Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Speaker A: This is Sundays with Bishop Ken.
Thanks for sharing some quiet time with the Lord today on Sundays with Bishop Ken, our guest, Father Pete Gaspini from Holy Spirit parish and shields, shares today's gospel reading with us, followed by one of Bishop Ken's homilies.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.
Jesus came home with his disciples.
Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, he is out of his mind.
The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said he is possessed by Beelzebul and by the prince of demons. He drives out demons.
[00:01:04] Speaker C: Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: How can Satan drive out Satan?
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand. That is the end of him.
But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property. Unless he first ties up the strong man, then he can plunder the house.
Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.
[00:01:48] Speaker C: But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: Of an everlasting sin. For they had said, he has an unclean spirit.
His mother and brothers arrived standing outside. They sent word to him and called him.
A crowd seated around him told him, your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.
But he said to them in reply, who are my mother and my brothers?
[00:02:20] Speaker C: And looking around at those seated in.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: The circle, he said, here are my mother and my brothers.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: For whoever does the will of God.
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Is brother and sister and mother.
The gospel of the Lord this gospel passage is rarely heard because Easter is seldom this early, and thus we dont often have a 10th Sunday in ordinary time.
This incident takes place toward the beginning of Jesus public ministry, just before one of his major sermons, which is known as the day of parables.
In Mark's gospel, there are no heroes except Jesus. The rest are all people like us. And Mark doesn't paint them in an ideal light, as though they always understood or got things right.
The disciples, for example, are frequently shown as failing to understand or even bickering among themselves.
Peter's failings are talked about quite openly, and even Jesus family had a hard time understanding. They are not simply a group in the background quietly cheering everything he did.
Mark wrote all of this for us. For everyone who feels that they're at a disadvantage because they're not one of the great ones who were with Jesus during his ministry or who were his relatives, he wanted us to realize that they were all just like us. Sometimes they didn't understand, or if they did, they didn't always live up to what they understood.
The only hero is Jesus. Everyone else is like us.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: Mark knew that we know how the story ends.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: The disciples, the family of Jesus, ultimately believed in him.
Many even gave their lives for him. So it is with us. We're not perfect, but we believe, and we try to shape our lives in his way.
Those words of mark that at first sound harsh are actually comforting words. They're meant for us. Jesus says, who are my mother and my brothers and sisters?
[00:04:47] Speaker C: And looking around to those seated with.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Him, he says, here are my mother and my brothers.
[00:04:53] Speaker C: For whoever does the will of God.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: Is brother and sister and mother.
He was talking about us.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Thanks for joining us today.
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