Simply Jesus | A Conflict of Kingdoms - Fr. Samuel Mbabaali

The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Mark.

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they

could not even eat. And when his family heard it,

they went out to seize him. For they were saying He is out

of his mind. And the scribes who came down

from Jerusalem were saying, He is possessed by Beelzebel and by

the Prince of demons. He casts out the demons, and he

called them to him and said 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 is coming

to an end. But no one can enter a strong

man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first finds the

strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his

house. Truly I say to you, all sins

will be forgiven the children of man, but whatever blasphemies

they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy

Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.

For they were saying, He has an unclean spirit, the gospel of

the Lord. Please pray with me.

You know, Lord, how we struggle to respond to appropriate

authority. You know that sometimes we

conflict with truth. Right now we welcome you to come

and speak to us. Show us what is true and how to

respond to truth in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen. Can I have your seats?

Imagine it is the early 1600s and a man by the names of

Galilee or Galilee points a telescope to the sky and he

makes a shocking observation. The earth moves around the sun.

But soon this question by Galileo proves to be another

question, because it becomes a question of who has the right to

speak about how the universe operates, Who has the authority

to define reality? And this question becomes very

risky than even the astronomical question.

Why? Because Galileo is not only

speaking about astronomical information, he's revealing a

new kind of truth. The truth that he speaks about

conflicts with established authorities.

The facts that he's sharing are conflicting with the interests

of fellow scientists, but importantly, with the religious

leaders of the days. In their eyes, Galileo is not

just speaking something wrong. He's very disruptive.

He's dangerous. He's causing a conflict with the

powers of his days. This is what exactly we see in

the reading in Mark, which we have taken, Mark chapter 3,

Mark 3:20–30

verse 20 to 30. Jesus defines reality by his

ministry in ways that conflict with the people around him,

especially those whose mindset is contrary to the Kingdom of

God. And these people look at him as

a threat. Let us look at this conflict of

kingdoms and we're going to see 3 movements here in the conflict

is defined, the conflict is examined, and finally the

conflict is endorsed. A conflict of Kingdom begins

when truth challenges existing authority.

In verses 20 through 22, we see how God is truth disrupts the

established order. By this time of the narration,

Jesus's ministry is rather like sold out.

He never plans events. He doesn't even send out

invitations. However, many people come to Him

in multitudes. They come to hear His teachings.

They come to receive healing from Him from physical and

spiritual illnesses. Mark tells us in verse 20 that

when he Jesus, went home and the crowd gathered again, there is

something we should notice about these crowds.

These crowds have a meaning visibly.

These are a sign that a new Kingdom has arrived and a new

order has been established in one or another.

These people are subjects of this King who has come.

Of course, many of them have not yet understood who Jesus is

truly and his mission. But however, they know that they

need him very much. That is why they keep seeking

Him despite of their different motives and their needs.

Their lives are beginning to revolve around this man, Jesus.

This is the question for us. Where do our lives gather?

To follow Jesus is to let our lives revolve around Him, our

time, our decisions and our hopes.

We don't have to understand everything to come to Him.

We just need to come because He invites us, because where we

gather reveals who is king for us.

But apart from this crowd of people gathering, there is

another group around Jesus. Not everyone is yearning for the

King. Some are confused and afraid.

This new Kingdom does not fit their expectations.

It challenges their assumptions. It threatens their interests.

And confusion often turns out into resistance.

Fear gives way to counter attack.

This confused group can fall into two categories, each

category resisting the Kingdom in a way that reflects how

certain people respond to the light.

Some decide to extinguish the light, while others opt to

obstruct the light. Let us first look at those who

switch off the light. In their mind, they mean well.

They think they are preserving the light.

They snuff out the candle because they believe they are

saving the candle from burning out.

They are sparing the candle for maybe some more appropriate use.

But a light put out is not light at all.

In Mark, this category of people includes Jesus's family, his

mother, and his brothers. When they hear that Jesus is so

busy ministering that he cannot even eat, they come to stop him.

In verse 21, Mark tells us what prompted their action.

They were saying He's out of his mind.

To them, Jesus is overworking. He's neglecting his body by

ignoring his need for food. They think that no sensible

person can do such a thing. Therefore, they try to come and

rescue him from harming himself. Indeed, their concern is

genuine, but their understanding is small.

