Genesis 3:8-15 Mark 3:20-35
Pentecost 3 ~ Lectionary 10
I got to hold my baby granddaughter, Haddie, in my arms this week. As we stared at each other, everything else faded; all we could see was each other. Then her eyes smiled, and for the first time, she made sweet baby sounds, cooing and gurgling. As I looked at this beautiful blessing, the words from Genesis ran through my mind–God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them[Genesis 1:27]. So, while I think Haddie Rose looks like me, the ultimate reality is that she bears the image of God. And so do we, but we either forget that, or we don’t believe it.
Adam and Eve lost sight of that. Their view of themselves changed after they realized they had done the very thing God told them not to do. In their sin, their separation from God, they tried to hide. Have you ever tried hiding from God? How did that work out for you? Confronted by God, Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent, and before you know it, all their relationships were broken. We as a people have not quite recovered.
Which brings us to this week, a week in which the top news reflects humanity’s broken relationships. It’s been a week! As the G7 Summit begins in Canada, tensions regarding trade are rising. Three American soldiers were killed in Somalia. The Department of Justice has said that insurance companies should not have to provide medical coverage for people with pre-existing conditions.
The news that has captured our attention are the suicides of celebrities Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. Suicide is one of the top causes of death in the United States. Every 12 minutes, someone in the United States commits suicide. The rate of suicides is on the rise. Just a few years ago, it was one every 16 minutes. Each suicide intimately affects at least 6 people.[1]
I think the reason that Kate and Anthony’s deaths hit us so hard is that they appeared to have a life full of everything anyone could want. Some suicides are prompted by a bad situation from which death would provide a solution or relief. Other people who kill themselves suffer deeply from depression. In either case, people are enveloped in such thick despair, they cannot see past it.
Sometimes, it is a physical illness. This is the case of one of my friends, who wrote this in response to the week’s events:
I’ve seen a lot of comments where people say something like, “He/She was lonely”, “If their family loved them more…”, “Maybe if they asked for help/ gotten help they wouldn’t have died”. These comments need to stop. Mental illnesses have nothing to do with love or lack of it. I am SURROUNDED by love. I also happen to have depression and anxiety…. People who commit suicide KNOW they are loved. I’ve been in that place several times. I KNEW I was loved. Sometimes people with depression just have a hard time seeing tomorrow while also seeking help and being medicated.[2]
Whatever the reason, that a child of God would end his or her own life is painful. While there are so many things we don’t understand, and thousands upon gazillions of unanswered questions, we live in a world where there is good and evil, light and dark. We live in a world in which it is easy to forget that we are created in God’s image. It seems it is also easy for us to forget that others are, too.
Jesus did not. In a society where only people without disabilities, who were male, and adult, oh, and not poor, were of any value, Jesus spent his time with all the “wrong” people. He spent his days and nights in the company of those whom society judged worthless, and then loved them into wholeness. He restored a mis-shaped hand, cast out demons from people, and kissed the leper clean. He ate with prostitutes and fed the hungry.
By putting the needs of people above the rules of society and religion, Jesus’ behavior was called into question. Some said he was possessed. His family came to see if he needed help, or maybe stage an intervention. But Jesus was surrounded by people who wanted to be loved into wholeness, and his family couldn’t get through the crowd. “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are asking for you,” someone told him. “’Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother,’” as he pointed to the poor, the injured, the mentally ill,, and the disabled surrounding him.
If you were his family, this must have sounded a bit harsh, but Jesus is not denying his family. He is extending it. Much like the answer to the question, “who is my neighbor?,” Jesus breaks traditional definitions. God’s love is radical enough to include those whom society chooses to ignore. He brings into his family those who are hungry for God’s love not just for themselves, but for everyone. Jesus sees as family those who believe God’s love is stronger than evil. Jesus embraces those who suffer from mental illness, and grieves when depression claims a life, and those who work for equal rights for all people. Jesus claims those who forgive like he does, and those who dare to see a world where no child goes hungry, and peace prevails.
Jesus will go so far to show God’s love for people, that he will be unjustly killed for it. Some in our world will go that far to keep people from being included in God’s love and mercy and forgiveness. But a love as fierce as God’s cannot be contained nor stopped. On the third day, Jesus was raised from the dead to new life.
In our baptisms, we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. By water and the Holy Spirit, God claims us as God’s own. We are sons and daughters of God, which makes us brothers and sisters in Christ. This morning, Haddie Rose will join our family through God’s gift of baptism. We will welcome her into the body of Christ. Just as important we will invite her into the mission we share. Do you remember what that is? As stated in our baptismal rite, it is to give thanks and praise to God, and to bear God’s creative and redeeming word to all the world.
That’s what God calls us to do, to be family to each other. Of course, all families are dysfunctional, but ours is called to show love in new ways and to tell the world. A week like this is evidence that we are still learning how to do this. We do not love perfectly, but we are loved by a God who does. Thanks be to God.
~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin
[1]If you are in crisis, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All calls are confidential.
[2]Used with permission.