OUT OF HIS MIND?

The gospel for mass today (Saturday) is made up of only two verses:

Jesus came with his disciples into the house again. The crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to seize him, for they said, “ he is out of his mind.”  (Mk 3:20-21)

At first, this passage seems a little bizarre, but a trip to the Greek lexicon, can be very revealing and helpful: “He is out of his mind” translates a single word in the original Greek, existamai, which means “to think, or reason in a completely irrational manner.”

So now we can try translating the sentence this way: “They set out to seize him,  for they said, “he thinks in a completely irrational manner.”

You can easily see why they are saying this. So far in the gospel of Mark, Jesus has done the following:

- He has expelled a demon from a man on the sabbath(!) by scolding the demon and ordering the evil spirit to get out(!)  

- He has reached out and touched a leper (!) and healed him immediately. 

- He has cured a paralytic, telling him “Son, your sins are forgiven.” (!)

- He has eaten at a banquet with Levi (Matthew) a tax collector and a large group of public sinners(!)

- He has declared that fasting is not appropriate for his disciples at this time(!) and

 - He has taught that observing the Sabbath is not the most important thing in life(!)

Any good Jew in that time would look at these actions all  recorded in the first two chapters of Mark as evidence that Jesus is more than a little strange, or “out of his mind.”

In terms of Jewish customs and practices, Jesus was indeed “acting in a completely irrational manner.”

And we are only in the third chapter of Mark's gospel! He spends his entire ministry turning our accepted reasoning on its head. A couple of examples: 

- The one who wants to be first must be the servant of all(!) 

- Love your enemies(!)

- Do good to those who hate you(!) 

- Do not ask to be served, but to serve(!) 

- Earthly riches are not the most important thing in life(!) 

- The most important thing is to love God and your neighbor(!)

Yes, this all sounds crazy even today, in a world full of hatred, revenge, division, and greed. 

Jesus does seem to be a little “out of it.” And he makes no secret of the fact that he is sending us out to continue spreading his crazy message, the Kingdom of God, a way of life in which the world's values are turned on their heads. (See Matthew Ch's 5 and 6, the Sermon on the Mount.) 

 And then we are the ones who look crazy. Maybe our relatives will look at us and say, “They are out of their minds.”

But this is our vocation as baptized followers of Christ, as members of his body. May he give us the strength to be faithful followers, even if we look to some people like we're a little crazy.