Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Tuesday, January 20, 2015   

[The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity]

Mark 3:19b-35

I love how Jesus begins each challenge with a question. 

To inquire is to engage, to express curiosity, and start a conversation. If we are to be more like Christ, we should take a few notes from his example in Mark 3:19-22.

When all chaos ensues, Jesus poses the question, “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (3:24) How, indeed. As modern Christian, I wonder if this question sounded as rhetorical to these people then as it does to me now. In other words, How can you fight fire with fire? Two wrongs don’t make a right. We learned this in kindergarten. Jesus may as well have asked the crowd how they expected to fly a kite without a string.

He calms the storm further by reasoning with them, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” (3:25) We know this concept to be true: we’ve read the storybooks of united kingdoms and what division and disorder do to the people of that land. “And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.” (3:26) Even on a smaller scale, in each household, unity is necessary for peace. Imagine a family dinner where no one seems to be getting along or engaging with each other: siblings are fighting, no one is sharing, and parents are giving each other the silent treatment. Sounds like a pretty uncomfortable family dinner. No one would want to sit at that table and share a meal in that home.

“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.” (3:27)

Notice how Jesus doesn’t say “perfect” or “always in agreement”, but “strong”. Families, marriages, friendships, relationships in general... are not perfect. But it is possible to be supportive, unified, communicative, spirited and life-giving. There are times when disagreements are associated with betrayal; our human instinct is to attack and alienate in an effort to keep our own righteousness safe. But Jesus challenges this in us. God’s people are diverse in circumstance, perspective, and experience. We might even have the same things to say, but different ways to say them. Yet we are still asked to build the Kingdom of God together on earth with these differences in tow. Jesus is asking us, essentially, to play nicely when those differences surface and get in the way, and choose love when it’s easier to turn away.

At the end of Mark’s passage, Jesus ends with “Here are my mothers and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (3:34-35) This speaks to our larger community as a unified place of belonging. What does this mean for you? How will you begin and continue to pursue the Truth as a follower of Christ? As fellow Christians, it is our challenge to exercise our ability to ask questions, and our responsibility to make each other our kin.

- Leanna Cappiello

[Leanna Cappiello is an M.T.S. student at Regis College, and works as the Social & Community Coordinator St Basil’s Parish. The relationship between Arts, the Incarnation, and Co-Creation are of particular interest to her. In 2012-2013, Leanna served as an intern at the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in NYC. After her taste of politics, she hopes to continue in grassroots organizations in order to foster healthy hospitable, relational, and educational environments.]