PROPER
5: Genesis 3: 8–15; Psalm 130; II
Corinthians 4: 13 – 5: 1; Mark 3: 20–35
(This is the homily that was given at St. John’s, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania by Fr. Gene Tucker on Sunday, June 10, 2018)
“IT’S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS”
Homily texts: Genesis 3: 8–15 & Mark 3: 20–35)
Our
lectionary cycle of appointed readings sets before us an Old Testament reading
and a Gospel reading which, at first glance, don’t seem to have much of
anything in common with one another. The Old Testament reading is from Genesis,
chapter three, which recounts to us the encounter that Adam and Eve have with
God after they have eaten of the tree that was “off limits” to them. Our Gospel
reading records Jesus’ encounter with those who ascribe His miraculous acts to
the powers of evil, an encounter which then leads to the Lord’s redefinition of
what one’s spiritual family will look like.
If
we dig into both of these passages a bit, we’ll discover (I think) a common
link: They each have to do with
relationships.
In
the Genesis reading, relationships are being destroyed…relationships with God, relationships
between those first two human beings, Adam and Eve, and the relationship
between humankind and the created order.
In
the Gospel reading, Jesus is working to build, rebuild and re-establish
relationships.
We
begin our journey of discovery with Genesis.
(I
will confess to you that this passage is one of my favorite passages in all of
Holy Scripture. In a very real sense, we might correctly understand this part
of Genesis to be a “Primer on the Ways in which Evil Works”. Of course, in
considering this text, we would do well to remember that what we are dealing
with is Myth….I am using this word not in the sense of something being a myth
because it is untrue, but because Myth (with a capital “T”) conveys an ultimate
Truth (with a capital “T”) to us; something that is so True that it is often
best described in song, in poems, or in stories.)
As
we consider the Genesis text, we should back up just a few verses, and begin
with the first part of Genesis, chapter three. There, we discover that Eve has
been tempted by evil (personified by the serpent or snake). Evil works by
prompting us to doubt God’s word, and so the serpent begins his work by asking
Eve, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” From this
starting point, you know what happens next:
Eve takes of the fruit of the tree, eats it, gives some to Adam, and he,
too, eats it. Then, Genesis tells us, the eyes of both of them were opened, and
they knew that they were naked.
This
brief summary brings us to the beginning of our appointed reading for this
morning.
As
God approaches Adam and Eve, after having found them hiding in the Garden of
Eden, He discovers that their eyes have, indeed, been opened. They now know the
difference between good and evil. God
asks them to tell Him what happened, and what we read next is a typical “pass
the buck” conversation: Adam blames Eve
for inviting him to do what God had said was off-limits, and then Eve, in turn,
blames the serpent.
We
can draw the following points from this entire episode (which is generally
known by the term The Fall):
Doubting
the truth of God and of God’s commands: The serpent begins by asking Eve to recount
what God had told her. If we go back to the text, we see that she can’t recount
God’s instructions exactly. But the serpent begins by asking, “Did God say……?”
And then the serpent directly opposes what God said, adding, “You won’t
die….you’ll be like God, knowing good and evil”.
Evil
separates one human being from another: Notice that the serpent approaches Eve only,
even though (apparently) Adam is either right next to her, or is close by. Evil
often works in this manner, seeking to separate or to alienate one of us from
another. Put into our own cultural context today, we can see evil at work in
the various addictions that people fall prey to, for people who become victims
of addictions often feel alone or are alienated from others. Instead of having
the mutual support and encouragement of others, victims of addictions sometimes
feel they are all alone.
So,
by succumbing to the temptations that evil places before us, we can conclude
from this account that the intent of evil is to destroy our relationship with
God, our relationship with one another, and even our relationship with the
created order around us (notice the estrangement with the serpent that results
from the actions of Adam and Eve).
Enmity
with the created order: The final outcome of Adam and Eve’s
transgression is the building of a wall of separation with the created order.
