Father James Martin strikes again, taking another shot at the Holy Mother of God on his Facebook page.
Martin says...get this... that Mary and Jesus's extended family thought Jesus was "crazy" and they (his family) needed to "restrain" Jesus Christ from his insane delusions. 😕
Fr. James Martin, SJ
Who's side are you on? Today's Gospel (Mk 3:22-33)
Today’s reading is especially notable for what it leaves out. It omits one of the most surprising of all Gospel passages, which still has the power to shock many Christians. It was part of Saturday’s Gospel:There is nothing "clear" in Fr. James Martin's theology, but there is always plenty of heresy.
"Then Jesus went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, 'He has gone out of his mind.'"
Even that is a polite translation. Most New Testament scholars say that it’s not accurate to say that the family went to restrain him because others said he’s
out of his mind. No, his family went to restrain him because they were saying he was out of his mind.
So Jesus’s family, that is, Mary and his extended family, have made the trip all the way to Capernaum, by the Sea of Galilee, from Nazareth, which is a considerable distance, to “restrain him.” Because they thought he was crazy. Tomorrow we hear Jesus’s response to their showing up to restrain him. He’s told “Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.” He says, “Who are my mother and brothers? Those who do the will of God are my brother and sister and mother.”
So his family opposes Jesus. And he rejects them. Can we believe this story? Could this have been added for some reason by Mark?
Daniel Harrington, SJ and John Donahue, SJ, write in the "Sacra Pagina" commentary on the Gospel of Mark, make this observation: “Such a charge would hardly have been made up by the early church, and so this may reflect the historical view of the relatives of Jesus, none of whom had been called to the circle of the Twelve.”
In other words, some of his extended family, and apparently Mary, opposed him at least at the beginning of his ministry.
What we do read today is opposition from another group: the scribes. The scribes, especially those from Jerusalem, are the most adamant opponents of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. They were part of the religious leadership and the learned class. They critique Jesus for his healing, lobbing against him a far more serious charge than being crazy: he is in league with Beelzebul, or Satan. That name, incidentally, is associated with the Canaanite God Baal. So Jesus, goes the charge, is worse than crazy, and in modern parlance worse than a heretic: he’s evil. Imagine having among the most learned of the religious leadership say that.
I bring this up to emphasize that Jesus faced opposition, and fierce opposition, from two groups whom you would think would naturally have supported him: his family and religious leaders.
But the Gospels give us little indication that it bothered him. He doesn’t explain himself to his family, with some lengthy brief about what he’s doing, what his mission is, what happened in the desert or at his baptism, and why he’s left them behind. Nor does he try to calm them down. He simply reminds his listeners, not his family by the way, that ties to God are more important than familial ties.
He doesn’t really explain himself to the scribes in this passage either. Meaning he doesn’t say, “Look at all the good I’m doing; look at how many people I’m healing; and look at all the great things I’m saying; look at how I really am in line with the law. He points that out in other contexts but here he doesn’t. Instead he points out how illogical what they are saying is, and for good measure, says that they are sinning by denying the power of God at work in him.
So he dismisses both charges, very forcefully, and then simply gets on with his work. He tells his family that they’re not his family and the scribes that they’re the ones doing the sinning.
How is he able to do this? Well, of course he is the Son of God, with an intimate relationship with the Father, which gives him a grace that we cannot understand. But on a human level, in a way that we can understand, he’s free. He doesn’t need his family’s acceptance. He doesn’t need the approval of the religious authorities. He doesn’t need to be loved. He doesn’t need to be liked. He doesn’t even need to be listened to. He’s free. And that makes him both effective and dangerous.
What can we learn from this? Well, as Christians, we can ask ourselves how free we are of the need to be loved, liked, or approved of? How free are we of the need to be important in other people’s eyes? How free are we of the need for status? For being part of the “in crowd”? How free are we of the need to be approved of by the religious authorities of our time? How free are we of the need to have the approval of the larger society? How free are we of the need for status and power? How free are we to proclaim the Gospel? Because there is the temptation that if we do, people will think we are out of our minds.
Sometimes being a good Christian does not lead to opposition, and in fact leads to people approving of you, and liking you and even loving you. Perhaps that’s most of the time. But there are times when it does not. When people will think that we are in league with the devil or will think that we are out of our minds.
And then we have a choice. With whom do we stand? The crowd--or Jesus? Our families--or Jesus? Religious authorities--or Jesus?
In those difficult times, the choice may be hard. But at least it’s clear. -end quote-
Apparently, Martin believes that Mary suddenly got struck dumb and everything the Angel Gabriel told her was wiped from her memory along with all that happened since the birth of Christ...the angels, the shepherds, the prophets etc. Poof! Gone from her memory so she had zero idea that Jesus was the Christ and believed Jesus must be "out of his mind" to think as he did.
The only one "out of his mind" here is Fr. James Martin. This guy is dangerous!
I would pity Fr. Martin if he didn't repulse me so much.
Our Church is in a terrible, terrible state to spawn priests such as Fr. James Martin.
God have mercy on us all and deliver us from such priests!
In Christ,
Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner
To anyone interested in what set off Fr. Martin, it is chapter 3 of the Gospel of Mark beginning with Saturday's reading (20-21).
Please read it, and tell me if you come to the same conclusions Fr. Martin has...that Mary opposed her son because she thought he was crazy.
Mark 3 Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
1 And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had a withered hand.
2 And they watched him whether he would heal on the sabbath days; that they might accuse him.
3 And he said to the man who had the withered hand: Stand up in the midst.
4 And he saith to them: Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy? But they held their peace.
5 And looking round about on them with anger, being grieved for the blindness of their hearts, he saith to the man: Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth: and his hand was restored unto him.
6 And the Pharisees going out, immediately made a consultation with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
7 But Jesus retired with his disciples to the sea; and a great multitude followed him from Galilee and Judea,
8 And from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond the Jordan. And they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing the things which he did, came to him.
9 And he spoke to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.
10 For he healed many, so that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had evils.
11 And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him: and they cried, saying:
12 Thou art the Son of God. And he strictly charged them that they should not make him known.
13 And going up into a mountain, he called unto him whom he would himself: and they came to him.
14 And he made that twelve should be with him, and that he might send them to preach.
15 And he gave them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils.
16 And to Simon he gave the name Peter:
17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he named them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
18 And Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew and Matthew, and Thomas and James of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Cananean:
19 And Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
20 And they come to a house, and the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21 And when his friends had heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him. For they said: He is become mad.
22 And the scribes who were come down from Jerusalem, said: He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of devils he casteth out devils.
23 And after he had called them together, he said to them in parables: How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan be risen up against himself, he is divided, and cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into the house of a strong man and rob him of his goods, unless he first bind the strong man, and then shall he plunder his house.
28 Amen I say to you, that all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and the blasphemies wherewith they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, shall never have forgiveness, but shall be guilty of an everlasting sin.
30 Because they said: He hath an unclean spirit.
31 And his mother and his brethren came; and standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
32 And the multitude sat about him; and they say to him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
33 And answering them, he said: Who is my mother and my brethren?
34 And looking round about on them who sat about him, he saith: Behold my mother and my brethren.
35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
Fr. Martin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrJamesMartin/photos/a.139618381495.120357.46899546495/10155047024851496/?type=3&theater
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+3&version=DRA
