And the Tale of a Blue and Black Dress
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Jun 9, 2024
Mark 3:20-35
About ten years ago, some of you may remember, there was a huge controversy on the internet over the color of a dress. Some saw a blue and black dress and others saw a white and gold dress. The photo was not doctored. An innocent post went viral because the people who saw blue and black could not believe that others saw white and gold. Those colors aren’t even close and both sets of people thought the other had lost their minds. Some people thought the other group was trying to trick them. It was so baffling. The blue and black folks could not understand why the white and gold folks couldn’t see it, and vice versa. So, of course, when we can’t understand why people think or see or experience something differently, we judge them, call them names. Each group tries to become the morally superior group. Even over the color of a dress.
Now there are scientific reasons people saw two different colors but I won’t go into it now. The point is, neither group was wrong or right. But for many people, they needed to be right and the ambiguity of it all drove them to say things and act in ways that were silly or even unkind and demeaning. They were so sure of what they saw. We are afraid and suspicious of what we don’t understand, so that drives us to want to control the narrative of what is going on around us. When we can’t relate, instead of being open to understanding why things may be different for someone else, we seek to convince the other person that we are right and they are wrong. Our human nature is like that, no matter who we are. That’s why Jesus’ teachings were, and still are, so hard for us. Our lives of faith guided by the Holy Spirit is a constant effort to not succumb to this way of responding and instead lean into being ok with ambiguity and maybe not having all the answers.
We get an example of this in our Gospel today. Jesus isn’t behaving in a manner that his family finds acceptable. He’s out there with a growing crowd of people, he hasn’t eaten, and it’s causing a scene. Jesus is embarrassing the family and they show up to restrain him and take him home. The crowd resorts to tactics we use today when we don’t understand, “He’s out of his mind!” Dismissing a person’s validity by calling them crazy. And if that doesn’t work, take it a step further and call them evil. Evil. Such a dangerous word.
I can promise you that assaulting someone’s mental health, calling them evil, or any other term meant to diminish them will never, ever, bring healing, restoration,
or usher in the Kingdom of God.
The scribes, who are the scripture experts, are affronted because Jesus is not accredited. There is a power at work that seems to heal people, release them from suffering, and they can’t understand it. There seems to be no explanation for it, so Jesus must be sidelined and silenced–slap a label on it, call him names, so people won’t take him seriously. They can’t see God at work in their midst and claim it is the work of demons, Beelzebul, no less, which means Lord of Dung. A bit shocking, but Mark wants us to understand what is happening here. To call the very Son of God an unclean spirit, is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit.
Two thousand years before the internet and social media, trolling was a thing. But Jesus engages with his accusers. Unlike social media or email, however, Jesus engaged with people face to face. He always saw their humanity no matter who it was. But here, Jesus addresses their accusation by explaining it’s not possible for this to be the work of evil because a house divided cannot stand. Evil forces at work are not going to be healing and restoring people, let alone redeeming them.
Up to now, Jesus has probably been a good and responsible son, providing for the family as the eldest. But now, it’s time to fulfill his purpose. And he is going against every custom and traditional family value by pointing to the people around him claiming his family has extended outside of what has been traditionally known as family. Jesus is ushering in a very large, blended family. Because they all belong to him. Whoever does the will of God, is my family, Jesus tells them. He doesn’t exclude them, but he is opening up a bigger home where all are welcome. It is a strong message to the church today.
Jesus sees the image of God in the people he is healing, teaching, feeding, and even arguing with. No one, not the outcasts nor the Pharisees and scribes are beyond redemption. I believe God will wait to usher in the second coming of Christ as long as there is any hope that even the most depraved may have something in them worth redeeming. Because Christ will go after one lost sheep even though all the rest are safely with the flock. Jesus sees the Holy Spirit in each one, even if only a tiny spark, and tells those listening that to malign or disparage or label or call names or call anyone of them crazy is a grievance against the Spirit itself and THAT is not okay.
This is such an important message for the Body of Christ, the church. When I was meeting folks from St. Christopher’s for the first time, the consistent message here was that you all were family, this community was important to you, and your fellowship with one another was one of the most important reasons for staying here.
Part of being a Christian community is acceptance of each other as we are. We really don’t want to be around people that are exactly like ourselves, we wouldn’t be able to stand it. But we are to approach our differences with curiosity, not animosity. There is no reason to feel threatened, we are all in the struggle together. The best way to address the fear and evil in the world is to not project that on to others. Let’s make sure we tend to each other and listen to the people with whom we disagree. We will disagree from time to time, but we do not, ever, dehumanize the other person and forget to see each other’s humanity as made in the image of God.
We live in an era of labeling, shaming, and seeking to have moral superiority over those we don’t agree with, wanting to be the ones in the right. We must not forget who we are and whose we are–brothers and sisters and siblings in Christ and we need each other. Look each other in the eye and see Christ looking back at you. Never blaspheme the Spirit in that person. Treat everyone with the respect you also would like, even if it has not been extended to you. THAT is the Way of Christ, the path we’ve chosen to follow. It ain’t easy, but if I know someone cares about me, I am much more likely to hear and accept when I need to be corrected.
There are too many people outside the walls of this church that are terrified to step in because of what they have heard the people inside the church say about them. We use the labels of political parties, ethnicity, citizenship, gender, sexuality, and economic class with such contempt and Jesus has some pretty strong feelings about that. Jesus was shattering the cultural norms of family and shaking things up to get the attention of his followers that to live a Chrsitian life is to live counter to these tendencies to be morally superior, to place judgment on folks to the point of calling them evil. I think the franciscan prayer captures well how we are to live the Way of Christ–to counter the violence, physical or verbal, that we experience every day.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
We change this world for good if we listen to each other and recognize the dignity of every human being (which I will remind you is our baptismal vow.) I can promise you that assaulting someone’s mental health, calling them evil, or any other term meant to diminish them will never, ever, bring healing, restoration, or usher in the Kingdom of God.
I am proud of St. Christopher’s and this faithful and compassionate community. As we live in a divisive time in our nation and world, we must remember that we belong to Christ and be sure to treat each other as our chosen family and to be the face of Christ in the world, as difficult as it may be. A house divided cannot stand, so let’s make sure we mend the walls when they crack. Our purpose as a church is not to be morally superior, but to show love. As Frederick Buechner once wrote, “If you want to be holy, be kind.” Encourage one another, be examples to one another, give each other grace when we get it wrong, for we cannot do it alone. Christianity is lived out in community. We are in this together. And if we do get into an argument about the color of a dress, let’s do so with fun and frivolity!
Magdalena's Musings 