Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

 Lectionary: 316 

When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
 

Familiar with Saint Mark's "sandwich method" of telling stories, we recognize the brief sentence above as the first part of a two part episode about the Lord's rather complicated relationship with his own family. 

Fr Raymond Brown PSS, the great American scripture scholar, suggested there may have been trouble in the first days of the Church as the Lord's family attempted to wrest control of it from His disciples. Some were there at Pentecost, as we know from Saint Luke's account, but after that we learn only of Mary, this mother; and the faithful "James, brother of the Lord." He is called the first bishop of Jerusalem; and Saint Luke describes how he submitted to Peter's rightful leadership. (Acts 15:13-21)

Despite the interruption in today's story about Jesus' family, it's deserves reflection. First, we notice that, given the confusing, distressing dynamics of many families, some members find it safer to control and limit their time among them. And others, like Jesus, have more important concerns than their family's expectations. They stay in touch, but distantly. That can happen either because the isolated individual is faithful to the Lord, or because they have wandered far from the faith. The latter may prefer more raucous companions and regard their church-going siblings as hypocritically pious. 

We remember the severe teaching of Jesus, 

If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

I think we can read the word hate as distance oneself from. In every relationship except that with God, we must maintain both boundaries and barriers. And even with God, reverence and Genesis 3 teach us not to encroach upon His authority. In fact, our respect for God shows us appropriate standards of barriers and boundaries for our relations with other people.

Trusting in God, I do not idolize anyone, neither husband nor wife, child or parent, friend or foe. Each one is a child of God, but no more than that to me. As Saint Francis said, to his father, the bishop of Assisi, and those who'd come out to watch the spectacle of a father's anger, "From this day forward, I have only one father, and that is Our Father in Heaven." As far as we know, they were never reconciled; Pietro Bernadone disappeared from the legends and stories about the Saint. 

It's unfortunate but sometimes it's necessary. We care about our families deeply; we pray for them; we cannot save them. And we can say as Jesus will say to us when we hear the rest of the story, 

"...whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35