Mark 3:20-35

…and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Grace, mercy, and peace be yours today from God: Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

With the two fine preachers we have here at Cross of Grace, I didn’t think I would have another chance to be at this pulpit, but I am grateful for it as they are off tending to the business of the larger church. And we pray for them in that work.

This Gospel text is a sort of mishmash is it not? It jumps around from Jesus and the crowds to Jesus and the temple scribes and to Jesus and his family. And what is central to it all is that Jesus is caught in the middle—in the middle of the crowds;

in the middle of a dispute with the scribes;

and in the middle of a family squabble.

But, reading the Gospels, that’s where we often find Jesus—Caught in the Middle.

At the beginning of the text, we find Jesus going home. He had just picked his twelve disciples and no doubt had been on the dusty roads for a time and wanted peace and quiet and a home cooked meal.

But the crowds followed him home and were so big and persistent that Jesus and his new friends could not even eat their meal. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus was always drawing crowds —he was famous for his healing miracles…for changing water into wine…and for his teaching. Sometimes he had to flee from them. Once he even had to escape on a boat.

These pressing crowds remind me of the Caitlin Clark effect. She can’t go anywhere these days. Kids and adults hound her for an autograph and hand slaps as she comes and goes on the court her presence is filling arena across the country. I’m guessing she can’t even go to a restaurant without crowds bothering her.

Jesus’ own family went out to rescue him as the crowds were saying he was crazy. Jesus was caught in the middle of it all.

And then came the confrontation with the scribes—those annoying holy men who professed to have all the truths about God and saying how Jesus should be acting/behaving if he was truly God’s son.

They tried to trap him by equating him with Satan and deeming him a blasphemous, false messiah. In refuting his baptism by the Holy Spirit; claiming that he associated with all the wrong people; by not behaving as a righteous person should behave, they were trying to make the case against him. In so doing they themselves were blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and this is when Jesus has enough and utters his word about that sin being the only unforgivable one.

Jesus caught in the middle of disputes between the Scribes and Pharisees—the religious establishment of the day would ultimately lead to his arrest and death.

And then the text closes with Jesus back with the crowds and his family outside the home. This is where it gets a bit sticky. The crowd tells Jesus that his mother and siblings are asking for him, and it seems as though Jesus denies his immediate family, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And then motioning with his hands and arms to those gathered, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. Again, we see Jesus caught in the middle of his family and the crowds.

How do you think his mother and siblings took that? I’m thinking probably not too well. Did they think he was denying them their place in his life? What’s up with that? It seems very harsh.

I think we can all admit that families can be messy at times. There are misunderstandings. There can be harsh words.

There can be addictions, diseases, and divorces that hurt and divide.

There can be some family members who disavow faith and worship.

There can be family members who are incarcerated.

There are congregations (a wonderful expression of a family, right?) who are more interested in judging and condemning than embracing. There can be unloving actions that exclude LGBT+ family members—I’ve been a witness to that. I heard of a church sign this week that said, “God wants our humility, not pride.” Surely that is a direct hit aimed at Pride month. How will LGBT+ folks take that sign? Think they will feel welcome in that mainline church? And I read that the Southern Baptist Convention is scheduled to vote soon to expel any congregation that calls a woman pastor.

Yes, our families of origin and our church families can be messy.

As the 21st century disciples of Jesus we had better find ourselves in the middle. In the middle of religious disputes with words of forgiveness, truth, justice, and hope.

We had better be in the middle of secular disputes around corruption, racial injustice, voting rights and equal rights for all. That’s where we will find Jesus, and he expects us to be at his side in the middle of it all.

All Jesus was doing that day as he looked at those sitting around him and saying, “Here is my family” was enlarging his family, not downsizing it. He didn’t deny his own biological one. And we know that as he was dying on the cross for you and me, and for the sake of the world, he looked down at one of the disciples and said, “You take care of my mother.” He loved his immediate family even if they couldn’t understand his life’s mission.

And he loves us even as we struggle to find the courage, patience, and grace to be caught in the middle with Jesus—right where he wants and expects us to be.

Amen.

John 20:19-23

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

When Katelyn and I lived in New Jersey, we fell in love with Pennsylvania Dutch markets. Often hidden in unassuming strip malls, these vibrant markets were full of different vendors selling the most delicious food. The one closest to us was only open three days a week so we didn’t get to go often, but we loved it when we got the chance. We’d grab a few items we’d need for the week and on the way out, get one very special treat: a pretzel log. We’d watch as they rolled the dough, stuffed them with all sorts of unhealthy goodness, and placed them in the oven, our mouths watering the whole time.

One day after helping a friend move, I was near the market and swung in for lunch. Instantly the smell of a pretzel log, overflowing with cheese and bacon, lured me to the booth. I bought two logs with good intentions: I would eat mine now and have Katelyn’s waiting for her when she woke up to go to work. Well I ate mine on the way home.

