The Pastor’s Reflections
In today’s gospel passage we see Jesus hav- ing a very bad day. He’s preaching at the Sea of Galilee. It’s very early in his ministry, but even so, large crowds had gathered from the surrounding area because he was curing the sick and expelling demons. He ministered to as many as possible, and he and his apostles were exhausted.
Jesus’ family had heard about the crowds and that he and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. They set out to forcibly bring him home.
Jesus and the twelve finally returned home but the crowds followed them. Teach- ers of the Law were among the crowd. They tried to discredit the miracles and wonders he was performing by saying that he was linked with the most powerful of demons, Beelzebub. Jesus refuted their accusation by reminding them that a kingdom divided against itself collapses. He went so far as to ac- cuse them of sinning against the Holy Spirit for accusing him of aligning himself with the devil.
His day ended with his family, “his mother and brothers,” arriving at the house de- manding to “see” him. It wasn’t difficult enough to be fighting with the religious law- yers from Jerusalem, now his family was de- claring him insane and trying to get him out of the public eye.
I believe that this not-so-good day for Je- sus is noted at the beginning of Mark’s gos- pel to encourage us. If Jesus, the prophet, the healer, the exorcist, the Son of God, suf- fered verbal abuse, harassment and misun- derstanding, should any of us, his disciples and ministers, expect 100% acceptance?
Saint Paul encourages us today, “We are not discouraged, rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Let’s face it, following in Jesus’ footsteps is challenging. Everything changes – even our relationships. “And look- ing around…he said, ‘Here are my mother and brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’”
