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William T. Howe Ph.D.

October 15, 2024

Rēad to Read …Again


Daily Reading: Mark 1-3

 

Mark 3:21

And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

 

The “his” of today’s verse is Jesus the Lord. The “friends” are those closest to Him who came from Jerusalem. The phrase “He is beside himself” meant that He was out of his mind, or suffering from mental sickness. This was the only way to describe the way Jesus was acting. After all, what is this thing of healing the lame on the Sabbath, gathering men unto Him for some strange and unheard religious endeavor, or how about repentance and believing the gospel, what is that? (Mark 1:15) All the religious leaders of the day denounced Him, they claimed He was possessed of an evil spirit, so much so that He needed to be destroyed. He even had the unmitigated gall to say that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27) what! He must be mad, broken in His mind, beside Himself.

 

So, His friends had to rescue Him. They thought. They needed a plausible explanation for His bizarre behavior. But He needed no rescue. He was not out of His mind. He was not crazy, misguided, or mentally unstable. He was right! He was Christ! He was ushering in something new called the “church age.”  He was teaching by example godliness, righteousness, and compassion. But His friends thought he was unstable. They had to stop Him from further self-destruction.

 

They did not know, they could not see, at least at this point, they could not understand that Jesus was born to be destroyed of wicked men. His path was singularly leading to Via Dolorosa, the path from Jerusalem to Golgotha. On that path there were some things that He, Jesus the Messiah, had to do. But they, His friends, in an attempt to save Him, tried to protect Him from performing and completing the will of His Holy Father.

 

This has happened to many. They must have thought Noah was beside himself to build a boat and warn of the coming flood. They must have thought that Abraham was crazy to leave Ur of the Chaldees, to find that city whose builder and maker was God. They must have thought David was crazy to challenge Goliath, or Joshua to conquer Jericho, Gideon, Sarah believing she could have a baby in her old age, Peter walking on water, Stephen preaching Christ, or Paul speaking on Mars Hill about the resurrection. Those things, to the natural minded person, are crazy. Anyone who would do those things, anyone who actually believes those things must be “beside themselves” and need to be rescued.

 

Leave your good job to become a preacher, a missionary? Crazy. Give 10% of your income to your church plus missions support, other offerings and perform alms? Crazy. Going to church three or four times a week? Crazy. Giving out gospel tracts so others may be saved? Crazy. Turning the other cheek, loving your neighbor you don’t even know, being willing to suffer willingly reproach and mocking? Crazy. That is what many, most, think about devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

 

This is what the “friends” thought of Jesus, and this is what the “friends” will think of anyone who follows in His footsteps. It’s an axiom of the true Christian life. Friends will sometimes think that those who live by faith are beside themselves, foolish at the least, crazy at the worst, and they will think those need to be rescued, for anything performed by faith can never be seen by those who have no faith. This was true in the life of Christ, and it will be true in the lives of His faithful followers. But one day, in that payday someday beyond the clouds, it will be made crystal clear that those who lived by faith were not the ones needing saving.  Quite the opposite.

 

Dr. William T. Howe

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