And then by some irresistible force, the second pretzel log called out to me. I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help myself. I tore into that other pretzel, polishing it off faster than the first, left the bag on the counter and proceeded to study with a full belly. Later that day when Katelyn woke up for work, a night shift nurse at the time, solely supporting us through seminary, she saw the bag. She asked if I went to the market and if so why I didn’t bring her back something. A rush of guilt came over me. I told every excuse I could think of. I didn’t know what you would want. I wasn’t sure if they had what you liked. But she saw through my every excuse. She picked up the bag, put it in the trash, and simply said, “we both know you’re wrong, but I forgive you.”

The resurrected Jesus says to his disciples, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained”. For most of us, forgiveness is a nice idea. It’s something we want to practice, but it’s also really hard. And, if we are honest, we don’t always know what it is or how to do it. Forgiveness is not just forgetting what took place. We don’t suddenly stop remembering the hurt that happened to us nor should we.

We may pretend to, but the harm will reappear, likely causing as much hurt as the first time around. Forgiveness isn’t wrapping ourselves in bandages of time, waiting until the wounds have scarred. Sometimes that can help, but there is hurt we can cause or receive that time alone cannot heal. Forgiveness requires more than just the passing of hours, days, or years.

And forgiveness isn’t merely the words, “I forgive you”; it requires action on the part of both the forgiver and the sinner.

So back to the pretzel log story. It sounds like such a small example, but here she was working night shift, supporting her husband so he can go to class and read and write papers 24/7,

and he took from her the one thing that would have brightened up her day just a little bit on her way to a job she did not like. Yet, she didn’t scold me, or punish me, or demand I get her another pretzel log, all things she was in the right to do.

Instead, She gave up those rights, which is the first action required in forgiveness. And after she gave up her rights, she gave notice of my sin. “We both know you're wrong”, she said to me in a calm, almost sly, manner. She didn’t pile on the guilt or yell, “how dare you eat the pretzel log you bought with my money!” which was true! She simply told me what I did was wrong; the second action of forgiveness.

Finally, she gave me a gift, namely love when I didn’t deserve it and expected nothing in return.

Like a tool, she used forgiveness to put back together our fractured relationship that I had severed with my selfish sin. And that’s what forgiveness is: giving up rights, giving notice, and giving gifts; A tool that rebuilds a broken relationship.

We see and experience this forgiveness best in Jesus Christ. Becoming fleshing, he gave up his rights, as Ephesians 2 says “he emptied himself taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross”.

And it’s there on the cross that he gave notice of our sins because that’s what put him there; his full of mercy and justice and love, shows the depth of sin in and around us. And yet, from the cross and in his resurrection he gave gifts: gifts of grace and hope and life eternal when we deserved none of it. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. “As much as you could sin, so much did Jesus forgive you”. Always has. Always will.

Yet, some of us have experienced more serious sins than a stolen pretzel log; we’ve been hurt in ways or been hurt too many times, that we are unsure if we can forgive. After all, we aren’t Jesus. I agree with Walt Wangerin who said,

“This is the human predicament: we are able to sin infinitely against one another, but we are able to forgive only finitely. Left to ourselves alone, forgiveness will run out long before the sinning does [because] we are not able to forgive equal to another’s sinning - not when such giving must come solely from ourselves.”

Thankfully, forgiveness is not just a tool able to put ruptured relationships back together, but a power tool with a source of power that comes from outside of ourselves. “Receive the Holy Spirit”, Jesus said to his disciples as he filled their lungs with his very presence. That’s the power, the true source that enables us to forgive the sins of others. It’s the Holy Spirit, dwelling in you, that makes known Jesus’ limitless forgiveness for you; no matter the mistakes you’ve made, the choices you chose, or the hurt you’ve caused. Jesus is the well of forgiveness that never runs dry.

And once you know once you have experienced that balm for your sin sick soul, you also are able to share that forgiveness with your spouse, your friend, your parent, your child, your neighbor, and even your enemies. To be clear, when Jesus commissions the disciples and us to forgive or retain sins, he doesn’t make us divine agents able to produce forgiveness that reconciles a relationship between someone else and God. Only Jesus does that and it’s already been done. That’s why during the absolution in worship the pastor “declares” your forgiveness;

I get to tell you the good news, but it’s Christ who’s actually done the work.

The forgiveness that Jesus commissions the disciples for, and us for, is the forgiveness that reconciles relationships between individuals. There are other types of forgiveness that are different, such as forgiveness between races or institutions or nations; but that’s another sermon for another time.

For this sermon, it's enough to say that like the disciples, we too have been given what we need to forgive. But whether we do it or not, whether we forgive or retain is up to us. And the good news, or bad news depending on how you look at it, is that ultimately God forgives all the sin and reconciles all things to God’s self anyway, whether it’s in this life or the life to come. So why retain them?

Instead, offer a pretzel log, use that power tool of forgiveness, and repair what’s been broken.