Mark 3:20-35: Jesus and his Family
Thursday, August 25, 2022
He came home. Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.
As I was growing up and moving into womanhood, my oldest brother – twelve years my senior – would come home from college, visit us when he had military leave, and then brought his family to visit from places across oceans. When he did, the clan would gather to celebrate. My sisters – both older than I but younger than this brother – came home often, and they brought their families from places nearby. They believed that the celebrations for my brother were more enthusiastic than those for their own families. Perhaps they were. I do not remember seeing the difference. My younger brother and I watched this curious mixture of disappointment and love, feeling that push and pull of family dynamics and understanding that this was how family functioned. A dichotomy of conflict and acceptance, worry and love. I suspect that each of us has similar family experiences.
In today’s Noontime we see Jesus return home from a pilgrimage of healing and transforming others, and so many gathered that it was impossible for them even to eat. Jesus’ family, worries that he will come under scrutiny by the officials, declares that he is out of his mind. The scribes, worry about losing influence with the people, decide that Jesus is possessed by the devil. This is a confusing, jumbled juxtaposition of celebration and dangerous plotting.
Life is never a simple picture. Reality is always a combination of highs and lows, positives and negatives, sorrows and joys. Today’s Noontime, much like my own family memories, presents us with a picture of sadness mixed with delight, celebration with worry. And this is as it should be. For this is how families are. And this family of Jesus that we read about today is very much like our own families.
All of this makes sense when we watch Jesus return home and we consider that he is, after all, our brother.
Tomorrow, Jesus of Nazareth.
Adapted from a reflection written on August 31, 2010.
Image from: https://jesuswithoutbaggage.wordpress.com/2013/08/15/jesus-speaks-of-his-relationship-with-the-father/
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