Mark 3:20-35

As I continue to dream about and be jealous of the exciting adventures that James is having on the Camino de Santiago, I am struck by the ways in which his pilgrimage has affected my own thinking and sermon preparation. Numerous church members, including Wilma Underwood just recently, have mentioned to me the movie, The Way, with Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. It is a stunning movie about the journey of a father to Santiago de Compostela after the death of his son. It is a story of loss, grief, and struggle accompanied by Tom's (Sheen) encounter with three other pilgrims, or shall I say misfits, who have lost their way. These friends have moments of great dysfunction and hatred towards one another. Yet, in the midst of their dysfunction they end up inspiring more change in one another than simply the 800km route could do alone. Despite this quad's struggles on their journey, they become something like a family.

We can think of many metaphors that could describe the relationship of God to humanity: Master and slaves, Creator and created, Ruler and subjects, Bridegroom and bride, Parent and child. In my own reading of the Bible, family is a foundational concept to describe God's relationship with humankind. The Bible begins in Genesis, not with talk of nations, kingdoms, and tribes, but with families. We see families with problems, a brother killing a brother, moments of dysfunction that would give us pause when we think about traditional or biblical family values. But, regardless of how families act, behave, or mess up, the Bible seems to bring us back to the idea that those who believe in God and follow the will of God are a family.

As I prepared to preach the lectionary text in the third chapter of Mark, I found that Jesus' family was frustrated with and extremely worried about him. They heard that Jesus had become very popular and that everyone was scrutinizing his actions and words. Jesus drew crowds and people were saying he was crazy. His biological family didn't want their names dragged through the mud when his radical teachings went against the rigid structures of religious and political life. They also knew what tended to happen to rabble-rousers...death. His family wanted to stop him. They went to restrain him.

So what was Jesus doing that was so horrible that his dysfunctional family had to get involved? He decided that people were more important than practices. He decided that if someone needed healing on the Sabbath then the infirmed should not have to wait one more day to experience the healing of God. He decided if someone was hungry then that person shouldn't have to wait one more day to be filled with the goodness of God's physical and spiritual food. Jesus's radical love for people opened up the house and allowed everyone who wanted to enter the chance to be a part of the family of God. Jesus's new family members were those who decided to do the will of God. When you do the will of God you get the chance to be Jesus's brother, his sister, and even his mother!

Jesus' family is now wide open and everyone is invited to be on the inside instead of the outside. Granted, we will bring dysfunction, pettiness, jealousy, and frustration in the door with us. But, we might just find, like the group of misfits on the Camino de Santiago, that through our journey together we have become a closely-knit family of God.

So, come on in. Everyone is invited.

      The Northside Line-Drivers are looking forward to a new year.

June

       1 - Unplugged, 7 PM, Off Campus

     17 - Small Group, 6:30 PM, Undercroft

July

     13 - Unplugged, 7 PM, Home of Jordan & Patti Clark

     22 - Small Group, 6:30 PM, Undercroft

August

     10 - Unplugged, 7 PM, Home of Dave & Cathy Wooten

     19 - Small Group, 6:30 PM, Undercroft