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Mark Wheeler
Matthew 12:48-50
02/06/2022
“What Is God Saying? ‘Did Jesus Just Dis’ His Mama?’”
Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church
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Take My Life and Let It Be – verse 1 . . . Jake Davis
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Hello everyone! Welcome to worship at Lidgerwood!!
Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee! What a beautiful prayer with which to begin this time of gathered worship!
Welcome! W are glad you are here with us today! (Thank you Jake for opening our worship experience today!)
Our worship theme this month centers on difficult or confusing Bible passages or theological themes.
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Thank you, on behalf of our Elders’ Council, thank you for … continuing to be a place where we love each other and our families by:
“Wearing your mask while inside the building.”
This is not because we are afraid, but because we want to love our neighbors. Last week the State of Washington has suffered record-breaking numbers of new COVID cases (Spokane has not – but we likely will). We truly want that no one should feel judged, and everyone should feel safe, so continue to be gentle with each other. Listening to the Philippians 2:4 passage:
“ in humility, each counting others better than himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.” Philippians 2:4
We are gathered in our church sanctuary – a holy place – and it’s also a safe place – where the divine and the human connect together. Welcome to this holy sacred and safe place today.
CAMERA
Let’s take a second to welcome each other, and those in the room, look at the camera and say HI to your friends who are at home. Tell your loved ones, whoever you can see , “The Love of the Lord be with you – and also in you – and also with you! And you! And you!!”
Welcome to this “gathering” in God’s name. We are assembled in NorthEast Spokane, WA, along with people from all over the world. We are very glad you are “here” with us.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit presence and power, in your homes, through your phones and computers, in this building here, and in your lives. Pray with us … and hear and be transformed by God’s Word.
Today Pastor Kathy Calls us to Worship from Psalm 19 and an early Praise Song:
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Our opening song of praise and devotion –– #569 – Living for Jesus a Life that Is True – led by Deanna & Gene Peden!!Please join them and sing these beautiful words of hope and faith together.
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Prayer of Illumination
Gracious and loving God, we thank You for Your divine providence in our lives that has so ordered the course of our living that You have intertwined our lives together in this Church. We pray that by Your grace, by the deep working of Your Spirit in our midst, You would help us to be so released to You in what we do together that You may be able to fulfill in us and through us the good and perfect will for our wholeness for which You have brought us to this place at this time. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Intro series – difficult passages or theological ideas for us to understand or follow or even accept as from God, perhaps.
Today’s passage is one that came from one of you – and I agree that is certainly hard to understand … and when we understand it, it is hard to accept. The fact that those are both true, possibly makes this a hard passage to follow. Personally, I’ve never heard this particular question asked before – at least not exactly the way it was asked this time. So, for the chance to wrestle with these words of Jesus for a week, and for the opportunity to explore them with you, I thank the one who asked today’s question.
The way I am asking this question is not the way the asker of the question originally asked it, but it is the way I interpreted her question and sought to discover exactly what God may have said.
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Here’s the exact question that came to me, but first, let’s read the passage, Matthew 12:46-50 …. —-
“46 While he was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, ‘Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.’
“48 He replied to the one who was speaking to him, ‘Who is my mother and who are my brothers?’ 49 Stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’”
Here’s the difficulty that was asked me: “I know Jesus embraces all of us, but wouldn’t He acknowledge His mother?” I ask it: “Did Jesus Just Dis’ His Mama?”
Part of what makes this passage hard to understand and accept is how it seems, when asked from the perspective of the “mother” who asked me the question, is how Jesus seems to disobey one of the 10-Commandments: to “honor your father and your mother.” Does He not dis-honor His mother here?
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There’s another New Testament story of Jesus which fits this same category. In John’s Gospel, chapter 2, at the site of Jesus’ first miracle when His mother suggests that He do something about the lack of wine at the wedding they’re attending. Jesus replies: “Woman, why do you bother me about this?! My time has not yet come!”
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And in Luke 14:26 Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”
In John Jesus calls His mother “Woman” and argues about doing what she wants (He does end up turning water into wine, but only after this initial refusal), in Matthew Jesus ignores His mother’s request to visit, and in Luke He goes so far as to say we all have to “hate” our mother. What the heck is God saying? How do any of these passages “honor” Jesus’ mother or your mother? It’s almost as if Jesus was just a teenager when He gave these teachings. But even as a teenager, would Jesus dis’ His Mama?
It doesn’t sound like Jesus, does it? That’s why it’s hard to understand and accept. It really doesn’t make much sense.
So what’s the answer? We have to look at the context, don’t we? Context always defines the terms we use.
Last July Lary & Sandy both said, “I do.” And because it was at their wedding, we all know the context. But if they had said the same thing, but the question instead was, “Who here wants to give me $1,000.00?” Their “I do” would have meant something entirely different. That might have been another “good” thing to have said … but that’s not what the context meant.
