You know I like to “play” with words…

This week I came across the word – “besmirch” and I thought I was in heaven. Besmirch is such a fun word to say. It kind of … rolls off the tongue. Bees-smirch.

To use it in a sentence…people were besmirching Jesus’ reputation and his entire ministry. They were “putting him down!” They were “denouncing” him.

They were taking all kinds of “jabs” at him. They were taking “Potshots at the Preacher-man!”

To “besmirch” is to “slap,” “slur,” “slam,” “lambaste (another fun word!)” to “rail against,” “to condemn,” “to hammer,” “attack,” “run down,” “to knock,” or to “crucify” – all of which, the powers that be- were doing to Jesus.

They were “besmirching” him, passing “all kinds of harsh criticism” and judgment against him.
It is always easy to take “potshots” at the preacher-man. Anyone can do it! “Criticism” can come from any and every quarter.

People like to talk. We know that. People like to “drop” other peoples’ names. We know that, as well.

Jesus is crazy! Jesus is beside himself. Jesus is out of his mind. Jesus has become possessed. Jesus has gone off his rocker. Jesus is out of control.

Criticisms can come at any time. People seemingly love to “besmirch” one another or “others.”

We know that there is “factual criticism,” “aesthetic criticism,” “constructive criticism” and “destructive criticism.”

Some criticism is obviously “negative,” and some is “positive,” some is “right on the money” and sometimes it “misses the mark” completely.

People seem to dwell on the “negative,” rather than the “positive,” we tend to “tear down,” rather than to “build up.”

Usually – you consider the source…of the besmirching…

Usually you try to put things in their proper perspective. The attempt is – to see things as they truly are…to see them with clarity. To even see them, as others see them…

And, as it happened, Jesus was home. He was in Nazareth. The besmirching had easily reached all the way back to his own small hometown.

People had heard about him. They knew what was being said. It was not good. “The word” about him was even being shared with his mother, his brothers and with his sisters. They too, had heard the rumors, the talk, and the attacks against him. They would have been worried for his safety.

“If” all the talk was true…Jesus had become an embarrassment to his family and to his fellow villagers. Something needed to be done. Jesus had to be stopped.

For sure he would listen to his mother and to his brothers. They were after all simply looking out – for his own good, for his welfare. They were attempting to protect him from others and from himself…

He was being accused of being in league with the Philistine or the Canaanite god – Baal…sometimes rendered as Beelzebub or Beelzebul. He was a major demon. A prince among demons… Baal was just another name for Satan or the Devil or the Destroyer. Beelzebul was one of the seven princes of hell. He was believed to be capable of flight – and therefore was called the “Lord of the flyers,” or “the Lord of the Flies.”

For the Hebrews it was a “play on words,” Baal was dung and the flies were attracted to him. He was nothing. No god or deity was he.

And Jesus was believed to be in league with Baal. This was “how” it was believed that Jesus cast out demons and performed his various healings. It was by the power of the demonic world.

It was said, that Jesus MUST BE calling upon Satan to work his works of healing and wonder. It was as if, he had become some kind of “miracle worker” through the powers of darkness.

Therefore, Jesus had to be eradicated. He had to be stopped. Permanently silenced! And it wasn’t the crowds that were saying these things…but rather, the Pharisees and the scribes. The priests were besmirching him at every given opportunity.

So it is a high dramatic moment when his mother, brothers and sisters appear to take him to the confines of their home.

But Jesus will have none of it. You do not listen to idle gossip and idle chatter. And you certainly do not pass it on or promote it.

Jesus will not be curtailed. He will not be stopped. He will not be silenced. God himself will see to it. The mission and the ministry will continue. Indeed, it must continue. Let the people think what they will.

Besmirch away, if you must…it will stop nothing. Amen.