Jesus came with his disciples into the house.
Again the crowd gathered,
making it impossible for them even to eat.
When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
His relatives, because they thought they knew him, let their hearts be hardened at what they saw. Why were the crowds pressing in? Because Jesus had acquired a reputation as a healer and a miracle worker. But his relatives were not interested in this, because that was not the Jesus they thought they knew. To Jesus the crowds who came to him were like troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. If it made it impossible for him to rest or "even to eat" the pity that motivated his heart was willing to endure it (see Matthew 9:36). But his relatives could not understand this. They didn't want to put up with a disturbance to their lifestyle, their daily routine, or their comfort. And this to the degree that they actually "set out to seize him".
When Jesus causes a commotion in our lives, when he calls us away from our daily routines, do we try to seize him in put him back in his place? Do we try to tame him and confine him to the limited role we are willing to allow him to play in our own hearts and in our neighborhoods? When people suggest that either he or we ourselves are out of our minds do we get nervous and try to disperse the crowds? There is a sense in which, when the Holy Spirit moves in power, the world might feel threatened, because they don't understand what happening. The central premises around which their lives are based are being challenged and shown to not be absolute.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (see First Corinthians 2:14).
If we are living by the power of the Spirit of God we are going to encounter situations where we are misunderstood and even opposed by the 'natural person'. This is not something we should begrudge them. For even we ourselves, without the Spirit, would be in no better a state. But we should be ready for it, ready to have people say, if they like, that we are out of our minds, and even for them to try to seize us. This happens most often in modern times by secular forces trying to keep religion from having a voice in the public square. But in other countries it still takes the form of violence. Jesus was willing to incur such calumny and opposition in order to preach and heal. By his Spirit at work in us we can do the same.
We are fools for the sake of Christ (see First Corinthians 4:10).
Jesus offered himself to perfect us and make us free to love one another. Without that healing we were guilty of dead works, works that characterize those who do not have eternal hope and therefore are motivated by fear of death and self-preservation above all. Those who opposed Jesus when the crowds pressed in were still motivated by this mindset. We ourselves are still bound by it when we let the crowds silence us and when we try to confine Jesus to a small and controllable part of our lives. But the One whose words are Spirit and life, who himself is the way, the truth, and the life, whose life is the light of men, can set us free from these dead works.
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.
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