What Is He Thinking?

“Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again so that they were not even able to eat. When His family heard this, they set out to restrain Him, because they said, ‘He’s out of His mind.’” (Mark 3:20-21 CSB)

The family of Jesus – that would be Mary, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, and two sisters unnamed – apparently got a report from somebody. Maybe an anonymous tip? Or, maybe it was one of the local synagogue leaders there in Nazareth. Jesus was over in Capernaum, preaching, teaching, healing, casting out demons, and not resting, and not eating. The folks in the local synagogue in Nazareth had already tried to throw Him off a cliff. Maybe some made an oblique suggestion that they needed to get Him some help, or maybe they just reached that conclusion on their own. It would seem to us that, given all that happened to Mary and Joseph, that Mary would have known better, but in truth we are unable to know what her thought processes were. It may be that the second oldest son, James, took the lead in all this, since at that point he did not believe for a moment that Jesus was the Messiah. In today’s vernacular, we might imagine someone in the family hearing this report and then saying, “What is He thinking?” That means, of course, that the speaker thinks the other person is NOT thinking. What His family actually thought is that He was out of His mind. Even some Pharisees were saying, after all, that He was demon-possessed and cast out demons by the power of Beelzebul.

So, off they trotted to Capernaum, and sure enough, the house where Jesus was staying was surrounded by people. There were so many people they could not even get near the door. So, they got someone to begin passing word through the crowd that His family was outside asking for Him, and the word finally reached His ears. His response was interesting. “Who are My mother and My brothers?” And looking about at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

There is no indication that Jesus went out to them. Maybe He did. Maybe He didn’t. For sure, they were unable to “restrain” Him. Very likely, they just left after a while and returned to Nazareth.

For those who walk with God, the most important thing in the world is to walk with God. No matter what.

Lord, Help us to do just that. Today. And each day. Amen.