How They think Jesus is Out of His Mind. Reflection on Mark 3:20-21

By Kingsley Okoro On Jan 21, 2023 3,399 47

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Breakfast with the Word Saturday 2nd Week Ordinary Time of the Year

In today’s gospel of Mark 3:20-21, when Jesus enters into the house with His disciples, the crowd gather around Him and press themselves into the house to meet Jesus. Their disturbance was so much that they made it impossible for Jesus to eat and rest.

Hearing of this, His relatives went out to seize Him and many of them were saying that He has gone out of His mind. This is a little bit funny. Imagine how these happened.

The Understanding.

In this gospel of Mark 3;20-21, this particular house that Jesus entered was unknown. We do not know whether it was a house of one of his apostles or any of his followers. The verse of Mark 3:20-21 only says, Jesus entered a house and was deeply pressed by the crowd. In essence, many people are demanding that He touches them or prays for them and this stopped Jesus and his disciples from eating.

So, it was when His relatives heard that He can no longer take care of His physical needs because of the crowd and how He has allowed the crowd to stop Him from taking care of Himself. They decided to go and seize Him.

The Greek word used here in Mark 3:20-21 is kratesai. A verb used in Mark 6:17 and 12:12 indicating an action of arresting someone. Though the bible does not tell us that they actually did it at last. What could actually be in their mind? What can make his relatives want to act this way? One may ask.

Reasons for This.

The possible reason Jesus’ family wanted to do this is that they thought that Jesus has been affected mentally because of the stress and overwork. That is the reason they thought Jesus is “out of his mind (Mark 3:20-21). All this while, He has been wandering from one place to another and forgot to go home. All this while, Jesus has been eating with sinners and tax collectors.

They may think Jesus does no longer know what He is doing. The main point here is that these people have not actually come to terms with who Jesus is. This reveals the failure of His people to understand Him. Though they are really concerned about Him.

People will always Misunderstand.

The truth is that if we expect people to always understand why we do most of the things we do, we would not do anything. Only Jesus knows what He has come to do. His relatives may not understand Him.That is the reason they think Jesus has gone out of His mind.

So, at times, people may not understand you but only you know the reason you do what you do. If the reason is good and can save souls, never allow anyone to be a stumbling block to it.

There are times when you decide to live a holy life or life so precious to God. Hence, people begin to see you as someone who is abnormal or someone who is not in tune with the time.

Today, we have allowed modernism to affect our spirituality to an extent. Some people at this time may begin to call you names like “holy boy”, holy girl”, “Santa” onye uka” etc.

Some people who enjoy being with you before may begin to feel so disappointed and embarrassed to be around you again. Many people may begin to distance themselves from you, especially when they notice your life has changed.