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2nd Sunday after Pentecost (B)

June 7, 2015
The Rev. Karen Reeman, Dcn.

Picture this: the bustling city of Capernaum, located on

the north shore of the Sea of Galilee, just fifteen miles
from the remote village of Nazareth, at the main
crossroad connecting two major trade routes the King's
Highway to the east with the Via Maris to the west1.
We know from previous chapters in Marks gospel that
Jesus and his disciples had recently returned to
Capernaum after proclaiming the good news of God
throughout the region of Galilee (Mark 1:14, 38).
Capernaum was Jesus home base during much of his
ministry, and the event depicted in todays reading takes
place there.
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. (Mark
3:32-35)
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The Bible and the Land by Charles Page (archeologist and Bible scholar) as cited in
http://www.lectionary.org/Sermons/NT/02-Mark/Mark-01.14-20-FishersMenMcLarty.htm

Who are my mother and my brothers? . . .

Wow, I dont know about you, but that sounds like every
parents nightmare: to be rejected by ones own son.
But I dont think Jesus was just stubbornly defying his
parents or exhibiting some type of latent adolescent
rebellion.
This was a teaching moment for Jesus. He wanted to
highlight the difference between contractual and
covenant relationships.
Since the time of creation God has been trying to enter
into a covenant relationship with us. You know the story:
God creates Adam and Eve and entrusts them with the
care of his garden (Gen 2:15). But Adam and Eve disobey
God and eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. (Gen
3:6). God then expels them from his garden (Gen 3:23).
If Gods relationship with Adam and Eve had been purely
contractual you obey me and tend my garden, and in
return I will take care of you Adam and Eve would have
been doomed; we would have been doomed.
Fortunately, Adam and Eve had more of a covenant than
a contractual relationship with God.
And the LORD God made garments of skins for the
man and for his wife, and clothed them. (Gen
3:21)
So even from the very beginning God has extended to us
his unconditional love and continued to care for us
regardless of our transgressions.

And transgress we did. Soon after the Garden episode,

mankind becomes so evil that God is compelled to
destroy the entire world. God saves only the one
righteous man, Noah, his household, and several pairs of
every living creature (Gen 7:1-3). God then makes a
covenant with all survivors that he will never again send
a flood to destroy the world, and sets a rainbow in the sky
as a sign (Gen 9:11-12).
After the flood, Noahs descendants populate the whole
earth. Initially everyone speaks the same language.
Before long mankind again turns away from God; they all
decide to build a tower to heaven the Tower of Babel.
Recognizing the arrogance and self-love of mankind, God
confuses their language so they cant communicate and
scatters them over the face of the earth (Gen 11:7-8).
Generations pass. God then choses one righteous man,
Abram, and makes a covenant with him. God changes
Abrams name to Abraham, promises Abraham that he
will give his descendants all the land of Canaan, and that
he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations (Gen
17:4-8). As a sign of his covenant with Abraham, God
instructs Abraham and his offspring to circumcise all
males in their households (Gen 17:10).
Which brings us finally to Moses: eventually the Israelites
become enslaved by the Egyptians; God remembers his
covenant with Abraham and sends Moses to free them.
God decides that the Israelites will need guidance if they
are to remain faithful. Moses ascends Mount Sinai and
God gives him two stone tablets inscribed with you
guessed it the Ten Commandments. In Moses absence,
however, the Israelites abandon God again and worship a
golden calf! Moses breaks the tablets, relents, asks God

