Jesus had just begun his mission. He had chosen his twelve disciples. He had been preaching and a large crowd had gathered. After this, He went home to eat and rest. People, who knew Him growing up, knew he had lost his senses and were coming to take custody of him. Back then people who were insane were often to taken to caves and left where they usually died. There were some scribes who had come Jerusalem and decided that Jesus was possessed by Satan. Either way these people planned to take him away. Even his mother and brothers were there to confront him.
Jesus confronted them and said to them that Satan cannot cast out Satan speaking of the scribes. He had cast out demons, and he is telling them that He is not possessed. He warns them that a house divided cannot stand. He also says the same of a kingdom divided. He spoke to them about forgiveness. None of those people heard what he was saying at that time, but sometimes words that you don’t want to listen to sink into your soul, and you understand them later.
Rereading what I originally wrote, I thought of Jesus’s mother, and the one rule my mother had for each of her children was “Do Not Embarrass Her!” Basically, it meant that we could do, say, act however we wanted just so long as her friends, her family, and our neighbors did not know it. I broke that rule more than my three older brothers did combined. My thought was Jesus broke his mother’s rule of not embarrassing her. She also had a mother’s concern that people would think ill of her son that she loved. Once my mother said in frustration to me, “People will think you are an odd person.” I could see her concern, but still I answered her truthfully. “Ma, I know I am different. It is just the way I am.” One of the reasons that I follow Jesus is that He understands and accepts that I am different…not in a bad way just in the way I see life.
But what does this mean for us. I worked for years with families that were for different reasons falling apart, and the worst was those parents who were at war with each other. Their house was divided. Their children were used as ways to hurt the other parent. They no longer saw their children except as a way to destroy the person they once had loved. They were a nightmare to work with because often untangling the web of deceit and betrayal was impossible to find the root cause. I have not been married and have not had children, but I have witnessed this kind of destructive behavior which makes it difficult to stop the damage once the foundations and walls crumble. They stopped listening to each other, and only heard themselves. Their children usually repeated their parents’ example.
Jesus isn’t talking about disagreements. There will be disagreements, but it doesn’t have to resort to name calling and damaging the other party. I joke I grew up in a family that was mixed. My mother was a staunch Democrat, and my father was a Republican. Their debates over the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, and Hippies were epic at times. My mother was well read, and usually won. The thing is that they discussed these ideas with passion, but they never personally attacked the other. At the end of these debates, they would go back to mundane daily conversations. It was just a discussion of ideas. They listened to each other. They respected each other. But some people have not taught themselves how to disagree respectfully.
What it does mean is if you are constantly at war with your partner, the family will fall apart. The foundation is undermined, and the walls begin to fall. Everything in your life crumbles. Living in peace doesn’t mean you have to agree with another person. It simply means that you respect their right to their own opinion.
These days when many people are ready to attack anyone who disagrees with them, and then the other people attack them back. They both say they have their right to do so, and when it comes to speaking their beliefs that is true. But that right doesn’t mean they have the right to attack the person or people who do not agree with them. Our society has become a house divided. This statement that Jesus made is a warning to us all. Our society cannot stand. To change it means that each of us has to listen to the other’s voice, with the understanding that they may not hear ours, but we can hear theirs. Retaliating will not help, but it will add to the crumbling of society. We need to learn to listen and to hear what another is saying. Choose carefully.
Jesus listened to those who disagreed with Him. It did not change Him, but He listened. He listened because in their statements was a key to how they could be reached. He still listens to us, and we still give Him a key to reaching us individually. What changes between us and Him is that we begin to listen to what He is saying. It is then that we change.
Today’s Questions:
Do you listen or do you attack?
Ever in Christ’s love,
Mary Elizabeth Todd
February 1, 2024 & April 30, 2024