The Will of God: Jesus, Demons, and Family Drama

by The Rev. Rian Adams 

“But how do I know the will of God?” The woman was extremely distraught. She had to choose between two equally appealing options and genuinely didn’t know what to do. The church where she grew up drilled a certain theology into her that served as a handicap. That theology goes something like this: If you mess up and miss the will of God, it can ruin your life.

She meant well, the church who taught her to live in fear probably meant well too. Her heart was certainly in the right place, and she simply wanted to please God. But I think the problem, and thus the agent of her suffering, was a misunderstanding of what “God’s will” means.

This Gospel passage from Mark touches on the subject and ties it to a theology and psychology of freedom. Initially this passage appears to be two sections. First we have a section on Jesus and resistance to his ministry of freeing the demon possessed. Second we have a section on Jesus’ mother and brothers and some family drama.

Although they first appear unconnected, I think they are purposefully connected by the Gospel writer. A main theme is freedom and the will of God. As you read it, you will see it.

The Lectionary Gospel, Mark 3:20-35. Proper 5, Year B.

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”

 So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:“How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Demons and how to understand them

The story begins with opposition to Jesus casting out demons. Obviously debates have raged from the earliest days of the church on how we should understand demons. I think the most important thing is to recognize that demons were forces that controlled people. I think this applies psychospiritually.

Jesus made conscious the things that were controlling others. This is what brought about such criticism from religious leaders. They claimed that he was shining the light on the wrong day. 

Apparently there is a wrong time to heal human suffering…

That seems to be an absurd idea but we shouldn’t be too quick to judge. The church has been guilty of this crime too. We have created wounds in the name of rules and righteousness when compassion and love would have healed them.

However, I like to think about demons in a spiritual light. Here Carl Jung proves helpful. He says, “…the psychic conditions which breed demons are as actively at work as ever. The demons have not really disappeared but have merely taken on another form: they have become unconscious psychic forces.”

In Jung’s thinking the demonic is an inside force of negativity and criticism (of self and others). This criticism often takes control of us and consumes us with anger and questions of “what if…”

No matter how we choose to understand demons, Jesus sets people free from them. In my thought Christ makes the unconscious conscious. And that will usually meet religious resistance.

Dementors flee in the Harry Potter books when the light shines from a wand. The same goes for us. When we shine the light and make seen the unconscious in ourselves, our “demons” are then exposed. We are able to overcome them when we make them known.

Family Drama

The second part of the story is about family drama. Who’s not familiar with that? Well, at least it seems like some mother son drama at first.

The story says that Jesus, like so many of us, ran into some family issues when he began shining the light onto the unconscious. It shows that the Holy Family wasn’t perfect either. 

This seems to coincide with the above section because both show how people misunderstand the ministry of Jesus. First it’s religious leaders, second, it’s those closest to Jesus – his family.

If James Hillman is correct, the human psyche is “polytheistic.” For Hillman this means that the psyche consists of many different parts. Religion often suppresses certain parts of the psyche (or the soul) in the name of righteousness or goodness. I’ve witnessed this first hand with religious rules and socially accepted standards of behavior.

The family system where we grow up can also suppress pieces of the psyche. I once knew a woman whose father physically beat her and she had a hard time standing up to men. Another story we know all too well of the man who can’t function in life because his mother waited on him hand and foot. Thus, he’s rendered useless in a relationship because women, in his psyche, exist for service and not much more. The list can go on and on… Family has a way of imprinting its values early in life. When we resist the values and standards (especially spiritually) it can cause conflict.

The point is that families often instill handicaps to parts of the self. It’s important to remember that Jesus is not being rude to his mother. On the contrary, he is confronting a family system.

I think resistance in multiple areas of the self is expected when we evolve spiritually. As the German psychiatrist Fritz Kunkel says, “Creation continues. It’s not finished yet because we are still evolving.”

The Will of God

The crux of the lectionary Gospel comes down to the final verse. Jesus said “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister.”

The message seems clear… those who accept the naming and subsequent healing of unconsciousness are those in the family of God. Said another way, Jesus denounces the tribal family and replaces it with a family of the Spirit.

Jesus fundamentally redefined sabbath and tied it to a spirituality of loving people enough to heal them regardless of religious circumstances. That is the will of God… those in need freedom from whatever binds them. The will of God is not about asking God what grocery store will give us the best deal on steak this week. The will of God is Good News… mercy, love, hope, and compassion. And that Good News isn’t bound by a certain day of the week, or a particular Christian denomination.

My poem Flight is attached below, I hope it can be helpful. Also, if you’d like to read more of my poetry, click here.

Peace,

Rian+