Mark 3:20-21 – Radical service

In these two verses we find Jesus returning home again, and very likely to Capernaum. As usual the crowd gathered for ministry and it was exponential. Hence the demand on Jesus and His disciples was so much that they could not even have a decent meal. So the Lord’s family members came to get Him, concluding that He must be crazy to be so fanatically engaged in ministry at such a neck breaking pace.

Mark made it quite clear that His family felt that it was time for them to take charge of what was happening to the Lord’s ministry. His brothers came down to Capernaum with the intention to haul Him back by force to Nazareth. Their words about the Lord were, “He has lost His senses.”  

What could well be the reasons for their intention? For one, it’s because they loved Him. Secondly, they were afraid that His health would be ruined if He went on at that pace. Thirdly, it was what they thought of His is His religious zeal. It was most probably too radical for their liking. In their estimate He had overdone it. From John 7:5, we know that His earthly brothers did not quite believe in His mission at that point.

Why was the Lord so engrossed in what He was doing? He went about His ministry with urgency. Mark 10:45 tells us that even the Son of Man came not to be ministered to but to minister and to give His life as a ransom for many. His desire was for none to perish but all to have everlasting life. Like Him, let’s serve with a sense of urgency – radically!