Step 3, Item 4 - The Claim

Doubting Doubt

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The Process

Step 3 – He is Beside Himself (cont.)

 

4.  The Claim

 

  The claim that was made by Jesus’ family.

  It looks straight-forward enough:

  ²¹ When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

 

  “He is out of his mind.”  That is what it says that they said.  What is hard to understand about that?

  Imagine Samantha Stevens (Bewitched) speaking about her husband to her mother:

  “You know Darrin thinks the world of you, Mother.  He just had a bad day at the office, that’s all.”

 

  How about some parents at a parent-teacher conference:

  “Johnny’s a real good boy, Miss Evans.  He just has ADHD.”

 

  Here’s another one I think you’ll recognize:

  “She really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.” (Gen. 20:12)

 

  Another:

    “They gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” (Ex. 32:24)

 

  Maybe what I’m suggesting here is not coming across the way that I intend for it to.  Consider this one:

  “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.” (Mt. 2:8)

 

  You know that story, don’t you?  The Magi came to Jerusalem seeking Jesus.  Herod learned of their inquiry and sent for the Magi and ordered them to search for Jesus on his behalf.

  Did he really give them that command so that he could worship Jesus?  No.  Of course not.  He lied.

  Does someone ask, “Are you sure?”

  Sure, I’m sure.

  “But it says right in the Bible that Herod said that he wanted to worship Jesus.”

  But he didn’t really, did he?

  It also says in the Bible that Jesus’ brothers said of Jesus, “He is beside himself.”

  But did they say that because they really thought so?

  Look – It’s exactly the same form, the same genre of writing – a gospel.  The two situations can be interpreted in precisely the same way.  Herod said what he said and we can see that Herod lied.  Jesus’ family are recorded to have said that they thought that Jesus was out of his mind.  But it could be that they might not actually have thought so and yet they had very good reason for saying that he was.

  Here’s a tough one:  Would you make a stand for Jesus even if it would cost you your life?  Many people have done it throughout the centuries.  Stephen did it.  Many people have failed the test.  Peter failed at first but passed later.  I would like to say that if I was ever faced with the test that I would have the courage and fortitude of someone like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but I don’t know that I can guarantee it.

  I have already indicated that Jesus’ family had a legitimate reason for coming to get Jesus.  It’s understandable that they would be concerned that Jesus was in a hazardous situation.  Therefore, they also had a good reason to fabricate an excuse for why they wanted to take him.  To state this excuse aloud before the gathering would have improved the chances of placating the scribes and mitigating any undesirable action taken by them.

  It might seem shocking that I would even suggest that they were lying, especially in light of the fact that since the Bible doesn’t say that they were lying, we would think that we don’t have the right to assume it.  But remember, I am proposing that Jesus’ family had no better motive for coming to take Him away than out of a concern for safety; maybe Jesus’ safety; maybe their own.  What happened to Jesus might have dire consequences for the rest of the family.

  Jesus had raised the attention of the Sanhedrin to the point that they were tailing Him, and going to some degree of trouble to do it.  We can tell they did because the scribes made the trip to this place all the way from Jerusalem.  And we know why they did it too.  Jesus was rocking their boat.  He was doing things they didn’t approve of.  He was saying things they would not tolerate.

  That’s not the crux of it.  Jesus wasn’t always spending his time doing and saying these things out in the boonies.  Jesus didn’t hesitate one bit to go right to where these religious officials operated.  Jesus had no reluctance at all to get right in their face, as we say.

  This was hazardous behavior.  This wasn’t like ruffling the feathers of the boys over at the golf club.  The Sanhedrin had significant power over people.  To raise the ire of the Sanhedrin could have serious consequences, and did have, as we know.

  But we don’t have to be stranded with nothing more to go on than empty conjecture and speculation.  Even without the direct evidence of an indisputable statement in the Bible telling us that that was the motivation of Jesus’ family, we still have very good circumstantial evidence.

  First, the very fact that the scribes were mentioned in association with the rest of the story tells us that their very presence was notable.  But there is something else even more convincing.

  Somehow or another his family was alerted.  The passage says, “When his family heard about this …”

  I don’t know if it matters how they were alerted.  Perhaps their concerns had been growing for a while.  The more they heard of Jesus doing what was prohibited and the more they heard of Jesus making statements that they knew the Sanhedrin would regard as blasphemous or otherwise threatening, the more they knew that Jesus was heading for a showdown and that was not going to be pretty.

  But there’s another possibility that I think is even more likely, due to the way in which this section is worded.  Jesus was picking up steam like nothing anyone had ever seen before.  For all of His life He had been relatively obscure and quickly He was getting a following that was nothing less than phenomenal.  And here He and His disciples brought this massive crowd to the neighborhood.  It was wonderful.  People were delighted beyond description.

  At the same time, there were these out-of-towners, the scribes.  Even if they posed no actual threat themselves, they represented the ones who did, and the scribes were not only capable but inclined to sound an alert of their own.

  So, I don’t think Jesus’ family decided to go as the result of a gradual growing concern that had developed over time after hearing the accumulating reports.  I think they were notified by someone and were urged to get there on the double.  This is the sense that I get from the way that the section is worded.  It gives me the sense that it was expressly this event that spurred this action.  The scene that is depicted contributes to this conclusion.

  Somewhere in this crowd or in this neighborhood it is perfectly reasonable to expect that someone recognized the risk that was present.  That person decided that the family needed to be alerted and went to alert them himself or else sent someone else to do it.  Either that messenger made the trip to Nazareth and got the family to come or else the family was already somewhere nearby, maybe visiting some friends while keeping tabs on the things that were going on with Jesus.

  Wild speculation, do you say?  I don’t think so and here is why:

  Why else would someone notify the family?  Let’s try out some ideas:

  - Was it so important to tell the family that Jesus was showing up with such a big crowd that He didn’t even have time to eat?  How would you react to that news?

  “Feed Him!  Do I have to come over there and do it for you?”

   - Did that person think that it was so important to tell the family that Jesus was there and people were coming and getting healed right and left?  I wouldn’t in any way want to suggest that I think that it is possible for anyone, even Jesus’ own family, to ever get bored or jaded by witnessing miraculous healings, but after all, they had heard the reports themselves from all over the region.  No one needed to tell them.  If they wanted to be there to witness such happenings they could have determined to do it on their own.

  - Did the messenger think it was important to notify Jesus’ family that Jesus was there mesmerizing the neighborhood with His brilliant words?  If he or she had to go all the way to Nazareth to tell them that, that person’s time would have been better spent being in the company of the Lord Jesus.

  Why does anybody usually need to notify a person’s family about something?  Because there’s trouble, or at least, there could be trouble.

  Do you still really think that Jesus’ family genuinely believed that Jesus was out of His mind?  Really?  Well then you’re ready to move on to the next element of this step in the process.