Mind Meld of A Different Kind

MARK 3:20-30
One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said.

But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.”

Jesus called them over and responded with an illustration. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asked. “A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse. Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart. And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand? He would never survive. Let me illustrate this further. Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man like Satan and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger—someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.

“I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. This is a sin with eternal consequences.” He told them this because they were saying, “He’s possessed by an evil spirit.”

The Core of My Heart
“He’s out of his mind!” “He’s possessed by Satan!” What was Jesus doing that earned him these similar verdicts from family and religious leaders?

It’s a mob scene. People from all over fill the village, all pressing toward the same house desperate for Jesus to deliver their demon possessed family member. One by one, those just healed emerged from the house full of noisy jubilance. The crowd roars. Mothers exchange stories. Men puzzle over the how and who of this Jesus. Babies cry. Children dodge in and out of robed grown up legs. Those still possessed foam at the mouth or flail about spouting whatever noises tumble from their mouths.

It’s a pretty wild scene that only grows more intense with glorious notes of deliverance mingled with worried, even angry voices of more and more people pressing into town with their desperate loved one. The sun pays no head to the desperation in these voices as it resolutely marches across the Galilean sky. The day will soon be gone and with it the presence of this Jesus, their one hope for normalcy and health in their home.

To family, Jesus’ compassion had gotten the best of him. He’d allowed the crowd to morph into an out-of-control mob. If they wouldn’t let up their demands enough for him to eat, what would they do at day’s end when so many remained, still desperate for deliverance? He’s not rowing with both oars in the water.

The religiously more astute knew better as they watched the crazed village blaze with Jesus worship. This is demonic, pure and simple. Sure, some may be delivered, but God would never operate this way. This is satanic trickery to undermine the central importance of obedience to God’s Law.

Jesus didn’t take time to eat, so great was the need that day. But he did take time to confront the dull hardness of the religious leaders. Must have been important. It slowed the deliverance process down so that probably one or more people did not get delivered that day! And so it was.

Meeting human need sometimes gets messy. It sometimes invades good daily rituals that provide important things like nourishment. People being helped do get out of control. They do come with mixed, even wrong motives. They do not always go away with a deeper commitment to God.

But meeting human need is so central to God’s nature that if those witnessing God’s gracious work, and who, themselves, purport to represent God, attribute compassionate ministry to Satan, then God’s own Spirit is so offended that he’ll not forgive the blasphemer.

Compassionate God, grant that hurting and wounded people will have the same place in my heart as it does in yours. In fact, may human need become so central that the people I grow angry with are only those who hinder compassion. Give me the wisdom to know when my own compassion for others outweighs my own needs.