Category: What’s On

Badminton Road Reflection   6^th June 2021

Mark 3:20-35

Dear Friends

The concept of family means different things to different people.  Big or small, blood relations, mixture of relatives through marriage and re-marriage and those who have no traditional family but are part of a community who have become their family. We are part of the Christian family with brothers and sisters who share our vision and our spiritual journey.

The family of Jesus in the Gospel reading are an important part of the lesson today. They come to see Him and show concern about the crowds who don’t seem to allow Jesus and the disciple’s time to eat. The Jewish family is based on birth and tradition, representing the larger, Jewish nation and the wider Jewish family of God and in the time of Jesus this meant monitoring all aspects of it. “The Crowd” is made up of Scribes from Jerusalem as well as local people and His family are there to restrain Him, or even rescue Him, as Jesus is accused of being possessed by demons.

Interestingly, Jesus is not accused of falsehood as no one would argue with the miracles (including the casting out of demons) they had seen themselves, but they try to discredit Him with claims that Beelzebul possessed Him. Jesus made a clear stand against this by using the argument that evil cannot cast out evil and it was God’s Spirit that healed. This was an unforgivable sin, to not recognise the power of God’s healing Spirit.

The brothers and mother of Jesus called Him outside from meeting what had become a supportive group. Jesus used their decision not to join Him as a way of showing what family should mean, a shared understanding and values of God, not rules and beliefs that wouldn’t embrace the changes Jesus brought from God.

This passage opens up the difficulties of seeing Jesus too humanistically as His family may have done, in worrying about His welfare and reputation as a reflection of them.  The family of God is only concerned about doing God’s will which was always the example of Jesus. As members of the Christian family, we know how it is the Spirit of God that empowers and enables us. We are commissioned to take the message of redemption to all, doing what we can for each other and the World at large. Any success is through the power of God’s Spirit and what a celebration that is! Let us thank God for all He has achieved through recent difficult times.

As we seek to bring more people into the eternal Family of God, the resurrection power of Jesus will continue to be at work. The Spirit brings change so let us all be ready for anything and everything! 

Prayer – Lord, these are changing times and your call resounds loudest when we are forced to respond to Challenge. Help us see and feel your Spirit move within us as we seek to follow new direction and bring your love to our troubled world.    Amen