Restraining Jesus
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 3:20-35
More often than we'd like to think, our priorities don't quite match up with those of Jesus. We don't give a lot of thought to that. We just tend to go on with our lives and ignore some of the things to which Jesus called us. Perhaps this comes greatest visibility in our economic and political lives. Our tendency is to keep those aspects of our lives detached from questions of faith. What does Jesus have to do with how I spend my money, how I vote, foreign policy, national immigration policy, how our penal system operates, how we establish zoning ordinances, or how we structure our healthcare system? This tendency to separate the secular from our faith responsibilities creates distinctions that would restrain and limit Jesus to a narrow slice of our lives. How far do we take our restraining of Jesus?
Jesus' family was not against him. They were not intent on causing him harm. They were not on a quest to imprison him or exclude him from their lives. They went to restrain him, according to Mark's account, not to cause him harm, but to help him. Jesus needed an intervention. Jesus needed someone to set him down and protect him from himself. He was making enemies of the wrong sort of people. He was speaking out in ways that threatened his very life. He had lost his attachment to reality, as far as they were concerned. Oh, and they were not the only ones thinking along these lines. Jesus has simply lost it!
Out of their love and concern for him, his mother, brothers, and sisters came to take him home and bring him back to his senses. If they had not loved or cared for him, they would not have bothered. They would just have abandoned him and allowed him to freely endanger his own life. They would have just washed their hands of him. It was their concern, however, that brought them to Jesus in today's text, hoping to restrain him, take him back home, and get him some much needed therapy and clarity. To all ap ...
Christopher B. Harbin
Mark 3:20-35
More often than we'd like to think, our priorities don't quite match up with those of Jesus. We don't give a lot of thought to that. We just tend to go on with our lives and ignore some of the things to which Jesus called us. Perhaps this comes greatest visibility in our economic and political lives. Our tendency is to keep those aspects of our lives detached from questions of faith. What does Jesus have to do with how I spend my money, how I vote, foreign policy, national immigration policy, how our penal system operates, how we establish zoning ordinances, or how we structure our healthcare system? This tendency to separate the secular from our faith responsibilities creates distinctions that would restrain and limit Jesus to a narrow slice of our lives. How far do we take our restraining of Jesus?
Jesus' family was not against him. They were not intent on causing him harm. They were not on a quest to imprison him or exclude him from their lives. They went to restrain him, according to Mark's account, not to cause him harm, but to help him. Jesus needed an intervention. Jesus needed someone to set him down and protect him from himself. He was making enemies of the wrong sort of people. He was speaking out in ways that threatened his very life. He had lost his attachment to reality, as far as they were concerned. Oh, and they were not the only ones thinking along these lines. Jesus has simply lost it!
Out of their love and concern for him, his mother, brothers, and sisters came to take him home and bring him back to his senses. If they had not loved or cared for him, they would not have bothered. They would just have abandoned him and allowed him to freely endanger his own life. They would have just washed their hands of him. It was their concern, however, that brought them to Jesus in today's text, hoping to restrain him, take him back home, and get him some much needed therapy and clarity. To all ap ...
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