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.

During these uncharted times, we may encounter financial hardships caused by the loss of a job, salary furlough, or salary reduction. The price of groceries and other goods has increased causing our budgets to shrink. We are hesitant to spend money as easily as before the COVID-19 outbreak because we are unsure what the future holds. Due to business closures, the economy has taken untold damage and it may take years to recover. Additionally, the unrest that our nation is experiencing has also brought on a sense of unease and worry. Life in this country does not look or feel like it did in 2019. Though life in our nation (and our world) has changed, God has not! God has not left this world to fend for itself. God has not abdicated his throne. He is still on the throne and ruler of all that is visible and invisible. Though we may face financial hardship now, and though there is unrest in the nation, God is still in charge. This should give us a sense of hope in these scary times. Hope – that God will provide. Hope – that God will not abandon us. It might seem that there is not enough but God will always provide. God will never leave us nor forsake us.

Jesus is typically seen and thought of as the peaceful and gentle Messiah, Lord, and Savior. However, the Gospels also record a Jesus who is confrontational and harsh. For example, Jesus overturned the tables of the merchants in the outer court of the Temple. (Matthew 21, Mark 11) He also directly confronted the Pharisees regarding their pride and hypocrisy. (Matthew 23: 1-12) He cursed the fig tree that had no figs. (Matthew 11: 12-25) After all, Jesus was not really the “nice guy” we thought he was.

In the Gospel reading today we hear the words of Christ, “No one comes to me, unless the One who sent me, the Father draws him.” (St. John 6: 44) What does Christ mean by this? First, we must examine what it means to “draw.” There are a few synonyms for a draw, such as: attract, captivate, and pull. These are but a few. I like the term “push.” More robustly “push us toward.” In the context of the Gospels, this means that it is God the Father who “pushes us toward” his Son. Therefore, outside of the power of God, we would not know Christ. This simply means that it is in and through God that we know God the Son. Of our power, of our own doing, of our strength, we would not know Christ. Here, when I say knowing Christ, I mean: to have a “conviction” in the core of our being that he is God, Savior, and Lord and to live this out in the life of the Church.