Surfing the Inner N8

People couldn’t decide if Jesus was insane or possessed.  In Mark 3:21, His own family claimed, “He’s out of His mind”!  But the Pharisees argued, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons.”

Not exactly a flattering argument.

How ’bout a third possibility: Maybe He’s the Son of God?

I have to wonder about Mary’s role in this.  We know from the Bible that Jesus’ brothers were not believers until after His resurrection (see John 7:5), but c’mon–Mary gave birth to Him while she was still a virgin!  Surely she took that as a sign that God was up to something in Jesus’ life.

It’s interesting that shortly after this incident, Jesus’ family came to see Him and He was like, “My family?  Who’s My family?  The ones that obey God are My family.”  I know He wasn’t trying to slam His family or anything, but still I wonder if in the back of His mind He was thinking, “My family are the ones that don’t think I’m nuts!  My family consists of people that don’t feel the need to decide whether I’m whacked out or inhabited by demons.”

Often it seems that my family thinks I’m crazy, so I find comfort in the fact that Jesus dealt with the same thing.   At least my parents never tried to have me committed… although they probably came pretty close.