The text conveys this truth to us by establishing the adversarial relationship
between Eve (and her seed) and the serpent (and its seed). Moreover, the
effects of the sins of these two human beings produces fallout for the animal
kingdom, for God kills some animals to make clothing for Adam and Eve. Our
relationship, as human beings, with the animal kingdom is forever changed.
In
our Gospel text this morning, we find Jesus doing just the opposite: He is building and rebuilding relationships
with God.
In
our discovery of the Genesis text, we backed up a few verses in order that we
might set the stage for the passage that was read this morning. We need to do
the same with the Mark account we hear this morning, and begin with the
appointed text from last Sunday.
In
Mark 3: 1–6, Jesus heals a man who had a withered hand. He did this on the
sabbath, in the synagogue.
To
our contemporary senses, this would appear to be simply an act of healing, and
nothing more. But, set in the culture of the day, a person with a deformity
such as a withered hand would have been cut off from the possibility of having
a full relationship with God, for such a person could not enter the temple to offer
sacrifices, as the Law of Moses required. Furthermore, such a person might well
have been regarded as having done some great offense against God, which had
resulted in God’s judgment by causing (or allowing) the man’s hand to wither.
Relationship with God is impeded, and relationships with others are also
threatened.
Now,
in the passage we hear this morning, Jesus is accused of being able to do the
things He is doing because the powers of evil reside in Him. He responds by
pointing out that evil (Satan) cannot cast evil out.
(In
our examination of the relationship-building work the Lord is undertaking in
today’s Gospel, we would remiss if we didn’t take notice of the Lord’s solemn
warning about the unforgiveable sin: Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Since many
people often worry about whether or not they are guilty of such a sin, the
markers of such sin ought to be explained:
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit consists of assigning to the powers of evil
the powers that belong to God. In today’s passage, then, the Lord condemns
those who are claiming that He has the power to heal because He is working
through the agency and power of evil. God’s power is most often applied to
creating things. The powers of evil are focused on destroying things. Rest
assured, the great majority of us have never assigned the powers of evil to the
things that God alone does.)
Now,
let’s return to our consideration of the nature of the relationship-building
that’s going on in the Lord’s work.
Jesus’
family has come to take Him away, for many are beginning to think that He has
lost his sensibilities. And so, having dealt with the condemnation of the
scribes who have assigned to Him the powers of evil, Jesus then redefines what
a person’s family really looks like: That person who has come to be a disciple
of Jesus will have a family which will consist of all those who set about doing
God’s work.
We
draw the following conclusions from these events:
Restoring
relationships: Jesus works to restore and to rebuild
relationships with God, and with each other. It’s worthwhile noting that much
of what Jesus came to do was to unravel the effects of Adam and Eve’s
transgressions in the Garden of Eden. (No wonder St. Paul will call Jesus the
Second Adam.)[1]
Jesus restores the man with the withered hand to a full relationship with God,
and He removes any suspicions that the man’s neighbors and family might have
harbored about the condition of the man’s holiness.
Expanding
the definition of family: Jesus tells us that a person’s family isn’t
going to consist of one’s own blood relatives, but that this new family will
consist of all who set themselves about the business of doing God’s work in the
world. This new family will be made up of people from all different cultures
and nations, of all different backgrounds, of all different perspectives. All
who have surrendered their wills and their lives to God will make up this new
family. Surely, the early Church saw itself in such a way, for the early Church
challenged the tribal notions of the culture of the time, which put great
emphasis on one’s heritage, place of origin, and blood relationships. We would
do well to remember that expanding the idea of relationship with God and with
one another was the focus of much of St. Paul’s missionary work to spread the
Good News of the Gospel to the Gentiles.
God,
in Christ, sets about to restore us to a full and right relationship with God,
with each other, and with the created order in the world around us. God, in
Christ, seeks to undo the effects of our human rebellion against God and
against God’s way and will in the world.
AMEN.
