3rd Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 3:8-15; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1; Mark 3:20-35
In the scene of the gospel of Mark this Sunday, everyone either wants to restrain Jesus or have a piece of him for themselves. The crowd, longing for healing and nourishment, will not even allow Jesus and the disciples to eat (3:20). That is fine. That is what they were there to do. On the other hand, I wonder if the scribes only wished for a small fraction of Jesus’ restoring power. Apparently, all they knew besides questioning his authority was to devour widows (Mark 12:40). Because they can’t possibly have what Jesus does, he can only be Beelzebul. The destroyer must be destroyed (Mark 3:6). Meanwhile, his family feels he has gone unhinged and try to rein him into compliance and conformity. Amid all this chaos and nonsense, Jesus reminds everyone he is the Lord of everything. Furthermore, he belongs to everyone who does the will of God, and they belong to him as well.
What the text of Genesis omits from this Sunday is the fact that it was the man who was charged with the commandment of not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and therefore, the one who bore the responsibility to observe it – Eve was not even in the picture yet (2:16-18). Yet, Mr. Adam throws her under the bus instead of stepping to the plate (3:12). Both Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, but the Lord clothes them with the hope of forgiveness first (21-22).
Paul proclaims this hope to the Corinthians. The God who raised Christ promises to raise us also through the faith (4:14) that brings us back, unashamed, to the fullness of the divine presence (5:1-5).
The psalmist cries out:
“Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.”
(Psalm 130:2-4; NRSVue)
Bridging Faith 