In today`s world we face testing the truth among so many deceits. That may mean sifting evidence in a House of Commons enquiry. It may be testing the truth of the claims being made by our politicians and MPs, not least in this time of General Election. It may be testing the truth of those who offer us bargain goods in a smooth delivery on the phone or the doorstep. We are told again and again to beware scams, or dishonest schemes, to find truth from deceit.
Scams go back a long way. Here is one in our Old Testament reading: the snake offers his version of truth to the woman in Genesis 3: `Did God really say `you must not eat from any tree in the garden?` `You will not certainly die`, the snake said to the woman. `For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.` Finding deceit in a place of truth.
Our Gospel reading from Mark chapter 3 shows us another encounter between truth and deceit, this time between Jesus and those opposing him.
Have you ever been accused of being a bit odd because you go to church, and you are known as a Christian? Here Jesus encounters that scenario: he is accused by his own family of actually being mad. Verse 21: `When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said `He is out of his mind.` Others join in the encounter: The teachers of the law said `He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.`
Evil is only too real in our world – now as much as then. Paul puts it clearly in Ephesians 6:12: `Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.` The devil`s task is to deceive and accuse, something he does in each of our lives. Often his accusation is illogical, as here. Jesus challenges them: `How can Satan drive out Satan?` Jesus speaks strongly in verse 28: `People will be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.` Those who think they may have committed that sin are unlikely to have done so because such an attitude is all about deliberately turning one`s back on God and his call. Such a person would not seek God. Thomas Fuller wrote this: `The sin against the Holy Spirit is ever attended with these two symptoms: absence of all contrition, and of all desire of forgiveness. Now, if you can truly say that your sins are a burden to you, that you do desire forgiveness, and would give anything to attain it, be of good comfort: you have not yet, and by God`s grace, never shall commit that unpardonable offence.` Finding truth, not deceit.
We celebrate today the happy truth of the Gospel and what it means to us. It is here summarised in the setting up of the Kingdom, in the words of Jesus himself: `Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God`s will is my brother and sister and mother.` We celebrate week by week the strength of the Christian family where our love and concern is for one another just as much as our concern for our blood families. We are to look beyond the deceit of the world and look to the home we inherit. It`s not a temporary tent: it is a solid home. So Paul can write: `Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.` The words of Jesus: `I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.`
The Revd Pat Hopkins