Here’s another context determined definition: The Uber Driver asks his passenger, “Do you live on the right?” And the passenger answers, “Yeah. Right.” Or the Pastor asks Lary & Sandy, “Do you want to give an extra $1,000.00?” And they answer, “Yeah. Right.” By the context, and only by the context, do we know what that meant.
So what does the context of Matthew 12 tell us Jesus means when He says, “Who is my mother?” Obviously Jesus knows who His mother is. The same would be true in the context of the Luke passage. Does Jesus hate His mother? Does He really want us to “hate” our mothers? “Yeah. Right.” That would be absurd.
In both passages Jesus is speaking in hyperbole – He is making a point by exaggeration. “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” How does He answer? “Anyone who does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother.” This passage, probably more than any other, allows us to call each other “brother and sister in Christ.” After all, if we do the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven and thus become His brothers and sisters, do we not also become “brothers and sisters” of each other? In John’s Gospel Jesus says that any who receives Him, who believes in His name, have the right to be called“children of God”. Again, if we are all God’s children, are we also not each other’s brothers and sisters?
As Presbyterians we are “in communion” with a whole school of churches, but we are also in fellowship with every church that rightly worships God and loves and serves our neighbors – we are deeply connected to Fellowship Church of God with our orphan mission in Kenya, we share worship together every Summer cross-denominationally, interracially, multi-generationally, etc; in two weeks I will be attending the oldest Black Church in WA State’s 132 anniversary (Calvary Baptist Church on 3rd Ave). All of this affirms the truth that Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church is not the only legitimate church on this planet, and that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not the only real denomination to worship God, and that, in fact, Methodists, Pentecostals, Baptists, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, independent, and underground churches – if they receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, and do the will of His Father in Heaven – are all brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank God!
So the next question becomes, what does it mean to “do the will of [His] Father in Heaven”?
Obviously, that could be a-whole-nother sermon. But, briefly, the Luke passage and the John passage already referred to help us out. To do the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven starts with receiving Him as Lord and Savior. That’s what God wants for the whole world. That’s why you and I are told to go tell every creature the Good News of Jesus Christ. That’s why we are given the Great Commission to make disciples and baptize everyone we find in the name of the Father, to Son and the Holy Spirit.
It also means that nothing and no-one should ever come before God in our relationships. The First Commandment requires that we have no other gods! Let nothing and let no one supersede God’s place in our lives. That is doing the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven.
Is Jesus dis’in’ His Mama? “Yeah. Right.”
Better than that, Jesus is using His mother as an example of someone who does the will of His Father in Heaven, an example we should all learn to follow! He holds His mother up as a demonstration as one who does the will of God. Maybe if we did, our Church, God’s Church at Lidgerwood, in Spokane, across denominational lines and political borders, would do a better job of, in fact, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and loving the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our mind. Amen? Does that help?
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Great God of Creation,
Lead us into our 2nd hundred years of worship in this sanctuary.
Prepare us for everything You would have us do and be here at LPC.
Confirm Your direction with joy and hope.
In Jesus’ authority. Amen. ……….
18-20 Let’s come to the Lord in prayer –
- what are some praises, thanksgivings, adorations we want to offer?
- Is there a person or a situation you want to lift to our Lord for His answers and grace?
21 We pray this in the name of Jesus, who taught us to pray: [The Lord’s Prayer]
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We are living, breathing messages of God’s love for the world. This is our work of faith and our labor of love and our steadfastness of hope in Jesus Christ. Like the earliest Christians, we are here in this place because of the commitment and faith and generosity of others who shared the Good News of the Gospel in their time.
So we turn now, in our time, and share our faith and our commitment through generous giving to support the ministry of this church in Christ’s name. Let us gather our gifts together and offer them to God in gratitude and praise.
– Offering (4449 N Nevada St, Spokane, 99207 ; or click HERE, or text 833-976-1333, code “Lidgerwood”)
23 Communion Invitation – COVID-friendly cups – cellophane and foil
Pastor Kathy will lead us in this commemorative celebration.
Let’s prepare ourselves with a Communion song of Thanksgiving – #379 – For the Fruit of All Creation, Thanks be to God – led by Donna Stone:
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Expedition Song – Spirit of the Living God! –! –! We opened today with a prayer of submission to God’s reign, and we close today with a prayer for God’s indwelling presence and power to make us able to submit well.
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We continue with this benediction: May we Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
And give glory to God, today, and forever! Amen.
32 Announcements
Resources:
Bruce, FF; The Hard Sayings of Jesus; InterVarsity Press; Downers Grove, IL; 1983; Pp. 119-121.
Mulholland, M. Robert; Shaped by the Word; Upper Room Press; Nashville, TN; 2000; P. 16.
Wheeler, Mark; “What Did God Say? ‘Did Jesus Just Dis’ His Mama?’”; Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church; 10/09/2005.
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