Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Gospel passage today speaks about what must have been a very complex and difficult moment in the life of our Lord. And it is a moment that should maybe question our own hearts. Jesus, in the midst of his public ministry, came home with his disciples, after having called each of the 12 by name. But such a large crowd had gathered around the Lord that it kept Jesus from having this quiet moment to eat with his closest friends. To complicate the matter his relatives heard about the large crowd and set out to “seize” Jesus, saying, “He is out of his mind.” Even worse, the scribes (esteemed members of the Jewish Community) accused Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebul (the Devil).

Look at the radical differences in people’s response to Jesus. Some are scandalized and explain his actions as insanity, some reject him and say that he is acting as the devil, and finally some believe in Jesus, and are willing to navigate the chaos and impoliteness in order to find him, in order to see him, in order to maybe even touch him. Notice how everyone in the story had some type of radical response to Jesus. No one was mentioned as having just walked away uninterested.

This might remind us of the Liar, Lunatic, Lord trilemma made famous by CS Lewis. This trilemma states that in the face of Jesus Christ and his Gospel message there are only three valid responses--we can 1. Reject him as a liar, we can 2. Laugh at him as a crazed man, or 3. We can worship him as Lord. Because of the stakes of the Gospel message, it would be un-sane to be indifferent toward Jesus Christ. Because of the radicality of Jesus’ message it would be illogical to consider him as a wise man or prophet, but not the Son of God.

We invite you to take some time to reflect on your own internal response to Jesus and his Gospel message. Does it correspond adequately to the who Jesus is and the message he preached?