And the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
In the two verses we read in today’s Gospel, Mark captures quite a bit about family dynamics. Though it is still early in his ministry, Jesus has been teaching and healing crowds of people. When his relatives find out what is going on, they try to restrain him because, to their minds, he must be crazy. After all, they know him as a carpenter, the son of Mary and Joseph, who grew up as a devout Jew in Nazareth. Who is he to think he can preach or cast out demons? His relatives are not bad people, they are just working off of the information they have, and their assumptions about what Jesus should or should not be doing.
How often in our lives do we let other people’s perceptions of us shape our actions? Fortunately, Jesus did not let the concerns of a few people stop him from fulfilling his mission. Are there people in your life who are making it more difficult for you to respond to God’s invitation to you? How can you, like Jesus, continue to respond affirmatively to God?
—The Jesuit Prayer team
Prayer
Loving God, you know us better than we know ourselves. Help us to be secure in our identity as your beloved child, and let everything we do stem from that basic truth. When we hear the voices of doubt from those around us, may we turn to you to guide us on the right path.
Amen.
—The Jesuit Prayer team