to forgive the Israelites, and receives a new set of

tablets2. As a sign of their renewed commitment to the
covenant, Israelites observe the Sabbath as God
commanded (Ex 31:16-17).
See a pattern? Again and again we violate our covenant
with God, only to have him renew it.
Jesus said, Do not think that I have come to
abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to
abolish but to fulfill (Matt 5:17).
Judaism as a religion is passed down through the
matrilineal line. Traditionally if your mother is Jewish, you
are Jewish. Ones tribal identity, however, is patrilineal.
This means that upon marriage, the womans tribal
alliance transfers to her husbands tribe. Thus it was not
in the best interest of tribes for women to inherit land3.
Among the early Jews, the first-born son usually assumed
the headship of the family, and succeeded to the control
of the family property.4
Jesus was the first-born son of Joseph and Mary. Thus
when Jesus rejects his biological mother and brothers in
preference for his spiritual brother, sister, and mother
whoever does the will of God Jesus is also rejecting
the contractual rules of inheritance.
This is a big deal.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/oldtestament/section4.rhtml
(http://www.jewishtreats.org/2009/07/laws-of-inheritance.html)
(http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8114-inheritance)

Remember the story of Cain and Abel? Cain was the first
born of Adam and Eve. After he kills Abel, God curses
Cain from the ground and he is estranged from his family.
Cain protests to the Lord:
. . . My punishment is greater than I can bear!
Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I
shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive
and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who
meets me may kill me. (Gen 4:13-14)
In Cains case, God removed his inheritance (cursed
from the ground) and separated him from his mother
and father (I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the
earth). And without Gods intervention, what would this
mean for Cain? Death (anyone who meets me may kill
me.)
Its not surprising then, that everyone thought Jesus was
crazy.
[A]nd 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. (Mark 3:2021)
In todays gospel reading Jesus rejects his biological
family, forfeiting his right to be an earthly heir, preferring
to be an heir to the Kingdom of God. Was he crazy?
Think about it. Those things that are most important in
life, that make life worth living, can only be realized
through covenant relationships.

You can buy sex, and hire a housekeeper or a cook, but

you wont have a loving wife or partner. You can hire a
caregiver, but this person will never replace the attention
of a loving family member or close friend. And you can
acquire all the hallmarks of a successful life: wealth,
social status, plaques on buildings, funds established in
your name but all these things are transient.
In a Capitalist society such as ours, the clue to the nature
of a relationship is often whether payment is involved,
and if so, what it covers.
For example, great companies have great customer
service: they stand behind their products and attempt to
resolve any difficulties at their own expense if
necessary. Transactions with these companies have a
covenant component.
On the other hand, there are companies that attempt to
turn this covenant component into a contractual
arrangement by offering guess what? extended
warrantees. These companies really should be
responsible for the integrity of their products, but instead
they want us to pay for their poor quality.
Nothing compares to the riches received through
covenant relationships. And the Holy Spirit makes
covenant relationships possible.
As Christians, on Pentecost we commemorate the out
pouring of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and other
followers of Christ5.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentecost

In the Christian liturgical year, the feast of Pentecost is

celebrated on the 7th Sunday fifty whole days after
Easter.
Pentecost comes from the Greek expression fiftieth
day pentekoste hemera6 and is the name GreekSpeaking Jews used for their festival Feast of Weeks.
On Pentecost, or Shavuot in Hebrew, Jews commemorate
the giving of the law on Mount Sinai7.
Today is the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. The Season of
Pentecost begins with Trinity Sunday, the 1st Sunday after
Pentecost, and continues until the 1st Sunday of Advent8.
During this Pentecost season I urge you to think about all
your relationships personal and professional and to
think about all the people with whom you interact daily
salespeople, attendants, clerks, etc.
Are these relationships contracts or covenants? If
contractual, how would you make them more covenantlike? Is it possible? What would that mean? What would
that look like?
The Kingdom on Earth is governed by contractual
relationships; the Kingdom of God is governed by
covenant relationships.

This name comes from an expression in Leviticus 23:16, which instructs people to
count seven weeks or fifty days from the end of Passover to the beginning of the
next holiday, Feast of Weeks.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/what-is-pentecost-why-does-itmatter/
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http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/series/what-is-pentecost-why-does-itmatter/
8
http://www.trinitycranford.org/?page_id=3666

Spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ isnt just

verbalizing the belief that the Kingdom of God is near.
It means ushering in that Kingdom Gods Kingdom
right here, right now. It means bringing others into
covenant relationships with us.
Amen.