THE TEXT BELOW IS THE TRANSCRIPTION OF THE VIDEO COMMENTARY BY FR. FERNANDO ARMELLINI

A good Sunday to all. 

The life of the Prophets was not easy. Let’s consider the conflicts and difficulties they faced: Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos, and even the prophets of our time, Mazzolari, Milani, and Tonino. They were sent from God to communicate to their brothers the thoughts and will of the Lord. Their words are always disturbing and full of passion for God’s cause. Let us remember what Ecclesiasticus says about Elijah: ‘His word burned like fire.’ It is no wonder that those disturbed by this provocative language, by his denunciations, also react violently. Those on the side of the lie attack the prophet when they hate the truth announced by the prophet in the name of God. 

The prophets always take this hostility into account from the moment they begin their mission. However, another opposition is even more painful for the prophet, coming from those who are more hostile to him, from whom they would expect support, encouragement, and help. This is what has happened to so many prophets of our Church, who have met with opposition from their brethren of faith, being labeled subversive or even suspected of heresy. 

This is what happened to the great theologians and biblical scholars before the Council, such as Chenu, De Lubac, and Congar. All of them were suspended from teaching precisely because of these suspicions and denunciations of their own brethren. They were later rehabilitated, and those theologians later gave us the conciliar documents. Chenu, one of these theologians, said it is very painful to suffer for the Church when those who attack you are the Church’s enemies, but it is much more painful when the suffering comes from your brothers in the faith. There is also a play on words in French: to suffer ‘pour l’église’ or ‘par l’église’ = ‘to suffer for the Church or on behalf of the Church.’ 

This second suffering is much stronger. But there is a third misunderstanding, even more painful for the prophet; it comes from his own family, from those who love him but do not understand his choices or proposals; they do not accept his message. Jesus endured all these painful experiences of misunderstanding. Today, we are presented with the most painful one: the one that came from his own family. Let’s listen to what happened: 

Jesus came home with his disciples. Again, the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them to even eat. 

Jesus lived in Nazareth with his mother and relatives until he was 34. He led a social and religious life very similar to that of the Israelites of his time; he worked as a carpenter and participated in his people’s feasts and events. He faced the problems and difficulties of all. But one day he decided to start a new life, went to the River Jordan, and was baptized by John. Then he moved and settled in Capernaum, in a house by the lake owned by Peter and Andrew, who later became his disciples. In Capernaum, he was immediately well received; he healed the sick, which made him famous. If he had limited himself to healings, he would not have aroused any opposition; everyone would have loved him. But at a certain point he began to preach in the synagogues to announce his beatitudes, his proposal of a new world, a provocative, shocking message. Then the hostilities began. 

Today’s Gospel passage shows him sitting in a house, surrounded by people listening to him. These people are becoming passionate about his Gospel; a new community is forming within this house. However, many in Capernaum are interested in Jesus’s healing but not in his Gospel, so they prefer to stay outside. They have understood that the Gospel challenges many convictions and life choices; it disturbs consciences, demands conversion of mind and heart, and whoever is unwilling to make these changes remains outside the house. 

The first to recognize the danger of Jesus’ preaching were the spiritual leaders of Israel, the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, before the episode reported today, Mark narrated five confrontations, five very hard disputes that Jesus had with scribes and Pharisees who challenged him because he announced the forgiveness of sins without resorting to the prescribed rites of tradition; then he spoke of a God who loves all, the bad and the good, without distinction. This was heresy. They reproached him for the scandalous behavior of sitting at a table with publicans and sinners, not fasting, and neglecting the obligation of the Sabbath rest. Finally, they charged him with a more serious transgression: curing the sick on the Sabbath. 

For the rabbis, the observance of the Sabbath, as of the whole Torah, was above everything else. For Jesus, love for man was superior to everything else. The Torah was at the service of man, not vice versa. At this point, the evangelist Mark notes that the Pharisees and the Herodians immediately understood that the Torah was at the service of man, not vice versa. They knew what they had to do because they were facing a dangerous personage, so they took counsel, together with the Herodian sympathizers of Herod Antipas, and decided to put him out of the way. 

