Mk 3,20-21
"When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,
for they said, "He is out of his mind."
for they said, "He is out of his mind."
Jesus was called "mad", "fool","crazy", "out of his mind". I wonder what made these people call Jesus mad. I wonder what pushed them to conclude that Jesus was crazy.
Was it because what Jesus did and said were not the usual words and actions expected from '"sane" people? Was it because Jesus' claim that He was the Son of God? But what about the many miracles he did? Were they seen as actions coming from a mad man?
The SVD fathers administered the Mary Help of Christians Seminary in Binmaley, Pangasinan for more than three decades. When I was a freshman in that seminary, two of their conferes were declared "blessed" by the Church. They were Arnold Janssen and Joseph Freinademitz (I am not sure about the spelling). A book detailing their lives was mandatory reading for us. The title of the book was "Fools for the Sake of Christ".
Fools. Mad. Crazy. Not very good adjectives for anybody. Yet, those two "fools" for Christ's sake are now saints. With God. In heaven.
When the world sees a person acting, speaking, living differently from its ways, he is labeled as "mad", "fool", "crazy". It is crazy to give up wealth for the sake of Christ. It is madness to be powerless for the sake of Christ. It is "out of this world" to forgive. The world says so. And the world ridicules these crazy "fanatics".
Fools for the sake of Christ. Jesus was called mad. I'd rather be called as such by the world than be a "genius" in the ways of the world. And lose my life. Away from Christ.
Was it because what Jesus did and said were not the usual words and actions expected from '"sane" people? Was it because Jesus' claim that He was the Son of God? But what about the many miracles he did? Were they seen as actions coming from a mad man?
The SVD fathers administered the Mary Help of Christians Seminary in Binmaley, Pangasinan for more than three decades. When I was a freshman in that seminary, two of their conferes were declared "blessed" by the Church. They were Arnold Janssen and Joseph Freinademitz (I am not sure about the spelling). A book detailing their lives was mandatory reading for us. The title of the book was "Fools for the Sake of Christ".
Fools. Mad. Crazy. Not very good adjectives for anybody. Yet, those two "fools" for Christ's sake are now saints. With God. In heaven.
When the world sees a person acting, speaking, living differently from its ways, he is labeled as "mad", "fool", "crazy". It is crazy to give up wealth for the sake of Christ. It is madness to be powerless for the sake of Christ. It is "out of this world" to forgive. The world says so. And the world ridicules these crazy "fanatics".
Fools for the sake of Christ. Jesus was called mad. I'd rather be called as such by the world than be a "genius" in the ways of the world. And lose my life. Away from Christ.
