Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time
“When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’” Our Gospel today is a very short one and it ends even more oddly with Jesus’ relatives saying he is out of his mind. In the passages preceding this, we see several occasions of large crowds of people seeking out Jesus and wishing to see him and be healed by him. The crowds were so that they couldn’t eat or in an early the disciples had a boat ready for him to escape so they would not be crushed. But what is it that drew such large crowds? It was the love, mercy, and compassion of Jesus that they sought. Maybe we too can say that Jesus was “out of his mind” because he was out of his mind with love for humanity. He came to show us how great God’s love is for us; the God who sent his son for the salvation of the whole world. This love was so deep that, “he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2: 7-8).
So, let us too be “out of our minds” with love for our brothers and sisters, “out of our minds” with the Love of Jesus, and “out of our minds” so that we too might become obedient till death so that we might enter into the eternal Love of our God.
Reflection by Br. Placid Dale, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time