Jesus the drop-out

Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."
(Mark 3:20-21)

This passage shows that Jesus' relationship with his family had some troubles. While he was going about his ministry, they were looking to bring him home by force. Perhaps they were worried about his affect on their own reputations. Perhaps he should have been tending to his mother's needs. Perhaps he should have been working in the carpenter's shop in order to provide for the household. Perhaps he shouldn't have replaced his siblings with twelve other men, with whom he now spent all of his time. Perhaps he should have gotten a real job, a wife, and a home of his own. He was, by their accounts, shameful.

Could we really expect anything different from the man who so often drew lines between family and faith? Jesus told one man who wanted to follow him after first burying his father, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60). The high duty to one's parents comes second to the work of the Kingdom, a powerful reality that breaks family ties.

Was it difficult for Jesus to separate himself from his family? Maybe. But he knew that his real family were those who lived in the Kingdom of God. Above everything else, he demonstrated his faithfulness to God by following him alone.

Consider these thoughts:
"Jesus gives me courage to go my own way, even if my family don't understand it or my friends don't think that it's a good way. That's part of the loneliness in my life. Jesus encourages me to risk this loneliness. It's worthwile. It makes me open to the mystery of God's kingdom.

"'God's kingdom' means that God is near. God rules. When God rules in me I'm really free; then I take the form that God has devised for me, that suits me. Jesus calls on me really to go my own way. This unique way which God entrusts to me is more important than any human approval. Every man and woman is unique. That is Jesus' message. And we can all make our own personal way in this world. There is no need to justify this way, to explain it, or to get approval of it from the family. We must simply go our own way and do what God tells us in our hearts."

Anselm Grun, Images of Jesus (New York: Continuum, 2002), 17.