Me to the gospel according to Mark, chapter three. The gospel according to Mark, chapter three. You remember that in year b we're in the Gospel of Mark primarily. And so once you have found Mark three, verse 20, go ahead and stand with me for our gospel reading this morning.
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Notice these words as found in mark three. And then, starting with verse 20, the crowd came together again so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, he has gone out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, he has beelzebul. And by the ruler of the demons, he cast out demons, and he called them to him and spoke to them in parables.
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How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, the house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand. But his end has come.
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But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strongman. Then indeed, the house can be plundered. Truly, I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they had said, he has an unclean spirit.
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Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you. And he replied, 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.
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Jesus, we thank you for your holy word. We pray now that you would send your spirit to enlighten us today and speak to us as those who would do the will of God. We pray in your name. Amen. And you can be seated.
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Last week, I mentioned marking time that every day is not just the same as the other day, but rather we're actually called to mark certain days as unique. And some of you are celebrating birthdays or anniversaries. I've seen all kind of stuff on facebook, and it is good to mark certain days. And we, too, as Christians, we mark certain days in a liturgical calendar. So it's not just that we follow the gregorian calendar, which, again, is a christian invention.
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You got to look that up sometimes because it's very precise mathematically. In fact, it's the most mathematically precise calendar that has ever existed in humanity. All right? And there's been a lot of calendars, by the way. Okay?
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And Muslims, as you may know, still follow a different one. But the gregorian calendar, christian invention, they are based on marking certain days. All right? Now, we also have what we call, though, as I said, a liturgical calendar. Now this term, liturgy.
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And we oftentimes will say that, you know, liturgical paraments or the liturgical colors or what have you, this term just means the work of the people. And that is to say that when we worship, there is something that a leader would do, or an officiant or a clergy member, or as the song just said, the preacher. It's me who's standing in the prayer, not the preacher alone. Right? Not your neighbor boy, that's a good message, isn't it?
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It's not so and so. That's the problem. It's right here. Point those thumbs right back to yourself. Right.
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I'm in the need of prayer. Right. Okay. Well, liturgy means the work of the people, which is to say that when we worship, you have a