Sermon Notes June 10 Mark 3:20-35

June 10 Mk. 3:2--35, 2 Cor. 4:13-5:1 At the end of the week, I go into Indianapolis and help out for our eldest daughter’s wedding. Not only will that mean that I will feel even more a fossil than usual when I see all of the friends of the couple, but it means dealing with family, including her father-in law to be whom I’ve not met.. Family gatherings are usually a mixture of enjoyment and annoyance. It is heartening then to have Mark’s gospel indicate some dissonance in what i would picture as the harmonious family of Jesus. This would seem to add credence to the suspicion that Jesus lived a relatively normal life until his baptism by John at the Jordan propelled him into a new role as a travelling rabbi. What caused the confusion? first, the townspeople have called them in as they fear that jesus has lost his mind. Maybe, the family expected Jesus to be a craftsman, like his father Joseph. Maybe they could not wrap their minds around a sudden move into becoming a religious figure. Maybe they were trying to protect him from fear of what could happen to a religious figure on the rise in restive Galilee. We do not get a hint of them acclaiming this apparently new-found decision into the itinerant ministry of teaching and healing. We have a lot of work to do in considering church leadership and political leadership 3,000 years aftersaul.. Usually we import our understandings of other leadership models from other parts of our lives. Usually, we tend to see leadership as being in control, exercising power over others. Part of leadership is empathy and loyalty. Yet, Paul speaks of suffering as a slight momentary affliction.It is a matter of perspective isn’t it? It is especially poignant when it is our suffering or someone else’s. The Thornberrys spoke a while ago of watching the old NBC miniseries on the Holocaust. They praised its decision to follow a family's connections to that horror because it could be more easily grasped. Otherwise, the sheer enormity of the issue renders us mute, numb, and powerless. When it directly strikes us, we feel its full weight. Jack is being born into a new extended church family this morning. His name comes from John, God is gracious.He shares a biblical name with the one who baptized jesus and one of the three of the inner circle of disciples who witnessed the transfiguration and accompanied him to the garden to pray before his death. I would think it also emerged by way of the french name, Jacques, from the names Jacob and James.I only bring that up because the book of Acts indicates that james, the brother of the Jesus, led a church group in Jerusalem. James is listed in two gospels as a brother, or relative, of Jesus. He was part of the immense struggle in deciding if converts to christianity should follow all of the requirements of Judaism of the time. while Jack’ family of origin may be well-nigh perfect, he is being welcomed into a most imperfect institution, the church. We speak casually about church family. It is clear that we carry some of our family good points and less desirable traits and actions into the function or dysfunction of church.People who see power as control at home try to control elsewhere. All families are imperfect;In the nuclear family, or extended family church family: we are called to practice forbearance toward each other.