Building community, listening to Jesus

(Mk 3:20-21.31-35)

From where and how does familiarity amongst Christians come about? The Gospel tradition only gives us very limited information about Jesus' family in the flesh. Mk 3,31-35 is undoubtedly the most explicit text we have (cf Mt 12:46-50; Lk 8:19-21; Jn 2:1.12; 7:3-5). But it sets Jesus' relatives up against his new family, the disciples.

1.The Gospel account

After having chosen the Twelve on the mountain (Mk 3:13-14), Jesus returns to his home in Capharnaum (Mk 3:20). Once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal… Presumably it was not the number of people but all the accumulation of needs they had which did not leave Jesus free (Mk 3:20b): and because he had to look after the people, Jesus was not looking after himself. The peoples' need of him prevented him from satisfying his own needs (Mk 3:20). Nor would this be the last time (cf. M 6:31).

And logically such disordered activity of the kind had his relatives worried. and such a noisy success as this scandalised his enemies. But the first criticism came from his own (Mk 3:21). His adversaries, arriving from far away, satisfy themselves with getting to grips with it all, offering theological arguments which were not so well-disposed towards him but were more effective with the people (Mk 3:22). The controversy with the Scribes (Mk 3:22-34), the most serious of the ones that Mark has so far described, is framed by the growing distance between Jesus and his own family: in a first instance, his relatives are astounded (Mk 3:20-21); in the end it will be Jesus who clearly establishes the separation (Mk 3:31-35).

The scene develops over three acts. The first (Mk 3:20-21) serves to locate the action and introduce the theme of rejection of Jesus. In the second, more developed (Mk 3:22-30), Jesus defends himself from the accusation of conniving with Beelzebub (Mk 3:22.30) by using a parable (Mk 3:23-27) which concludes with him solemnly taking a stance (Mk 3:28-29): whoever will not accept forgiveness will not receive it. The third act (Mk 3:31-35) deals with Jesus' authentic family. The attack by the Scribes, in the position where we find it, separates the two scenes which tell us about the incredulity of Jesus' relatives and their public statement of this. Instead of softening the conflict with his family, the whole account underlines it: the incomprehension of his own family introduces the scene and gives tone to it.

2.Some highlights

Totally dedicated to others, Jesus does not look after himself. His own family get to hear about this, and they cannot understand what is driving Jesus to lead such a life (Mk 3:21). They leave from Nazareth, where they are probably living, and go to Capharnaum, where he is staying. They have one clear intention: they want to bring him back with them. Their suggestion is not such a friendly one: they wanted to take him home and stop him by force from doing what he is doing.

His relatives' poor opinion of him (Mk 3:20-21)

In fact the judgement they make of Jesus is a serious one. They think he is out of his mind. His relatives' view might hide their belief that Jesus is under diabolical influence, since for the Jews alienation was considered a result of possession by the devil (cf. Jn 7:20; 8:45.52; 10:20-21). Even though this wasn't the case, the statement helps us glimpse the incomprehension that Jesus, from the outset of his mission, encountered in his own family (cf. Jn 7:5: “Not even his brothers, in fact, had faith in him”).

This information, too negative to have been invented by the Christian community, reflected well the pre-Easter circumstance in which few, his family included, believed in Jesus' personal mission. Certainly they did not share it. The Gospel tradition is unanimous in noting how Jesus is distancing himself from his family during his public ministry. This distancing is very real. So completely dedicated to things of the kingdom, Jesus was giving his family the idea that he was off his head: filled with God but out of his mind. Occupied with the kingdom, he went ahead without giving time to himself. There is only room for God in his soul…, and this surprises those who knew him best! Great familiarity, complete knowledge, is not always advantageous for faith.

A serious accusation by his enemies (Mk 3,:2-30)

While his relatives are on the way (Mk 3:21.35), Scribes come from Jerusalem with certainly not the best of intentions. They don't beat about the bush, and immediately set about accusing him, of nothing less than diabolical possession (Mk 3:22).

[Even if in Mark's intention the confrontation with the Scribes is essential for understanding his break with his own family, we'll skip over this episode, since there is a commentary on it in the sheets you have, so we can focus on our theme: who or what is Jesus' true family.]

