Doubting Doubt
(Table of Contents - Click This Link)
The Process
Step 3 – He is Beside Himself (cont.)
What About Mary?
* It's Not What You Read, It's How You Read It
Up until now I have
suggested, with, I think, a good amount of supportive information, that Jesus’
family did not actually think that Jesus was crazy. This first approach makes one modification to
that suggestion. The phrase “… they
said, “He is out of His mind,” does not need to apply to every member of the
rescue party.
Jesus had four brothers and an unspecified number of sisters.[1]
For the purposes of this approach I will not suppose the presence of any
sisters at this event. Indeed, none are
mentioned. In fact, it is necessary to
assume the presence of only two brothers because in verse 31 we are told “Then
Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived,” so we know there were at least two. I will attempt to portray the scenario that
unfolded:
Mary and the boys were in a house nearby. Someone arrived and urged them to make
haste. The person told them that Jesus
and His disciples were at Simon Peter’s house, a huge crowd was all around the
place and some scribes from Jerusalem were there and they looked none too happy.
They were saying some ugly things about
Jesus, that He was driving demons out of people by the power of Beelzebub, and
there was fear that Jesus was going to find Himself in big trouble.
Mary – Boys … did you hear
that? This is just terrible!
Son #1 – I told you Mom, Jesus is
going to get us all excommunicated – or worse!
Son #2 – I think he’s right,
Mom. Jesus can’t be going around saying
the things he’s been saying. It’s
blasphemy!
Mary – Boys, boys, have a
heart! Jesus is your big brother! He’s a good boy!
Son #1 – I tell you, Mom, he’s
gone completely off the deep end! He’s
gone crazy!
Mary – No, it’s not true! I oughtta know! We’ve got to go help Him!
Son #2 – We’ll get him out of
there, alright. He’s saying stuff only
God can say. He’s going to get himself
stoned to death!
Son #1 – I’m with you, Bro. We’ll be lucky if the town doesn’t mob the
whole lot of us!
Son #2 – When I get him home I’m
going to lock him in his room and bar the door shut before he gets us all
killed!
Son #1 – Yeah! Me too!
Come on, let’s go!
Mary – No, boys! Wait!
Think this out a minute!
The sons dash out the door. Mary
goes after them. A neighbor stops her.
Neighbor – Where y’all headed,
Miss Mary?
Mary – Oh, I’m terribly
frightened! I heard Jesus might be
getting Himself into some kind of trouble.
The boys are going to get Him out of there. They’re real upset with Him. I’ve got to go and make sure everything’s all
right.
The three arrive at the house.
The person who told them what was going on was there to meet them.
Person – It’s a good thing you
got here! There! There are those scribes right over there!
A
friend at the door spots the threesome.
Friend – Well howdy, Miss
Mary! Fellas! Glad you could join us!
Son #2 – We won’t be
staying. Just send Jesus out here … now!
Friend – Sure thing, Bubba! What’s the matter!
Son #1 – He’s crazy, that’s what!
Friend – Say what?!
Son #1, standing tall and raising his voice so the scribes could hear – I said he’s out of his mind!
I
know, I know. The portrayal was
fanciful. But I hope it gets my point
across. It corresponds exactly with the
biblical account. The family said Jesus
was crazy, that is, except for Mary. And
it makes more sense than ascribing an absurd personal trait arbitrarily.
So, what do we have? Guilt by
association.
Someone will say, “Oh, now you’ve really gone too far, Monty!”
But that’s not so. How many times
in the Bible can we find accounts that depict guilt by association events?
Exodus 17:3 – 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they
grumbled with Moses. They said, “Why did
you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and our livestock die
of thirst?”
Did all of the people say that?
Every single one of them down to the very last man?
Who knows how many places like this we can find? I might even wonder if every last person
shouted “Crucify him!” in John 19:15, although I must say that in that instance
I am afraid that every single one of them did.
Don’t let the freewheeling style of my portrayal throw you off as to
what it is saying. It’s not
far-fetched. Just because the phrase in
question is “… they said, He is out of his mind,” we are not forced to insist
that that includes Mary. And we are not
contradicting the inerrancy of scripture by allowing that possibility, the
possibility of guilt by association.
But my portrayal does more than to suggest guilt by association; much
more. It illustrates that it is highly
important to be on guard against our tendency to jump to drastically wrong
conclusions when faced with missing information. That is what is taking place day in and day
out with both our claims about Mary in the Mark 3:21 statement and our claims
about John the Baptist’s behavior when he was in prison.
In
the face of missing information, we are ready to throw out everything else we
know about these two people and accept behaviors that make no sense at all, no
questions asked, and then we even go on to teach other people to do the same
thing. This is not right.
There is a story that illustrates the drastic results of jumping to the
wrong conclusion due to missing information.
The sad thing about this story is that I understand that it is a true
story.
A
man got a call at work one day from someone he knew who told him that she had
heard from someone that his wife had been killed in a car accident.
“What!?” he said, alarmed. He asked, “What happened?”
“I
don’t know,” the person said.
“Where is she?” asked the man.
“I
don’t know. I saw the ambulance take her
away down at 1st Street and Main.
The police are still there. If
you get down there right away they can tell you.”
The man immediately dashed out and went to the scene of the
accident. Sure enough, the police were
still there completing their report.
The man saw his wife’s car at the curb.
The headlight was broken and the fender was a little scratched up, but
it really didn’t look like all that serious of an accident.
He
went up to one of the officers and told them who he was and said, “I was told
that my wife had been killed in a car accident here!”
The officer, calm and relaxed, said, “No, no. It was just a minor fender-bender. Nothing serious. Your wife is fine. She might be a little sore for a few days,
but she’s just fine. They just took her
in to treat her for a few cuts and bruises.”
Relieved, the man said, “What great news! Where did they take her?”
The officer gave the man the name of the hospital and off the man went.
When the man arrived at the hospital he went to the emergency room and
said to the attendant, “The police told me my wife was brought in here,” and he
told them who he was there to see. “How
is she doing?” he said.
“Oh, I’m sorry to have to tell you, sir.
She died.”
“What!?” the man said in shock.
“I’m sorry, sir. On their way
here, the ambulance was rushing through an intersection and was hit by a
truck.”
Missing information. Never forget
the importance of keeping that element in your mind at all times.
But someone will say to me, “Still, Monty, I understand what you were
trying to get across with your portrayal about Jesus’ family, but it’s far from
conclusive. We don’t know that things
went that way with them. You still
haven’t proven anything.”
[1] Youngblood, Bruce, Harrison, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), p. 658
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