February 26: "He Is Out of His Mind, He Has Beelzebub"
♫ Music:
Mark 3:20-35 (NKJV)
Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “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, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.
“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”
But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
Poetry
“His Caring is a Nightmare to Us”
by Rainer Maria Rilke
His caring is a nightmare to us,
and his voice a stone.
We would like to heed his words,
but we only half hear them.
The big drama between us
Makes too much noise
for us to understand each other.
We watch his lips moving,
shaping sounds that die away.
We feel endlessly distant,
though we are endlessly bound by love.
Only when we notice that he is dying
do we know he lived.
“He Is Out of His Mind, He Has Beelzebub”
Many, if not most, artistic depictions of Christ are rendered beautifully—even those images depicting the most harrowing passages of Scripture. And though it is right and good to focus on the Lordship of Christ and to find rest in the knowledge of his omnipotence, it is easy to lose sight of what it must have been like on the ground as Christ’s earthly ministry reached its zenith. The events recounted in today’s scripture may not be the most harrowing, but chaos and confusion do abound.
The lived moment rarely gives us any sort of clarity. Life is never without complexity, and inescapable uncertainty is a hallmark of life in this era between Christ’s coming and coming again. The gritty realism of Mark’s inspired account allows one to be struck by the fear and excitement swirling around Jesus as He performs miracles and casts out demons. We like to believe that if we were members of Jesus’s earthly family, one of “his own people” as it is translated in the New King James Version, that we would have seen Him for who He was.
And yet, amidst spaces so crowded people couldn’t eat, amidst religious leaders calling Him possessed, his own family members descend on him in urgent intervention, believing perhaps He was spiraling into madness. I like to believe I would have seen Him clearly, that my love for Him wouldn’t have been manifest as misdirected concern for his spiritual or mental well-being. Yet I know it’s more likely I would have distressed him with my stubborn heart, as others had earlier in Mark’s 3rd chapter.
What would we have believed? Brett a’Court’s collaged painting feels appropriately overwhelming and urgent. Do we see Jesus? Yes, but not fully, not clearly. Our vision is often clouded by our own all-too-human limits, by the loud and insistent voices of others, by our own fears and self-interested expectations. The image is pained, stilted. The composition is rife with disruptions, interruptions, and conflicting demands for our attention.
Yet Christ remains central and whole amidst it all, whether or not we can see Him as such. So often we can’t, as Rilke’s anguished verses articulate.
We would like to heed his words,
but we only half hear them.
No one can live out one’s faith perfectly, and yet the promise of the Spirit is that these challenges are not insurmountable, and all of the static, noise, distractions and demands of our moment, of our age, are not too much for Him to overcome. They are temporary. All will become clear, and all will be made whole. Our eyes can navigate the complexities of the collage with joy and delight, free of anxiety, knowing it is not on us to see perfectly. We can rest in the face of Jesus, knowing it will remain lovingly present, let come what may.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, let us see you more clearly today. Let us hear you through the noise. Please quiet and train our hearts to navigate this age of anxiety without fear.
Thank you for your Spirit, who guides us from within as from above, with perfect vision.
Amen.
Luke Aleckson
Professor, Department of Art
Executive Director, Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab near the top of the page.
About the Artwork
Temptation of Christ
Brett a’Court
2009
Mixed media
Used with kind permission from the artist
About the Artist
Brett a'Court (b. 1968) is a New Zealand artist who has lived and painted in Waipu, Northland, since 1995, and exhibits regularly in New Zealand, including twelve solo exhibitions between 2002 and 2025. His work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the country. A'Court's first solo show was called Lectio Divina, and was exhibited in Ponsonby, Auckland, in 2002. He said that as a Christian artist, he trusted in God for provision, and has channelled his fears and sacrifices into his work. He is influenced by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon's major works, Renaissance icons, and other iconography.
About the Music
“Jesus Speaks of Satan” from the album The Gospel of Mark: An Oratorio
And the multitude cometh together again,
so that they could not so much as eat bread.
And when his friends heard of it,
they went out to lay hold on him:
for they said, He is beside himself. He is beside himself.
And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said,
He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables,
How can Satan cast out Satan?
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided,
he cannot stand, but hath an end.
