Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 21, 2012 - 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."
The Gospel of Mark is unsparing in its criticism. Today we learn that among those who rejected Jesus' ministry during his lifetime on earth were his human family members! They thought his work and all the attention and crowds that he attracted were a sign of mental instability! They were about to do what we would call today an "intervention!" This leads, later on in the same chapter, to Jesus' comment that his true family are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
Misunderstanding and rejection by those closest to oneself can be very painful. In Middle Eastern culture the family, clan and tribe are the context of the closest personal bonds. Jesus places faith in him above even those bonds. Since this order of values seems very "radical," the image of discipleship in the Gospel of Mark is very demanding. Jesus issues a call to "radical discipleship."
How this call is to be lived out in our own time can be a challenging question. As a campus minister, I had the experience on more than one occasion of a call from anguished parents whose son or daughter had become involved with a "cult" that had demanded that the child cut off communication with parents as a sign of commitment! Jesus does not require that we reject our families, but that we put faith in him ahead of all relationships. This is not rejection so much as it is an ordering of values. Human relationships remain important since we are commanded to love "our neighbor as our self!" Our family is our first "neighbor" after our "self." Fidelity to the gospel may require that a person take a stance in discipleship that is very unpopular to his or her family, but love must remain the constant. AMEN