the modern day equivalent of Moloch, a false god created by the demonically possessed minds of men intent on control of the people.
Those hell bent on destroying culture, almost always begin with an attempt to discredit and destroy religion, simply because it is their goal to replace religious worship with total dedication to the state.
In the first century, Jesus was offering a radically different type of belief system, one that was not dependent on outward compliance with rules created by mankind, but by love for God. This was an absolute threat to the privilege of the religious leaders and the state of collusion they enjoyed with the Roman governor who tolerated their belief system as long as that cooperation benefited the Romans.
The same system that Jesus promoted two thousand years ago, is seen as a threat by regimes who want the people to bend a knee to the government and not God. Regimes such as the Chinese Communist Party have brutally subjugated Christians—and other religions—in China in an attempt to replace the worship of God, with that of worship of state. In the West, political persecution is only but beginning to become widespread, but none the less it is a very real specter on the horizon.
But like the frog in the allegorical tale, in which the frog is put into a pot or water, and that water slowly brought to a boil so that the unassuming frog remains oblivious to the danger its life is in, Christians in the West have largely failed to take note of the actions of insurgents attempting to destroy the church from within by divisions.
Jesus said; “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” What was logic used by the Master to expose the acts and lies of the Scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians in the first century, becomes not just apt logic today to expose the actions of would be totalitarians, but a warning from God as well. A house—be it a church or a government—can not stand, if it is divided against itself.
While socialism has steadily evolved from democracy towards secular totalitarianism in Western Europe, and a very vocal minority in America has advocated for tearing up the constitution and replacing the republic with a European style socialism, populist grass roots movements have grown exponentially in an attempt to slow if not destroy the goal of the totalitarians.
By the time you read this, we should know if the predictions were correct that the people of Western Europe would take back their democracies from the totalitarians, at the election polls. Those politicians running on a platform of reversing the trend towards totalitarianism are favored to win. Likewise here in America we are but five months away from an election likewise predicted to be a referendum on progressive socialistic agendas.
But these trends are not enough, we must heed the advice and warning from Jesus in that “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” and not only rescue our country from impending demise, but our church as well. We must recognize the insurgents implanted in the church, and with brotherly love and Christian compassion, help them to understand why their goals are divisive and contradictory to the traditions of the church; traditions have withstood the test of time.
Benediction:
We thank you, loving God, that we have gathered in your presence and shared in worship. Now may we go forth into the world, confident that we are your children, knowing that you have called us by name. In our daily life, may we align ourselves to your will, seeking direction to follow the plans you have for us which give us a hope and a future in Jesus Christ, and may we have patience in the waiting. In the challenges and joys we face, may we be assured that we do not face them alone. Let us go in peace, hope and love, in the name of our compassionate and powerful God the Son our Savior, and the comforting Holy Spirit. Amen.
Saint Michaels Chapel 