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Mark 3:19 - 35

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.’ 

Mark 3:7 - 19

⁷ Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; ⁸hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. ⁹He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him;¹⁰for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. ¹¹Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’ ¹²But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

¹³ He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. ¹⁴And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,* to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message,¹⁵and to have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶So he appointed the twelve:* Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); ¹⁷James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); ¹⁸and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home;

My life feels somewhat chaotic at the moment. We have a baby on the way and a rambunctious three year old, and I’m going through some professional changes. Not to mention the primaries, coronavirus, and climate change.

Most days it’s almost all I can do to care for myself and my family, let alone my friends and coworkers and the other seven billion people in the world.

I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling this way. It feels a little like being crushed by the crowd of my to-do lists, the friends and family who I haven’t called in a while, the planning meetings with fellow activists I’ve missed, everything I can’t quite handle right now.

In recent weeks, saying morning or evening prayer has been helpful. The familiar prayers give me a chance to pause, like a moment alone on a quiet lake or peaceful walk on a mountain. The prayers help put things in perspective, reminding me that I am a small part of a much larger story, over which I have little control. The history of failures, small and large, that haunt me in the middle of the night can be forgiven. I do not have to face the fear I sometimes feel alone. These are things I know, but in these anxious times it can be easy to forget.

That pause for prayer and quiet, the chance to return to what I know is true, is only one part of the story, of course. Jesus goes back into the crowds and sends out the disciples to do God’s work in the world.

It’s an ongoing cycle of rest and return, prayer and service. I’d say it’s a little like breathing, in and out, but that implies it comes naturally, which it does not. Not for me, anyway. Making space for quiet is hard work. And so is doing the work of loving others - our family, friends, and the world. Yet, I believe, they are both required of us, and the only way to serve the world without being crushed by the crowd.