Bible Study Series: Mark 3:20-21. Yes, even his mother Mary thought her son was out of his mind.
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Scripture: Mark 3:20-21
20 He came home, and again a crowd gathered together, so that they were unable even to eat a meal. 21 When his family heard this, they went out to take him into custody, for they were saying, “He was out of his mind.” (Mark 3:20-21)
Comments
20-21:
These are two surprising verses. Mary treasured his childhood (Luke 2), and Joseph was told that he would save the people from their sins (Matt. 1:21), but this does not mean that his family saw him as the Messiah or the Son of God. They were not at the highest level of knowledge about his true and fuller identity. But if they fail to understand their own son and brother, then at least they were concerned about him. Further, Israel was an honor and shame society, and they attempted to bring him home, so that he would bring shame on the family, by his unorthodox or nonconformist activities (Wessel and Strauss).
NET translated “a house” as “home.” In other words, he returned home (Capernaum). This is probably right, since it fits the context. The crowd outside of their house must have startled his family. So I went with the NET’s translation. However, the wording also says “they went out” as if he was not at home, but perhaps nearby. Alternatively, he may have been just outside his family’s house and the crowd gathered and bothered the family meal, so they went out to seize or restrain him (possible translations of the verb, other than “take … into custody”).
His mother and brothers are named in Matt. 13:55: Mary, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. His sisters are unnamed (13:56). Together, they would have been strong enough to restrain or take custody of him.
“he was out of his mind”: ouch! This was a terrible thing to say. And in the next pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section, some Pharisees from Jerusalem will say he expels demons by the ruler of demons. The misunderstanding from his family must have cut most deeply. They may have said, “Jesus, enough!” Then they looked at the crowd and said, “We’re sorry, but we have to take him into our hands. We’ll bring him back to normal, back down to earth.”
In John 7:3-9 his unbelieving (v. 5) brothers tried to micro-manage Jesus’s ministry. They told him to go to Judea so that the disciples there could see the works he was doing. He replies that his time had not yet come, but their time is always here, because they belong to the world, which does not hate them, but it hates him because he testifies that its works are evil. That passage cannot get any clearer. There was a deep misunderstanding and gulf between him and his brothers. However, the epistles of James and Jude were written by his two brothers (Jude is a variation on Judas). So they must have surrendered to his Lordship, after his resurrection.
Here, back in vv. 20-21, Jesus’s identity was being attacked. However, he was not deterred. He knew his calling and who he was. The Father told him from heaven that he was his beloved Son (Mark 1:11). After that critical declaration, he didn’t need his earthly family’s acceptance. In fact, in vv. 31-35, he’ll tell the crowd that his family are those who do the will of God, while his mother and brothers were outside asking to see him. He didn’t answer their request to see him. He had to complete his mission all the way to his crucifixion—but also his resurrection and ascension.
Lane is excellent here:
The charge leveled against Jesus is that “he has lost his mind.” The Marcan term describes one who is ecstatic in the sense of psychic derangement. Reflection on Jesus’ eschatological sense of mission, his urgent drive to minister, his failure properly to eat and sleep undoubtedly led the family to their conviction, but it reveals both misunderstanding and unbelief. The entire incident calls to mind passages in which the man of God is despised by family and contemporaries who mistake his zeal for God as “madness.”
In the next pericope, the teachers of the law (scribes) will claim he expels demons by the power of Satan. His family thought he was out of his mind and now the religious authorities falsely assess him. The opposition is getting intense.
GrowApp for Mark 3:20-21
1. Jesus’s family completely misunderstood him. Have you ever been seriously misunderstood by those closest to you, as you endeavor to follow Jesus?
2. How did you respond?
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10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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