Faith Is A Daring Way

Proper 5, Year B

June 7, 2015
Saint Mark's Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX
2 Corinthians 4:13 - 5:1
Mark 3:20-35

The obvious part of our Gospel story today is that Jesus is telling the scribes that no, he is not using the power of the prince of demons to cast out demons.  “If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.”  Satan would not be stupid enough to be here casting out demons; he would not be working against himself.  Jesus is making clear that he is casting out demons with the power of God, not the power of the enemy.

Less clear is that Jesus is warning the Scribes not to turn the house of Israel against itself, lest Israel not be able to stand.  Jesus spoke about not being able to plunder a strong man’s house until you first bind the strong man.  On the one hand, he is saying that he has bound Satan, otherwise he wouldn’t be casting out demons. 

On the other hand, Jesus is warning the Scribes against binding the Holy Spirit.  Don’t blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.  Don’t ascribe the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan.  Don’t lead the people of God away from their belief in God such that they only believe in you.  If you do, you’ll be binding the Holy Spirit. 

Now, we can’t exactly bind the Holy Spirit.  We are not more powerful than God, but look at what happened in Nazareth.  The scribes claimed Jesus was healing and casting out demons with the power of Satan, rather than the power of the Holy Spirit.  Then, the next time Jesus returned to Nazareth, he could do no great deed of power there because of the people’s unbelief. 

It seems that the Holy Spirit had been bound in that place because the people had been led astray. 

The scribes, like the Pharisees seemed to be so bound by the rules of their religion, that they couldn’t leave room for God’s Holy Spirit.

We need rules and people who love them.  We also need openness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and people who are attuned to those promptings.  We need doubters and those strong in their faith.  We need the nuts and bolts type folks and the crazy dreamers.  We need those just seeking and exploring Christianity and those who have been Christians as long as they can remember.  We need the possible heretics and the sound theologians.  Those deeply rooted in prayer and faith, and those who are so busy they are hanging on by a thread.  The sinners and well, the sinners.  Those sinners who are committed to the way of Jesus while still messing us, and those sinners in strong need of repentance so that they can start on the way of Jesus.  Those whose faith and works in Jesus challenge us and those whose faith and way seem very much like ours. 

We need all of us together.

So I’ve got a song to sing which I wrote called, “Faith Is A Daring Way.”  It’s looking at the church through the eyes of someone who has been rejected by a church and then is able to find a way forward in his faith in Jesus with others.  As a side note, I love our way of worship.  I used it as the example of the church rejecting the guy simply because it’s what I know.

Faith Is A Daring Way

They gather for prayer, pretend the world’s not there.

Behind their hallowed walls, they hide from the fall.

But you can’t shut it out.  Of this I have no doubt.

The white linens don’t tell me I’m forgiven,

But the crimson stain reminds me I’m to blame.

When faith eludes me, will the faithful exclude me.

They said you’re mired in sin, and so you can’t come in.

But the Kingdom way, so they also say,

Is a God who dances with second chances.

Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Faith is a daring way.  Shame leads you astray.

Faith is a daring way.  Faith is a daring way.

So when you leave the shore in your quest for more.

Sail with others, your sisters and brothers.

The God who’s one in three will cry dance with me.

Faith is a daring way.  Shame leads you astray.

Faith is a daring way.  Faith is a daring way.

Amen.