GOSPEL MESSAGE & RECORDING
Jesus was a great preacher and teacher and his miracles were something the world had never seen before. He was also a great debater, so neither the Pharisees nor Scribes were able to stump him with any of their questions. His popularity was increasing and so he became a threat to the Jewish establishment of his time.
In the Gospel reading, taken from Mark 3: 20-30, Jesus was accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan—Beelzebub. This was an absurd suggestion because this implies that Satan was casting out Satan. In reply, Jesus said, “How can Satan cast out Satan. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” (Mark 3: 23) The Pharisees were resorting to this type of accusation because they had tried everything else and nothing worked. Calling Jesus Satan was a tactic of desperation.
Satan was in the business of dividing the people of God. He was involved in dividing the work of God among His people, not dividing himself. There are different ways that Satan attempts to divide us through: 1) race and ethnicity 2) politics 3) negative influences and 4) spiritual laziness.
Race and ethnicity: I have heard it said, “I am proud to be Indian, Italian, etc.” Why should we be proud to be something that we had no say in or had nothing to do with? No effort was taken in us being born into a certain race or ethnicity. There is only one race—the human race. It is the job of Satan to divide people into races and ethnicity to a degree that there are racism and prejudice. I am not saying that we should not acknowledge our culture or heritage, but it should not go above and beyond our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our identity is essential with Christ not with a country or race. As Orthodox Christians, we are to uphold our faith and Church before our ethnicity. That is why Jesus told his disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”
Politics: In our nation, the political climate is highly polarized. Politics should work for the people, instead of it working to divide people. It is fine for us to have a party affiliation, but to make politics our religion, where it becomes more important than the church, is a scheme of Satan to make politics our focal point, rather than God. As Christians, we don’t belong to any party, in theory, because we essentially belong to the party of Jesus Christ.
Negative influences: in our life negative influences, by way of certain people and even friends, will try to divide us from Christ. Be careful of negative influences, particularly by other people, whom we have allowed access into our lives, and the lives of our families. Always remember that peace is what we should strive for not division – and if anyone is encouraging division – we should be cautious of that type of the influence.
Spiritual Laziness: this is a problem that many of us have, both laymen and clergy. No one is immune! Sometimes we fall into spiritual laziness and pop out very quickly. And sometimes it lingers for a long time causing spiritual harm. Unchecked, spiritual laziness can divide us from our Lord, most likely in a slow process. We might find ourselves controlling our emotions, our wrong desires, but within a few months, we might find ourselves overtaken by them. Why? We let down our guard – we got lazy with prayer and fasting and we find ourselves in a mess. If Satan can divide us from the Lord by becoming spiritually lazy, then he will be able to dismantle our life in every way. So always be on guard!