As the years go by, it doesn’t take much effort to recognize the people within my age group who have remained curious about the world, continuing to bend and change as needed, in contrast to those who have become stuck in their ways. I came of age in the 1960’s. Societal change was in the air. There was the Civil Rights Movement, the Anti-War Movement, and the Women’s Movement, along with a more-free flowing challenge to consumerism, dress codes, gender-roles, and sexual freedom. Older people were up-in-arms. Younger people pushed hard at the boundaries.
I was a student at Portland State University when the Portland Police violently cleared war protestors from the South Park Blocks. I wasn’t in the midst of that event, but the next day I was part of a student demonstration marching to City Hall. My dad was furious with me for taking part in such an ‘un-American activity.’
When one of my close girlfriends landed a job on my father’s telephone installation crew, he was angry again because he didn’t think women should do that work, and he had to order special tools to fit her smaller hands. I loved my dad. It was very trying to disagree with him.
Throughout my late teens my mom and I went round and round about what clothes I should be allowed to wear out of the house. “Jeans” she said, “were for yard work only.” I managed to keep the peace only by discreetly taking clothes with me to change into and then changing again before coming home.
The culture was changing and the first obstacle that had to be hurdled was within the family household. But as time passed by, many of the people who were considered avant-garde in their youth adapted to more conventional standards. Although some of the norms were broken for good, others such as simple living was left behind as the children of the 60’s went on to participate wholeheartedly in a booming consumerist society, and war resistance essentially disappeared with the end of the draft.
Changing a culture is difficult since it is within the family that people are enculturated into the society around them. The family and the state have an unwritten agreement to reinforce one another because cultural unrest is not good for a nation state. For that reason, families are under enormous social pressure to raise children who will fit into the culture as it is, even when the culture does not benefit them or their children.
In the Gospel for this Sunday, Mark 3: 20-35, we hear Jesus address the reality of family and state collaboration. His family wanted him to stop getting the crowds riled up with his ideas and actions. They were afraid, no doubt, of the authorities. The scribes, representing the religious establishment that had a tenuous relationship with the Roman Emperor, also wanted Jesus to stop his agitating. The religious authorities were trying to keep the status quo for their own reasons. They declared Jesus to be in collusion with demons in their effort to discredit him. That same strategy is used today by religious institutions who believe themselves to be divinely authorized. If, as they believe, their edicts come from God, then whoever objects to them is necessarily from the evil one. When Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was unforgiveable, he was talking directly to those who asserted that Jesus was in collusion with evil. Communities can test new ideas and practices without condemning the people who propose them or the Spirit that inspires.
Jesus did not come to establish a new church. He came to challenge the community to live in ways that better reflected the love and compassion of God. If his family rejected what he was doing, he would create a different kind of family, one made up of people who were committed to doing God’s will. That was revolutionary because Jesus was rejecting outright the family structure responsible for maintaining the culture.
An important task for believers today is to gather together and talk about what God’s will is in light of the signs of the time. People who cling rigidly to the rules of the past passionately believe that their understanding of God’s will supports their claims for refusing to change. At this point I think it is important to remember that the other big shift that came in the 1960’s was precipitated by Vatican II. Many Catholics embraced the idea that windows in the church had been opened to let the Holy Spirit in. It was a time of excitement and change, although not everyone thought change was good.
Tomas Halik notes that “the most vocal promoters of the ‘return of Christian Europe’ often include people whose entire mentality and lifestyle are far removed from the Gospel and whose ‘Christianity’ consists solely of their hostility toward migrants, Muslims, and sexual minorities. Even the leaders of the churches sometimes collaborate with populists and nationalists; they try to drown out, silence, and discredit the cautionary prophetic voice of Pope Francis. The question is whether these cases are about the politicization of religion or the sacralization of politics -- the creation of a false aura around the deeply unholy and impious power interests of certain groups.” (page 96) Halik believes that the combination of politics and religion is extremely dangerous. I think the same concerns found in Western Europe can easily be found in the USA. (Halik. The Afternoon of Christianity: The Courage to Change)
Jesus was not against families or family life. He was against the structures that replicated systems that oppressed, marginalized, and excluded people. According to scripture, whole families were baptized together. Together they made a commitment to live in a manner that reflected the will of God. For the first disciples and for the community that Mark wrote to, discipleship involved resistance to the evils of empire and radical love toward others. They dispensed with practices that worked to reinforce and support the dominant powers.
When we gather together to celebrate the First Day of the Week, we gather as a community called to resist. Young and old, single or married, we are all called to live our lives following in the footsteps of Jesus. May we always support one another in the work.
.