Rev. Michael Wallace sermon

MW sermon OS10B Holy Trinity Cathedral, Suva Mark 3:20-35

Ni sa yadra, Namaste, Malo e lelei, Talofa lava, Tēnā tātou katoa, good morning. Greetings from the Council for Ecumenism of the ACANZ &P. It is a delight to be here in Suva. Members of the Council participating this meeting are: Rev. Sepi Hala’api’api and Fei Tevi from Tikanga Pasifika, Rev. Vianny Douglas and the Rev. Tamsyn Kereopa from Tikanga Māori, the Very Rev. Anne Mills, Rev. Ivica Gregurec and myself from Tikanga Pākehā and our General Secretary Rev. Canon Michael Hughes. The job of the Council is to attend to the ecumenical and interfaith relationships of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia- if you would like more information about the Council’s work please speak with one of the members after the service.

Thank you to the Diocese of Polynesia, Archbishop Sione and your family, Principal Liliani, staff and students of St. John the Baptist College for your generous hospitality. Vinaka vakalevu. Thank you Archbishop Sione and Fr. Orisi for the privilege of preaching here today.

Today’s Gospel shows Jesus in conflict. Conflict with friends, conflict with the authorities, conflict with his family including his mother, and aiming at the scribes, Jesus’ own provoking of conflict about the Holy Spirit. I think we probably all know someone talented in conflict- someone who has the gift of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time. (Perhaps you’re sitting beside them now)

We all know that families don’t always agree- in today’s Gospel it seems that Jesus’ family are fed up with his conduct and think that he has finally gone too far. He’s not eating properly, he’s saying stupid things, he’s hanging out with unsuitable people, and getting in trouble with the authorities (I think many parents of teenagers feel the same way), so the family stages an intervention; they go to take him home to rescue him and perhaps try to rescue the family’s reputation.

But like a lot of young people Jesus doesn’t say “of course Mum- you’re right about everything, I’ll start eating properly, I’ll stop doing all those things that annoy you, I’ll dump my stupid friends, and I’ll come home with you now.” Instead he says; “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Perhaps fortunately scripture doesn’t record the reaction of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Jesus’ shocking statement. While his statement could have seemed hurtful - just as interactions between parents and children sometimes are- a statement like the one Jesus makes is an important point in self-development. For a child there will be a moment when they choose an identity distinct from their parents, and claim some independence from their family.

Jesus however is not just being a moody teen and rejecting his mother and brothers. He is showing in the clearest way that anyone and everyone can be in his family. Jesus explodes the concept of family- he says biology is not the only way to be in my family, he says anyone who chooses to sit with me, anyone who chooses to walk with me, anyone who chooses to loves the people I love- especially those who are despised and downtrodden, anyone who chooses to do God’s will is my family, anyone who joins me in working for God’s kingdom of love, justice, mercy, peace and compassion is my family.

The Council for Ecumenism’s job is take care of how our church is interacting with various parts of God’s family. We take care of the dialogues the Anglican Church has with our sisters and brothers in the Roman Catholic and Methodist churches, we take care of the relationships with ecumenical organisations and councils, including the World Council of Churches and the Pacific Conference of Churches. We try to promote a sense of family with Christians from different traditions and with people of other faiths.

Yesterday the Council had the privilege of meeting with the Rev. James Bagwan, Frances Namoumou and Olivia Melissa Baro of the Pacific Conference of Churches. On Monday we will visit Pacific Theological College.

Yesterday the Council considered the Tuākoi ’lei Declaration- a statement from the PCC members and partners at the ‘Otin Taai plus 20’ conference last month. At the start of that conference the Minister for Home Affairs, Environment and Climate Change for Tuvalu Dr. Maina Talia stated: “We as churches of the Pacific must not fear speaking truth to power, we must not be held hostage on issues that we did not cause. We should seek to keep industrialised countries, our global neighbours- for neighbours are now nearby and far away in this interconnected planet- we should seek to keep them accountable for their actions.” As well as calling for a transition away from fossil fuels, divestment from fossil fuels, an international ecocide law, standing against deep sea mining and seeking to secure community-led climate financing, the conference also called for “strengthening ecumenical and interfaith collaboration at all levels”.

The Tuākoi ’lei declaration challenges us in many ways; and paired with today’s gospel it challenges us to extend our idea of family. It challenges us to broaden the scope of our love, compassion and justice beyond those we are physically related to. It challenges us to love our big beautiful expanded family by rejecting fossil fuels and deep sea mining, it challenges us to love our family by fully understanding the relationship between God, Creation and people. It challenges us to keep building connections with people of other faith traditions. It challenges us to take responsibility and action for the health and wellbeing of the whole family on this planet which God has set like a radiant jewel in the heavens.

Jesus and the Tuākoi ‘lei declaration invites us to widen who we see as important, increase who we will listen to, expand who we will advocate for, and grow who we really love.

Verses 28 and 29 of today’s gospel are a bit of a rollercoaster. In verse 28 we feel great because Jesus says that people can be “forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter.” Then in verse 29 we feel concerned because he says “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin,” This causes a lot of anxiety- because we naturally start worrying if we have committed the undefined unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit.

What might the unforgivable sin be? St. Mark’s gospel characterises sin against the Holy Spirit as looking at the good - Jesus healing, for example, and seeing evil rather than good. To refuse to see the good implies a definite choice to reject the activity of the Spirit. In the NRSV (generally agreed to be a more scholarly translation) Jesus does not say that God will not offer forgiveness for the sin of blasphemy against the Spirit, rather that one that does not rightly acknowledge the power of the Spirit will never have forgiveness. That is, those who refuse to open themselves to the power of the Spirit will miss the forgiveness and healing that is offered to them.

E te whānau a t Karaiti, dear family of Christ, what is the Spirit saying to the Church today? The Good News is: Jesus is not out of his mind; he is not filled with a demon. Rather, he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and he invites all of us to be of the same mind and the same Spirit. The Good News is that Jesus calls us to expand our understanding of family - we are called to love all those whom Jesus loves- in the Gospels Jesus shows us that he loves the sick, the poor, those on the margins, and so must we. The Good News is that the Tuākoi ‘lei declaration challenges us to extend our understanding of who our family is, and how we are to love and advocate for them. The Good News is that we are called to continue building relationships with our sisters and brothers of other faith traditions because we are all part of one enormous family and because Jesus prayed “that they may all be one”. The Good News is that we cannot commit the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit if our hearts are open to the Spirit and open to the good that the Spirit is doing. The Good News is that in spite of the terrible things happening in the world- in Gaza, Ukraine, West Papua - we do not lose heart, because as St. Paul assures us in the second reading, the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also, and the Spirit assists and renews us day by day.

And for those still worried that Jesus had been rude to his mother. The Good News is that Mary was not rejected; Jesus’s inclusion of all echoes Mary’s song the Magnificat with its call to ‘lift up the lowly, fill the hungry with good things, and send the rich away empty.’ And the Good News is we are invited to echo Mary in saying yes to God’s call, and in bringing Jesus ever more fully into the beautiful, diverse, worldwide family. Amen