A Quick reflection

on today's reading....

On of my favorite verses in Scripture is Mark 3:21; And when His family heard it they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, "He is out of His mind!"

When we view Jesus, and some followers of Jesus, there can be a tendency to not understand. To think there its just not right - something just isn't clicking here. His own family saw Him, saw how he responded out of His compassion for others and thought - this just isn't natural. Because, in a society that looked down on those on the fringe (you know, like lepers, paralytics, whores and drug addicts, murderers, liars and thieves where only the proud survive) giving so completely of yourself that you even neglect your own self care ("they could not even eat," v.20) had to appear as lunacy.

Sometimes, when God brings someone into my path, you know - someone from the fringe of society, and asks me to give up my time, my comfort, my peace, - even my dinner - I can respond as if "He is out of His mind!" Even when I don't want to.

That's why this is my favorite verse! Its the reminder that when I think like the world - Jesus does not make sense. Following some dude who was executed for His crimes (or perceived crimes) who claimed He was/is God and his followers claim rose from the dead after being in a stinking grave for three days, does not make sense.

Yet, Romans 12:1-2; reminds us that every day we have the opportunity to think anew. That everyday, our minds can be changed, that our thinking does not have to be stale or stagnant, but that it and we can be transformed so that when we are presented with the opportunity to minister to those on the fringes, we are already there.

This will not happen unless we doggedly pursue Jesus, as His disciples and those who experienced healing did, and we become willing to give up anything asked of us in order to be with Him. Even our dinner!