They know him merely as their son and as their brother, but

not yet as a king. Jesus is beyond their

expectation. His mission surpasses what they

imagine. But this is not the first time

that Jesus's family has misunderstood his ministry.

Luke reports a similar event when Jesus was around age 12.

His parents lost him for days during a religious festival in

Jerusalem, and when they found him, his mother questioned him,

saying, Child, why have we treated us like this?

Luke, your father and I have been searching for you in great

anxiety. And Jesus replied to them saying

that he must be in his father's house.

Luke notes at the end that they did not understand what he

meant. And now, we mark, the same

misunderstanding returns. The family is anxious about

Jesus's welfare. They do not understand his

Kingdom of selfless service. Therefore, they conclude that

he's out of his mind. Sometimes the strongest

resistance to Jesus comes from the closest places, those around

us. They don't always look like

Hostess hostility, but sometimes it looks like concern, like

care, like common sense. But love without understanding

can still oppose the Kingdom. And we do this often to

ourselves and to other people. We grow uncomfortable when

obedience looks excessive, when faith looks impractical, and

when obedience disrupt normal life.

We might say that be reasonable, slow down.

Don't take this too far and without meaning.

We try to switch off the light. We want a Jesus who fits our

expectations, who honors our boundaries, who does not cost us

too much. But Jesus is not only our

comfort. He is our King, and his Kingdom

will sometimes stretch us. It will interrupt our routines

and will challenge our sense of sensibility.

Let us stand to the second way of responding to light, which is

obstructing. You know that light travels in a

straight line, and anything that stands in that line which is not

transparent gets in the way of the light.

And when light is blocked, shadows are formed.

The light is still on, but its power is distorted, it is reach

is limited, and its intensity is weakened.

The obstruction does not destroy the light, it simply prevents it

from being fully filled. In verse 22, we meet this second

category of people, those who block the light and distort it.

Here in we see a delegation of legal experts arrive again from

Jerusalem, the religious capital, and they're here for an

official mission. They are here to investigate

this man Jesus, who is casting out demons.

And after their own examination in their own criteria, they

reach to conclusions. Their first claim is he's

possessed by Belzebub. In other words, Jesus has an

unclean spirit, not just any spirit, but the chief of all

unclean spirits. And their second conclusion is

by the Prince of demons. He casts out demons.

Therefore, their conclusion is that Jesus is not a messenger of

God, He's Saturn's agent. We should notice that they don't

deny the power and the miracles. They recognize a Kingdom of

supernatural authority. Yet they take what is true

observation and they become of it a false conclusion.

Jesus is power is real, but they label it as evil.

And in doing this they are distorting the light within

their own hearts, but also in the hearts of their audiences.

It is possible to see the light and to distort it.

And we do this too. When Jesus confronts our

assumptions, we look for other explanations.

When authority threatens our control, we reframe it.

We say there must be another reason.

There must be another source. This can't be really good,

asking me to do something like this.

Up to this point, the conflict has been named.

Light has entered the world, and it has disrupted the established

order. But now Jesus does something

that is crucial. He does not ignore the

accusations around him. Instead, he speaks into these

accusations. The conflict is no longer just

visible, but it becomes a logical conflict.

Jesus reveals the weakness of the false accusations about the

Kingdom of God. Beginning in verse 23, Jesus

calls Caesar choose us to himself, and he asks one simple

question. How can Satan cast out Satan?

Then Jesus illustrates this point with three with two

images. A Kingdom divided against itself

cannot stand, and neither a household divided against itself

it can't stand. His point is to say that power

structures do not survive when they are destroying themselves.

So, taken seriously, the scribes are contradicted, are

contradicting themselves. Jesus is reputation rests on one

simple truth. Evil is organized, it is

intentional, and it's coherent. Jesus reminds us that the

Kingdom of darkness is unified, it is strategic, it is

consistent in its aim. And he reminds us that we

shouldn't be surprised sometimes when temptation feels

coordinated and when lies are consistent and when resistance

to truth feels organized. Jesus wants us to be a lot,

because if darkness does not wage war against itself, then we

shouldn't as the people of light, because division weakens

our weakness. As student of light, unitary is

our strength. Let me suggest a couple of ways

how we can demonstrate unity even this week by praying

together, lifting our hearts together in prayer, by

encouraging one another. Those who are feeling burdened,

let's encourage them in faith, but also by serving alongside

one another in ministry and in outreach, but also by forgiving

quickly, letting go of some of the grudges we have, and

restoring relationships. Having said this, Jesus ends his

response with the conclusive decision in verse 27.

