This coming Sunday is the 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Jesus is in the midst of his first public ministry in Galilee. The news of his miracles has spread. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” This is the only place in the gospels that provides this pericope. It is not clear whether Jesus’s family is involved at all. The Greek phrase, hoi par’ autou, is not very specific. The literal meaning is “those who are close to him, alongside him, beside him.” Certainly the text of v.32 referring to “mothers and brothers” would naturally lead one to the inference that v.21 should be translated as “family”, but many English translations follow the 1611 King James Version and translate this expression as “his friends” instead.

In addition, the verb translated as to seize him (kratesai) covers both welcome and unwelcome touching, whether for healing (as at verse 1:31), or to make an arrest (as in Gethsemane, 14:46).

The verb translated as he is out of his mind (exeste) similarly applies equally well to a variety of mental states, from the positive astonishment at Jesus’s teaching and miracles (for example, verse 2:12) to something negative that contrasts with sobriety or calm demeanor (2 Corinthians 5:13). The term can describe one who is driven and seemingly obsessed with a task or mission. Seeing Jesus’ eschatological sense of mission, his urgent drive to minister, his failure properly to eat and sleep undoubtedly led the family/friends to their conviction to take charge of Jesus for his own good. 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.”

It is unnecessary to suppose that Mary also suspected that Jesus had lost his grasp upon reality. A maternal compassion and worry for her son seems the better understanding. What the “brothers” thought is a different matter. In any case, they seemed determined to restrain Jesus and bring him home.

Image credit: “Mocking of Christ” by Ciambue | 1280 |Louvre, Paris | PD-US