A House Divided Will Not Stand

 This Sunday's reading is from Mark 3:20-35,

and 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.’ And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But 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.

 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers 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 mother.’

The current way of looking at issues is to not really look at them but instead to divide houses into opposing factions, and to be forced to take sides. Usually people do come together when facing a national emergency, but remember how polarized we became during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

I wish we could all come together and agree that the real enemy is Satan, and that he is working to tie up our strong man (Jesus) by turning people away from him and to false prophets, false religions, and other gods such as the self worship evident in this month's "Pride" parades.

We know from Revelation that this earthly kingdom will fall. Until that time, divisions will never cease.