Daily Devotions

Then he went home; ²⁰ and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹ When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” ²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” ²³ And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

²⁸ “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; ²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”  Mark 3:19-30

When was the last time you had an absolutely crazy idea that could only have come from God?

When was the last time that you have been considered or even told that you are crazy because the Spirit was burning a fire in your belly about something that seemed utterly ridiculous?

I long for those moments.  But when they come – and I’ve only had a couple of moments like that – an ecclesiastical rear end whipping is usually not far behind. 

There WILL be voices raised that point out your insanity.  There will be howls of protest from inside your own head (and perhaps one or two from the crowd) crying, “We’ve never done it that way before!”  “We don’t have the money.”  “It will never work.”  “We’re not ready for that.”  “Lutherans (fill in the blank with your anti-denomination of choice) don’t do things like that.”

But there will also be a still small voice.  Perhaps not a voice from God or maybe it is.  That voice will be crying, “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me!”  That voice will say, “My son has a demon that dashes him into the fire, can you save him?”  Maybe the voice will say “Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief.”

Now, crazy though you might be, and crazier still that you might be accused of being, you will need to sort through the voices and ask yourself, “Which voice will I follow?  Where is God in this?”

Jesus, I think we can safely say, seldom loitered long on that question.  He responded to the cries for help, even hearing the blind guy at the edge of the crowd or noticing the small man up in the tree.  Because of that, people accused him of being crazy.

Oh, that we would be so crazy!

How can we hear this text without thinking of Abraham Lincoln.  Embroiled in the bloodiest war to be fought on American soil.  Blamed and criticized and watching his country being torn apart by the seams.  Knowing that he bore responsibility for leadership, Lincoln reached into his imagination for words that might bring healing into the divided devastation before him.  As he did, he came to these words of God etched into his soul.  “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

Oh, that we would be so crazy!

Let us pray:  Dear Lord, people accused you of being crazy.  We are so prone to play it safe, to keep our heads down, to protect ourselves, not realizing the good that we fail to do or the growth that we are missing out on.  So we pray that you inspire crazy ideas for good in the minds of your people and that you encourage them to take the risk to follow only the voices of those crying out for you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

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