A division arose in Capernaum. Some entered the house and enthusiastically embraced the new doctrine that Jesus taught with authority, a word that expels from the heart the unclean spirits: envy, hatred, evil thoughts, fear of God, and moral corruption. These are the demons that the word of God purifies from the hearts. Others, on the other hand, set themselves against it because they want everything to remain as before; they have no interest in being purified by the word of the Gospel. 

The life of Jesus in Capernaum becomes complicated, and news that things are beginning to go wrong for him reaches Nazareth. Let’s listen to his family’s reaction when they discover what is happening: 

When his relatives heard about this, they set out to seize him, saying, ‘He is out of his mind.’

The family had every reason to be concerned. Jesus was getting into very delicate matters; he was being grouped with the religious and political power holders. That’s why the family members concluded he was crazy and getting into trouble. And what do they do? We are among Semites in the Middle East, where the family bond is very strong, and when a family member is in trouble or danger, all family members feel called and obliged to intervene. This is when Jesus’ little clan gathers and decides to go down to Capernaum to pick him up and bring him home. 

The Greek verb used is κρατῆσαι (ktatesai), which means ‘to catch him, not to let him escape.’ Behind me, you can see mid-19th-century Nazareth. The town of Jesus’ time must not have been very different from what you see. Look even over my head at Mount Tabor. So, the group leaves, most likely under the leadership of a family member, and it would have to be the head of the family who takes charge of the situation. But since Joseph is no longer there, it must have been the older brother. 

We are perhaps surprised by Mary’s presence in this group that has left, but, like all the others, she is concerned about her son’s position and concludes that he must have gone mad. Let’s pause for a moment to reflect on this woman’s spiritual journey. To become perfectly attuned to the Gospel of her son, she also had to make a journey of faith not very different from ours. She was educated like Joseph, according to the catechesis taught by the rabbis in the synagogues and by her grandparents and parents in all the homes; she was educated like all the children of Abraham. She had been taught from childhood to observe traditions faithfully. 

Luke recalls that Mary and Joseph immediately brought Jesus to the temple to fulfill the tradition; they went to Jerusalem every year for the Passover. The family in which Jesus grew up was traditionalist, but when Jesus began his public life, he questioned all these traditions. Even Mary was surprised and had to embrace the newness of the Gospel. It is not that Mary understood everything immediately; Luke recalls this at the beginning of the Gospel. When the shepherds speak, they refer to what they saw, and the evangelist says that Joseph and Mary did not understand what the shepherds said. Then, when Simeon speaks to them, the evangelist again points out that they do not understand what Simeon is saying. Therefore, we understand the prophecy that Simeon addressed to Mary, “And you, a sword shall pierce your soul.” The sword is the word of the Gospel, which divided the people of Israel and also divided Mary’s heart. 

The family’s difficulty in understanding Jesus invites us to reflect. Let’s note that they are good people, unlike the scribes and Pharisees, who oppose Jesus. They are his friends and love him, yet they do not understand him; they think he is out of his mind. This is what happens to many Christians today. They are committed to the parish, zealous catechists, but when they are confronted with certain in-depth explanations of the Gospel that they had never reflected on, they realize that these explanations call their convictions into question; they begin to think, ‘This is crazy,’ ‘these are heresies.’ And what do they do? They do exactly what these family members have done: They want to return Jesus to his former position. 

These Christians worry that certain interpretations of the Gospel go too far; therefore, they try to bring it back to the safe traditions that are in tune with our criteria, logic, and common sense, and anything beyond that is madness. Peter is a typical example of these zealous Christians who love Jesus and, precisely out of love, urge him to make reasonable decisions and not to follow the madness of going to Jerusalem. Jesus said to Peter, ‘You are the incarnation of Satan.’ Church history is full of these zealous Christians, in love with Christ, who unwittingly oppose the Gospel. Let us think of those Christians who have pronounced themselves against the decisions of the Council, considering them a deviation from the holy tradition, or of those Christians who have considered heretical those prophets who had understood the Gospel earlier and better than others. 

