Keep Standing For Christ

Garrett J. Copeland, I
Mark 3:19b-35 (NRSV)
Then he went home; 20and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ 22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ 23And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
28 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— 30for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’
31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters* are outside, asking for you.’ 33And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 35Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’

This passage teaches us that even while Jesus continued to do a good work, there were some who wanted to vilify his good deeds; even so with malicious and quite foolish comments like, “by the ruler of demons he cast out demon.” How absurd, but this was their attempt to come against Jesus’ stance to do the will of his father. It didn’t stop Jesus, and he wasn’t fazed by the fiery darts of the enemy, who is Satan! Jesus warned them about their blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, and that such blasphemy will not go unpunished.

So what does this say to us? Well surely if we are Christ’s we will also be vilified sometimes; because he was. Surely if we are going to stand in his righteousness, the fiery darts of the enemy will be shot our way. No matter how heavy the arsenal of weapons the enemy uses against us, we must stand, stand for righteousness and stand together as the family of Christ. We can be encouraged in knowing Isaiah 54:17, “No weapon that is fashioned against you shall prosper, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, says the Lord.”

Garrett J. Copeland, I
Pastor, Trinity AME Church
Nashville, Tennessee