Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 23, 2016 - Saturday in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Sam 1:1-4, 11-12, 19, 23-27 and Mark 3:20-21]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." [Mark]
The Gospel of Mark does not pull any punches. Jesus' family is alarmed by his growing popularity. It is not Jesus only who is involved in this. His family will be impacted by his reputation. They decide that he doesn't seem to care about that and must be crazy! We will see what he says about that on Tuesday of next week. In the meantime, the point is one of rejection of Jesus' mission, even by his family.
Sometimes the gospel "gets in our faces" and demands a "Yes or No" response to Jesus. In our culture that can be very irritating and threatening. But if we are people of faith, we cannot hide from the gospel or Jesus' teaching. We either accept it or reject it. His family tries to sidestep the matter by "seizing" him. Others just declare him irrelevant to their satisfying secular lives. It can be a useful exercise to ask ourselves how we put the gospel aside when it becomes inconvenient. AMEN