He declares, But no one can enter a strong man's house and

plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.

Then indeed, he may plunder his house.

Think about a game of chess. You know you cannot capture your

opponent skiing unless you have played strategically and you

have tried to defend him by neutralizing several of his

pieces on the board and then you are.

When you have neutralized all those pieces, then you can

secure your victory. Jesus identifies Satan as a

strong man. However, he's not stronger than

himself, Jesus. But though limited, Satan cannot

be defeated when we have half measures.

Jesus comes to neutralize this person, Satan, and every

exorcism that he carries out is a testimony that Jesus has

authority over Satan. And if Jesus is the strong man,

we must not feel that we don't have strength because the strong

man has been bound. We can walk in freedom, we can

comfort sin in honesty, and we can resist temptation, but also

we can live without fear and we can't boldly advance the Kingdom

of light. And now up to this point, Jesus

has exposed the fault logic. He has revealed the truth

battle. He has shown that the stronger

man has already been defeated. But now the moment sharpens

because once truth is clear, neutrality is no longer

possible. In verse 28 through 30, Jesus

presses the issue further. He draws a line.

He calls us for response. This is no longer about

misunderstanding. It's about allegiance.

The conflict has been defined, it has been explained, now it is

to be endorsed and it gives us places a strong question before

us on whose side will we fall. Gives us issues.

A sincere and serious warning to his accusers, saying truly, I

said to you, all sin will be forgiven.

The children of man, and whatever bless them is they

utter, but whoever blasphemies against the Holy Spirit never

has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin, for they were

saying He has an unclean spirit. He warns that their defiant

hostility to the Kingdom of God, the work of God, can put them

beyond repentance. When light is called darkness

and the work of God is named as evil, the heart is hardened

against the grace of God and those who refuse to recognize

God is work refuse to reach out for forgiveness.

And no one receives what we have not sold for.

This is why such concept content cannot be forgiven, not because

God is not merciful, but because the door of repentance has been

shut and from inside persistent rejection of the Kingdom of God

and we call it evil. We have made a verdict against

ourselves that we don't need that Kingdom.

We cannot reach out for that Kingdom.

Jesus is warning not the tender hearted, but the heart that is

hardened. The danger is not struggling

with doubt. The danger is not settling, but

the danger is settling into defiance.

The danger is not asking question, but the danger is

closing off our serves to any possibility of God is work and

how do we close off our serves to God every time when we

dismiss the Spirit is convictions that come into our

hearts, sometimes tenderly and we say I don't want those

convictions every time. When truth comes to us and we

try to explain it away. Every time.

When we label obedience as being too much of an extreme and when

unholiness becomes unnecessary to us, we are slowly drifting

away quietly from the Kingdom of God and our hearts will soon

become too heavy and too blind. CS Lewis says in this famous

quote that Jesus must be either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord.

But everything depends on how we view his authority.

When his authority feels unreasonable, we dismiss him as

being a lunatic. When his authority feels

unfamiliar and unsettling, we label him as a liar.

But when his authority is recognized as being true, we

fall before him and we profess who he is.

He's our Lord. The man.

Gary Leo was condemned in 1642 and it took 19193 years when his

books were banned. We are listed as among books

that are condemned not to be read and it took 350 years for

him to be admitted that he was true.

He said what was true? The authorities admitted that

they were wrong. Gary Leo was indeed true.

The truth had been delayed, but it had not been defeated.

Jesus is authority was vindicated sooner because in his

resurrection Jesus trampled against Satan and he defeated

him. The conflict of the Kingdom may

continue on for a while, but the verdict has already been shown

to us. And one day this Jesus will come

back in authority, and all people will confess Him as Lord.

Even those who deny Him, they will confess Him as Lord.

Therefore, invite Him to come in our lives in the name of the

Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.