Word to the Wise
Saturday, January 22, 2022 - 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 evangelist Mark means to show that Jesus is rejected even by his family, but it is startling to read that they thought he was crazy! They attempt an "intervention" to get him out of sight! The scribes try unsuccessfully to accuse him of being possessed by a demon. Jesus refutes this easily by arguing that Satan would not want to cast out Satan, which is what Jesus was doing. But the family? They arrive and send word into the crowded house that they want to see him. His response is to place them with anyone else who "does the will of God." In short they have no special claim on him by being related to him, and no authority to seize him. In the society of Jesus' time, putting something above family, clan and tribe would be a very serious step, indeed. But that is the challenge of the Gospel According to Mark.
My pastoral experience has included the sorrowful rejection of a person by family when they enter (or leave) the Catholic tradition. Faith seems to take a second seat behind family solidarity and custom. To reject one's own children because their religious choices are unacceptable is a very sad thing, even when the choice in question is alarming. Parents have been known to hire "deprogrammers" to kidnap their son or daughter who has embraced a particular cult or tradition. The results can be tragic.
The attempted "intervention" by Jesus' own family fails because Jesus' mission had to be fulfilled. Their rejection is part of the portrait of Jesus and his mission in the Gospel According to Mark. Jesus' suffering began long before the cross. The rejection by his family is one many can identify with. AMEN