A House Divided
by Rev. Alexandra Robinson on June 26, 2024
Reading: Mark 3:23-30
A house divided – we see it everywhere.
Whether the UT/OU flags flying high outside the doors of a home during football season, or the Thanksgiving table tension between ham and turkey, personal preferences passionately professed focus on differences among families. Jesus says – a “house divided can not stand,” in this passage from Mark, and it makes us wonder how much unity we must have in a home to stand strong and steady before the Lord.
I’ve met many families who has only one parent attending church, while the other is “not religious.” I’ve met couples who attend different churches, based on their formative upbringing. I’ve met people who have gone through phases of worshiping different faiths underneath the same roof. Some found happiness and contentment in the midst of these religious differences. Others focused on wanting unity of their personal preference, which caused further tension in the relationship. I believe those who found contentment were able to do so because they honored the presence of the holy within all places, not just the spaces or experiences aligned with their personal preferences.
More and more, adult children who were raised in the church are disassociating from organized religion. They may even say they don’t believe in God, are agnostic, or even atheist. Many times parents worry they have done something wrong in raising that child or latch onto the hope that: “if only they found the right church connection, they would believe again.” And Jesus’ parable in Mark 3 is often used to prove the need for a house to be of one mind in religious beliefs. But for me, Mark 3:25 is encouraging us to believe the holy is still uniting you as a family, regardless of individual religious expressions. As the seed of faith planted within your child has taken root and it is growing, it may not flourish in the way you hope or wanted for your child. But that child is not committing the “unforgivable sin” because of their doubts, skepticism or explorations. The unforgivable sin is not a special class of sin that is simply so bad it causes God’s offense. The unforgivable sin is the habitual, constant rejection of Jesus’ power through the Holy Spirit’s work beyond our imagining or comprehension. It is our sin if we expect Jesus’ saving activity in the lives of our children to work on our expected timeline, or on a particular pathway, or in a specific religious construct. How? Because our personal preferences are too limited to honor the vast and mighty power of Jesus salvific presence. The unforgivable sin begins when a habitually rigid construct stifles the height, width, breadth and depth of the Holy Spirit’s work.
So perhaps your house is not as divided as you thought – the more you can rest in the assurance that Jesus salvific work through the power of the Holy Spirit is happening. It may not be in your constructs, your timeline or your understanding, but God is working through the lives of your children who you worry have gone too far astray. For there is nowhere that your child can go where God will abandon them, no personality Jesus cannot work within for healing, and no faith journey too far gone that the Holy Spirit cannot enfold in holy love. May you allow yourself to recognize that the house you thought was divided is still standing, because the Holy Spirit is at work for unity beyond our personal preferences.