Why Did the Mother of Jesus Think He was Out of His Mind?
Mark 3:20-21
He came into a house. The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, “He is insane.”
The New International Version of the Bible says, “when his family heard about it, they went to take charge of him for they said, ‘he is out of his mind.’" Family seems to be the better translation. The editors of the World English Bible could not understand how the family of Jesus could think he was insane, so they opted for a less-accurate translation because of their preconceived ideas.
Mark tells us that Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus came to seize him or take charge of him because they thought he lost his mind. Imagine that for a moment. Mary spoke with an angel. Her husband, Joseph, received a dream vision. It was explained to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God and he would save Israel. So, why would Mary think Jesus had lost his mind?
It is clear that Mary had a concept of who the Son of God would be and Jesus was not living up to her concept. Jesus was acting so differently than her concept that she felt compelled to go get him. Perhaps she feared for his life.
The answer to this question is the same answer to the questions of why the disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus and why Jesus would not let the leper tell anyone who he was. Why Mary thought Jesus was out of his mind is explained in Chapter 6 of the book.