No man can enter into a strong man's house,
and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man;
and then he will spoil his house.
Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men,
and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,
but is in danger of eternal damnation.
Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
About the Composer
A graduate of the University of British Columbia School of Music with a degree in composition, Christopher Tyler Nickel studied with renowned Canadian composer Stephen Chatman. Upon graduation, he continued his studies in New York and Los Angeles. Nickel is the composer-in-residence of the Lionsgate Sinfonia and the author of numerous concert works which have been performed by orchestras and chamber ensembles in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Works include a concerto for piccolo/flute/alto flute; Tranquility for solo English horn and orchestra, which was premiered by the Vancouver Symphony’s English hornist, Beth Orson; and in 2015 the premiere of his Oboe Concerto written for Roger Cole, principal oboe of the Vancouver Symphony. Other major works include a Requiem; his hour-long, one movement Symphony No.2; and a seven-hour oratorio setting the Gospel According to Mark.
About the Performers - Catherine Redding and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra conducted by Clyde Mitchell
Catherine Redding is a Canadian Irish soprano described as “warm, clear and impeccably controlled” (The Irish Times), and she has performed internationally in opera, oratorio, and recital. Catherine has performed the operatic roles of Oscar (A Masked Ball) and Zerlina/Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) with Opera 2005, Barbarina (The Marriage of Figaro) and Emmie (Albert Herring) with Opera Project, and Sandman/Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel) with Longborough Festival Opera. Catherine has been a guest soprano soloist with ensembles including the Guinness Choir, Resurgam, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the Tallaght Choral Society, the Galway Choral Association, CHANT21, RBS Singers, the Ranelagh Singers, the DCU Campus Choir, the Palestrina Choir and Orchestra of St. Cecilia, the Dublin Bach Singers, and the University College Dublin Choirs and Orchestra. As a recitalist, Catherine’s performances in Canada, Italy, Austria, England, and Ireland have encompassed a repertoire of baroque to contemporary works. Redding sang the solo soprano role in Christopher Tyler Nickel’s Requiem (2024), and his seven-disc-long Gospel According to Mark (2023), released by AVIE Records. Catherine holds a postgraduate diploma from the Royal Academy of Music, London, and a B.M. degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VCO), founded in 1919, is a Grammy and Juno–award winning Canadian orchestra. The VSO performs more than one hundred fifty concerts each year, throughout Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, reaching over 270,000 people annually. On tour, the VSO has performed in the United States, China, Korea, and across Canada. The orchestra presents passionate, high-quality performances of classical, popular, and culturally diverse music, creating meaningful engagement with audiences of all ages and backgrounds.
Canadian-American conductor Clyde Mitchell studied piano, organ, and French horn before deciding to pursue a career in music. Music performance degrees from Louisiana State University (B. Mus.) and California State University-Northridge (M.A.Music) led to a performing career in Bogotá, Colombia; Tucson, Arizona; and Montreal, Quebec. In Montreal, he was associate principal l horn in the prestigious Montreal Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, and was professor of horn and chamber music studies and conductor of the brass choir at McGill University. Mitchell is an outspoken advocate for music education, and regularly conducts and holds workshops for honor bands and orchestras across North America. He is the founding conductor and music director of Lions Gate Sinfonia and the new Lions Gate Youth Orchestra. Mitchell recently moved to Los Angeles, where his wife, Sarah Jackson, plays solo piccolo with the world-famous Los Angeles Philharmonic.
About the Poetry and Poet
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) was a Bohemian-Austrian poet and novelist, "widely recognized as one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets," writing in both verse and highly lyrical prose. Several critics have described Rilke's work as inherently "mystical." His writings include one novel, several collections of poetry, and several volumes of correspondence in which he invokes haunting images that focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety.
About the Devotion Writer
Luke Aleckson is an assistant professor of art at Biola University and is currently the executive director of the CCCA. He received his M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in sculpture and a B.S. in art from the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, Minnesota. Past positions have included serving as department chair and professor of art and design at the University of Northwestern and the director of Denler Gallery in St. Paul. Past exhibitions of his artwork have been held nationally, at venues such as the Chicago Cultural Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois. He maintains an active art practice in which he explores sculpture, digital modeling, video art, and installation art.