Home not Home

Home not Home
Pentecost 2, Mark 3:19b-35
Then he went home; perhaps he hoped
for quiet time with family,
affection free of fresh demands,
a sheltered space of privacy
that might restore his energy.

But crowds came, urgent in their need,
and sought him out. The streets were lined,
and villagers, resentful, said:
“Young carpenter has lost his mind!”
Familiarity is blind.

Perhaps his brothers felt ashamed,
or thought (for his own good!) they must
restrain him, take him out of sight,
and silence him until the dust
had cleared, the town no longer fussed.

I wonder what his mother thought?
She’d be upset when scribes accused
her son of using demon power,
and fearful that he’d be abused
by those whose status was misused.

The Spirit that set spirits free
they called “unclean” in jealous spite.
He questioned whether they blasphemed
to be so closed to Spirit sight
while claiming they discerned the right.

His family were left outside –
he claimed instead a wider kin
of those who heard with open mind,
not limited by class or skin,
but linked by Spirit born within.