Only someone who obeys God is a member of Jesus' family (Mk 3:31-35)

Jesus' family reappears as soon as the episode about Jesus' presumed diabolical possession is over. His relatives come from outside and choose to remain outside the house where Jesus is staying. They have him called for (Mk 3:31). Their behaviour, even though understandable (Mk 3:21), shows how distant they are, right outside anything that Jesus is doing. They don't go looking for him - they demand he come. They are not following him, they want him to follow them. They don't go into his house, they want him to come home with them. They stay outside where Jesus is living…, and they are left standing outside his heart.

The news of his family's arrival, and there seem to be many of them, finds Jesus surrounded by a crowd of disciples seated around him (Mk 3:32). Here there is a clue as to the different attitudes of family and disciples to Jesus: his family have to come looking for him to find him, while those who listen to him are staying with him. If someone is looking for him it means he hasn't yet found him. Whoever is listening to him is with him, in his presence.

Once he finds out his family is there and knows their intentions, Jesus addresses himself to the crowd, not to his family (!), with a question that prepares them for his – surprising, scandalous – position. He doesn't even seem to think his family are worth casting a glance at. IHis simple public question implies a serious affront (Mk 3:33): iit points to him not recognising those who have just arrived; he does not accept their intentions in his regard. they can't understand what he is up to and they have made an error in judging him (Mk 3:21).

Jesus has good reason. He recognises only those seated around him at that moment as his family. Now, truly, Jesus' gaze, a typical feature of Mark's (Mk 3:5.34; 5:32; 9:8; 10:23; 11:11), comes before his words (Mk 3:34): he wants them to discover his heart long before they proclaim him with words. This way he makes his feelings very public to his family in the flesh. Jesus' break with his family is not left unsaid, that could not be clearer.

And the reason that he gives makes the distance separating them even clearer. The question is not that he does not want to bother with them, but the real case is that they do not want to listen to God. It is not that he does not like them, but that they are not seeking God's word. They are looking for Jesus, but they are not amongst those who seek God's will. So Jesus does not allow himself to be overcome by personal affection, nor by blood ties. God is the one who rules his words…, and his feelings! he loves those who do God's will. It is obedience to God, and not even the most sacred feelings which is the decisive factor for becoming part of his family. The fact of choosing for the kingdom leaves him orphaned. Choosing for God gives him a new family. Thus does the evangeliser for the kingdom behave.

It is true that Jesus of course does not present his disciples as his real family. Nor does he reject his blood family just because it was not with him. Rather does he teach to whoever wants to listen to him, the way to become part of his family and form a new family with him. Whoever does God's will is the object of his love. God's servants are Jesus and his mother's brothers. Later when Jesus obliges his disciples to renounce their own families (cf Mk 10:28-30), his requirement, as difficult as it is, was something habitual for him and his family knew it. His disciples clearly know that before he demands something similar of them, he has done it and in public.

By his last statement Jesus softens the family conflict a little (Mk 3:35: “Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother”), given that he does not put family and disciples directly up against one another. They haven't even appeared throughout the entire scene. Jesus does not opt for a group, but for all who take him seriously, gather round him, seated and listen to him, and who are in agreement with God. So there is only one way to gain Jesus' affection, and this is to do the will of his God. He considers whoever has familiarity with God's will to be of his family.

Whoever today listens to Jesus has no reason to be envious of his disciples, nor feel any compunction for Jesus' natural family. For them in fact and for us today, the possibility remains open to be his mother, brother, sister. Doing God's will would be to be in the Masters family. Living with Jesus, who does everything to make himself heard, means entering into the circle of those who are his intimate friends: Jesus truly loves those who truly love God. What was not available to his historical family is right there for his obedient disciples. Today as was the case then. Living by giving ear to Jesus, the word of God, is the very cradle of fraternal life.

[Reminder of the spiritual work already indicated, cf. Day two. Presentation, p. 2].

For Mary Jesus' public rejection had to be very sorrowful, because while it was not directed at her, it did involve her whole family. However Mary (Mk 1:38) and also Joseph (Mt 1:24) well knew how much it cost to be Jesus' father and mother: a privilege that had cost them absolute obedience. Let us ask Mary to teach us to live by listening in our heart and with our heart to Jesus, and thus to become his family: we will have the joy of finding Jesus' mother if we come together as family with him.