for they said, "He is out of his mind."
His relatives see how popular Jesus is. They see the movement around him become something huge and almost unmanageable. Jesus and his disciples just want to eat and there isn't room because of the crowds. That sure seems like a deal breaker to the relatives. Popularity is great. In fact, they're probably a little bit jealous of Jesus and his popularity. What makes him special? But they reassure themselves that it isn't worth the impact to their daily lives. It is as if these relatives are the original hipsters. They see something popular and disregard it by that very fact. They don't see beyond the gathering crowd to the reason the crowds gather. And yet, the crowds have a good reason to gather. Just as was the case earlier, he "had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases were pressing upon him to touch him" (cf. Mar. 3:10). On the one hand, to not blindly follow a crowd is commendable. It is a necessary condition of sanity in the world. On the other, to ignore a thing because it popular can cause us to miss anything that deserves its popularity. What motives underlie this way of thinking? If we are too prideful we only want to discover things that are new, things which no one else knows, and things which we discover for ourselves unassisted. We don't want to learn them from others. We want the learning and the choice itself to say something about us and how good and smart we are. But no one comes before Jesus this way.
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? (cf. Rom. 10:14)
The point is that, however great the movement surrounding him, Jesus deserves it all and more. He casts out demons. He heals all who approach him. He does not merely sanctify those defiled in an external and ritual way. He heals the depths of our hearts. Only he can cleanse these dead works from our consciences so that we can worship the living God. He is looking for people to worship in Spirit and truth (cf. Joh. 4:24). In everything that was, is, and ever will be popular is something of the human desire for fulfillment. This desire, at its deepest, is a desire for God. No other movement, however popular can totally deliver on this promise. Maybe that's why we become skeptical about the popular. Maybe in that way it is understandable. But here at last we find the one who finally tears the veil that separates us from the one in whom alone mankind finds true fulfillment.
how much more will the Blood of Christ,
who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
Jesus is the new and living way through this veil (cf. Heb. 10:20). When we turn to him in our hearts the veil is removed from us (cf. 2 Cor. 3:16). He does this definitively by his death on the cross when the temple veil is torn in two (cf. Mat. 27:51). We share in this blessing already. But today he invites us to grow in it more, to more fully enter into the presence of God. He invites us to discover the reason why his message goes out to all the earth. We are invited to celebrate the deserved popularity of the Gospel. In turn we are invited to spread it still further by our own enthusiasm and celebration.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
Saint Francis de Sales reminds us that we are all called to holiness. He assures us that when we pursue holiness we don't lose our identity in the crowd. God has a path specially for us. But the destination is the same: the unveiled presence of God.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18).
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