{"id":596445,"date":"2021-05-09T21:21:05","date_gmt":"2021-05-10T01:21:05","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-06-24T17:33:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T21:33:59","slug":"human-and-divine-pentecost-2-b-june-6-2021","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/human-and-divine-pentecost-2-b-june-6-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Human and Divine, Proper 5 (B) \u2013 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/lectionary\/proper-5b\/\">RCL: 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15); Psalm 138; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-green-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-green-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=DFMS9932629168&#038;light=true\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-green-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-green-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/P2B-2021-Cover-FB-1024x536.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-246449\" style=\"width:512px\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cWe look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.\u201d <\/em>(2 Corinthians 4:18)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Gospel of Mark, the emphasis is on Jesus as prophet, healer, and miracle worker \u2013 the human Jesus whose work can be seen. Yet this Jesus is indeed the Son of God, that which cannot be seen but is eternal. In today\u2019s passage, we have it all. Human Jesus misunderstood and at times impatient, and divine Jesus, actor in the eternal drama of good versus evil, conqueror of Satan. And, to complete the trinity, Jesus acts as the agent of the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By the time this passage begins, chapter three of Mark has established Jesus as prophet, teacher, and healer. He has cast out unclean spirits and appointed twelve apostles to aid him in his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ironically, in Mark 3:11, the unclean spirits recognize Jesus as the Son of God, while in today\u2019s passage, the crowd, the family, and the scribes just do not get him at all. \u201cHe has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.\u201d They see him as out of his mind, possibly even possessed by evil spirits himself. As he has done so many times in his earthly life, Jesus is called to respond to the confusion of friend and foe alike. He teaches, in a parable about Satan, and calls the scribes and his family to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The structure of the passage is interesting, important, and enlightening. We have a story within a story: the controversy with the scribes about exorcism and the parable of defeating Satan inserted into an episode about Jesus\u2019 family. The structure is called <em>chiastic<\/em>, meaning that ideas are introduced in order, then developed in reverse order. In this case: Crowd, family, and scribes are introduced in that order. The parable of Satan is the story at the center. Then, in reverse order, scribes, family, and crowd are addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The structure is important and enlightening for the way it focuses on the central idea at the heart of the pattern \u2013 the conflict with Satan, the cosmic battle of good and evil. First, the crowd gathers, followers of Jesus and witnesses to his deeds and teaching. Then family and scribes put forth the misguided, mistaken accusation that his power to exorcise demons comes from Beelzebul. We can almost hear Jesus\u2019 frustration in his words: How can Satan cast out Satan? Carefully, he explains. Satan is divided. In casting out unclean spirits \u2013 exorcism \u2013 Jesus defeats Satan bit by bit, undermining his power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Jesus draws the line at confusing Satan with the Holy Spirit. Being misguided, blind, mistaken can be forgiven. The people may be slow to comprehend that Jesus, the man who heals, is in fact the Son of God. Make no mistake, however \u2013 Jesus\u2019 healing power comes from the Holy Spirit. To call the Holy Spirit an unclean spirit is a blasphemy too far. Jesus is called upon to speak with authority yet again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, in the reverse order of the chiastic structure, Jesus reprimands the scribes, then his family re-enters the scene, and the passage resolves with Jesus addressing the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Does Jesus reject his family, his mother and his brothers and sisters, when he asks rhetorically, \u201cWho are my mother and my brothers?\u201d Rather, when Jesus looks at the crowd and says, \u201cHere are my mother and my brothers!\u201d perhaps he is connecting his earthly self with his divine self. He has a human family, and he has a spiritual family. And that spiritual family includes us, part of the crowd, followers of Jesus and witnesses to his gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An aside about Jesus\u2019 brothers and sisters. The footnote for Mark 3:31 in the Harper Collins Study Bible makes an interesting point about this: \u201cReference to his brothers suggests Mark\u2019s ignorance of the later doctrine of Mary\u2019s perpetual virginity.\u201d There is no birth narrative in Mark\u2019s gospel, no annunciation to Mary, no star, nor angels, nor magi. Rather, Mark\u2019s gospel opens with Jesus\u2019 baptism by John, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the temptation by Satan in the wilderness. Mark, the earliest of the four canonical gospels, is known for his emphasis on the earthly Jesus, pre-dating some of the more mystical and abstract doctrines of the faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Today\u2019s complex and rich passage from Mark\u2019s gospel reveals the tension between the human and divine aspects of Jesus. He has a family that doesn\u2019t understand him, that doesn\u2019t see him clearly, fully. A family, friends, a religious establishment, that do not see that he goes beyond humanity, and is the eternal Son of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, healer of bodies, healer of souls, destroyer of Satan, the Messiah who overcomes death to usher in the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The power of the Holy Spirit is a strong message. It is a Pentecost message. We are in the season which celebrates the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on God\u2019s people, the moment when the Spirit empowers God\u2019s people to be witnesses and spread the Good News. Jesus\u2019 ministry is outward-looking, expansive, as he welcomes all who do the will of God into his family of spiritual brothers and sisters. The Holy Spirit is more than a force, a source of power. The Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity, fully God, who abides in us, calls us, helps and empowers us in our struggle against sin and darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let us pray: Jesus, our brother, drive out the unclean spirits within us, and fill us with the Holy Spirit, that we may listen, and see, and act, to do God\u2019s will, and so be brothers and sisters to one another and to you. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-d0d3c3f4-6633-4192-abc0-58b8e10e0be5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5B-English.docx\">Word &#8211; Pentecost 2 (B) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5B-English.docx\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-d0d3c3f4-6633-4192-abc0-58b8e10e0be5\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-file\"><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-a67cc353-7182-468e-a364-8e533080eacb\" href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5B-English.pdf\">PDF &#8211; Pentecost 2 (B) Sermon<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.episcopalchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Sermon-Proper-5B-English.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-a67cc353-7182-468e-a364-8e533080eacb\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RCL: 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15); Psalm 138; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35 \u201cWe look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.\u201d (2 Corinthians 4:18) In the Gospel of Mark, the emphasis is on Jesus&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,3],"tags":[367],"class_list":["post-596445","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-5b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":367,"label":"Proper 5B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/596445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/596445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949775,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/596445\/revisions\/949775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}