Jesus’ family comes to rescue him.
The religious leaders accuse him of being possessed by Beelzebub.
Jesus’ response.
The stunning point comes when Jesus charges them with blasphemy.
Watching for God at work.
I’m convinced that there are no absolutely evil people here this morning. I’m convinced most of us want to live in harmony with our neighbors. How hard is it to notice where God is at work in the lives of people around us and in the congregation of which we are members? Imagine if we were to prayerfully and intentionally watch for and then encourage those through whom God is working!
Jesus’ new family is made up of those who do the will of God.
The Gospels all testify that Jesus’ life from beginning to end embodied God’s will for human life. We have at the very basis of Jesus’ teaching the command to love God and to love our neighbor.
Dangers:
- Of allowing dysfunctional patterns of relationships to develop and continue among leaders and the congregation and between members in the congregation.
- Of carelessly saying who is or is not being used by God.
- Of taking each other for granted and forgetting then to celebrate life’s joys together and to honor life’s losses together.
- Of thinking it is all about us and not about Jesus who was completely and fully obedient to the will of God.
- To encourage each other
- To gently correct each others’ failings, always asking first to be
- corrected rather than to correct others first (here’s a challenge!!!)
- To patiently accompany each other through times of distress, sorrow.
- To joyfully accompany each other in times of joy and celebration.
- To serve side by side in local communities
- To dream and imagine together the great possibilities of ministry locally and globally
- To develop a common goal with a budget that provides for the needs of members and the local community and the world at large
- To welcome strangers into the community by actively going out in service to others in word and deed.
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