Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, bishop and doctor of the Church

Today's Mass Readings

Today’s Gospel strikes firmly and in brief. We are left with the words of Jesus’ relatives, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).

If we explore the passage immediately preceding it, we are presented with an interesting contrast. Right before today’s gospel passage, as we heard in yesterday’s gospel, Jesus ascends to the top of a mountain and appoints his twelve apostles so that “they might be with him and he might send them forth to preach and to have authority to drive out demons” (Mark 3:14). Often in the Scriptures, really important events occur on the top of mountains: the Sermon on the Mount, which mirrors Moses’ reception of the Ten Commandments on Sinai, Moses and the Burning Bush, the Transfiguration. We know, then, that Jesus’ naming those who would be his closest companions and stand at the beginning of the Church is really important. The contrast comes in when Jesus returns home. His popularity is growing; there are crowds gathering around him. Yet his own relatives, who presumably know him best, “set out to seize him” (Mark 3:21). Shortly after this story, Jesus tells the crowd that doing God’s will is the measure of the Kingdom of God, not family ties.

What are we to make of all of this?

Well, we might get a start from today’s psalm. Certainly a psalm of praise, it tells us to clap our hands, to shout to God (Ps 47:2), blast a trumpet for God (Ps 47:6), and claims that God reigns over the nations. If one were to do the first three things, which grow incrementally more boisterous, in certain contexts, one might certainly be considered “out of one’s mind.” Not to mention taking seriously the last – that God rules. If God rules, then all sorts of other things don’t ultimately rule – weapons, states, markets, careers, even families. If we were to live these actions perhaps some of those who know us best would find us a bit unnerving.

Remember how Jesus’ relatives thought he was crazy? Sometimes following the call of Jesus will lead those who are supposed to know us best to think we’re out of our minds. Francis de Sales’ father thought he was crazy for pursuing the priesthood instead of being a lawyer. He’s a saint. On the other side of the coin, maybe those who most need our motherly, fatherly, sisterly, and brotherly attention stand outside the fold of our nuclear family. Maybe today we can think about one way to treat a brother or sister in Christ with the depth of self-sacrifice and love that we give to our own children and parents everyday. Such action would indeed blare like a trumpet in praise of God, even if only God could hear. Does such depth of love make us “out of our minds”? Hopefully in the same way that Jesus was!!

- Tim Gabrielli