Let’s face it: We all have that one relative who moves to the beat of a different drummer. They are the ones who run counter to conformity, who may be overly whimsical, a little too serious or the kind of person who always seems to have their head in the clouds. While publicly, the family may simply roll their eyes and say “Oh, that’s just So-and-so” privately we hope and pray that one day they will get their act together and join the rest of us here on planet Earth.
When we think about Jesus’ family members, we rarely consider the people beyond Mary and Joseph. We know that His cousin is John the Baptist (and possibly the one relation with whom He has the most in common) but we give little thought to His supposed siblings or the rest of His kin – you know, the nameless faceless folks who all but disappear from the narrative fairly early on. However, in today’s Gospel reading, we get a brief glimpse into this group who, for better or worse, were the first to claim Jesus as their own. Make no mistake about it; they thought the boy was nuts!
Look, you’ve got to cut them a little bit of slack. It could not have been easy to someone like Jesus in your clan. After all, He wasn’t simply an eccentric Nazarene who knew a few cool magic tricks and had a bit of a following…He was the guy who came out of His mother under auspicious circumstances and did little to improve His lot in life. I suspect some on Joseph’s side secretly felt that Jesus wasn’t really one of them. Perhaps Mary’s family felt Jesus’ existence was like a permanent stain on her reputation and I imagine others thought He was just plain weird.
“Why can’t he be a carpenter like everyone else in the family?” One of the uncles might comment. “That job has been good enough David’s descendants since 50 B.C. and it was good enough for Joseph, but oh no, not for Jesus…He’s got to go follow John off on some idealistic crusade!”
“You know Joseph isn’t Jesus’ real father,” an aunt might put in gently as if that explains everything.
“Well, he was the only father Jesus knew and his disrespecting the family business is a slap in the face to us all,” the uncle would retort.
At that point, a jealous cousin might put in their two cents. “Well you can’t put the blame solely on Jesus now, can you? I mean Mary is such an enabler. She let Him run wild and do whatever he wanted to. I swear, she acts like he’s God incarnate or something.”
The aunt would nod. “I always thought Mary was too young to have a child. Why, she was practically a baby herself when Jesus came along, but when Mary makes up her mind to do something, wild horses can’t talk her out of it.”
“Remember when Jesus ran off to the temple? He didn’t even get busted! Jesus gets away with everything!” The cousin would add.
“Mary said it was a misunderstanding,” the aunt would reply with a shrug as if she didn’t really believe it.
“I tell you, that girl has let Jesus run wild for far too long and I think it is high time for an intervention,” the uncle would declare. “When that long-haired hippie gets back from ‘changing the world’, we’re going to talk some sense into him!”
“What if he won’t listen?”
“We’ll make him listen! You know as well as I do that there is something wrong with that boy!”
These were not people with 2,000 years of hindsight to help them understand what was right in front of them. This was a typical Mideast family who had their fair share of drama over the decades and did not want to draw any unnecessary attention to themselves, if at all possible. When Jesus comes home with his apostles in tow and having “bewitched” the masses, their reaction is understandable and all too human. He’s disrupted their lives. He’s created a stir. He’s got delusions of grandeur and He honestly thinks he can save the world. Put yourselves in his family’s sandals. What would you think?
“He’s out of his mind.” What other explanation could there be?
Today’s readings for Mass: 2TM 1:1-8316 or TI 1:1-5; PS 96:1-2A, 2B-3, 7-8A, 10; MK 3:20-21