As long as we limit ourselves to recommending being good, suggesting some devotional practice, and urging participation in the Sunday celebration, nobody takes us for fools. But if we begin to say that Jesus came into the world to announce the Gospel, the beautiful and great news of the unconditional love of God for each of his sons and daughters, even if they are evil; if we say that the Father in heaven does not punish, does not send to hell those who have done evil in life, the reaction of many Christians is immediate, and they say: ‘You are crazy.’ Yes, it is the madness of those infinitely in love with man. Or when we say that one cannot be a disciple of Christ without renouncing all one’s possessions, that is, without putting all one’s possessions at the service of one’s brothers and sisters in need, what do many Christians say? They say, ‘You’re crazy; the money is mine; I go to church, but let’s leave aside these economic questions of sharing the goods.’ 

As this small group of relatives goes down to Capernaum, Mark introduces a new dispute between Jesus and the scribes. Let us listen: 

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul,’ and ‘By the prince of demons, he drives out demons.’ Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder the house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.’ For they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’ 

These scribes do not say that Jesus has gone mad; on the contrary, he is too lucid. He is a demoniac, a heretic. He indeed heals, but he does so because Beelzebul, the prince of demons, incites him. What do these scribes say? Let us try to simplify a little. For some centuries, there had been a widespread belief in Israel that all the evil in the world was caused by diabolical powers, and at the head of the militia of darkness stood Beelzebul, under whose authority the other demons acted, obeying his orders and inciting people to do evil. The demons were nothing other than the personification of all those impulses which, if we do not control them, lead us to dehumanizing actions and evil. Well, Jesus adapted himself to the mentality and the language of his time to respond to these scribes, and he refers, like everyone else, to these two forces that confront each other, the angelic and the diabolical, those of light and those of darkness, those of life and those of death. 

And Jesus says: Suppose it is true what they say, that I cast out demons in league with Satan; but this is not possible, because Satan incites all demons to do evil; then, if he incites me to do good, it means that I am not possessed, because Satan would be fighting against himself, against his objectives. It means that Satan is in disarray, and that the kingdom of God that I proclaim is about to begin. Then he continues his speech, introducing the image of a duel between two wrestlers; one is strong, but the other is stronger. Satan, the force of evil – Jesus says – is undoubtedly strong; he seems invincible, and even in the first letter of John, in chapter 5, it says that the whole world is in the power of the evil one. And when Satan tempts Jesus, he says to him, ‘I have in my hands all the kingdoms of the world, and I can give them to you, but you must obey me.’ 

Evil seems to dominate unchallenged. This is true; in fact, we often hear that all elections of men are dictated by these demons: arrogance, envy, a craving for power, and lust. Jesus says: ‘In reality, the kingdom of evil has come to an end because a stronger one has come.’ We must remember this truth often; we risk believing that evil is invincible, and then we share the disconsolate expression of the author of Psalm 53, who says, ‘All have gone astray, all are corrupt, and no one behaves well, not even one.’ This also seems true at specific historical points; the danger is to conclude with mantras we perhaps often repeat: ‘There is nothing more to be done,’ ‘it will always get worse’; no, this is a gloomy statement and a resigned surrender to evil. No, says Jesus, defeat has come for Satan. For the Spirit, the divine life I have brought into the world is infinitely stronger than evil. 

After his defense, Jesus solemnly affirms, “All sins will be forgiven except blasphemy against the Spirit.”What does that mean? God forgives all sins, but not in the way we think; that is, he does not simply waive our obligation to pay for them if we ask for forgiveness. God doesn’t understand forgiveness this way: if we do not ask for forgiveness, he will punish us. For God to forgive sin means to bring back to the path of life that son or daughter of his who is astray, unhappy, and ruining his or her life. 

This is the announcement that should fill us with joy. All sins, Jesus says, will be forgiven. God will conquer, that is, he will lead all to salvation, but he warns against the danger of refusing to be forgiven, that is, of not allowing the Spirit to act in us. If we expel his Spirit from our hearts, the forces of evil will act on us, and we will remain slaves to sin. As long as we remain in this position of rejecting the Spirit, God cannot forgive us or bring us out of the condition of death into which we have brought ourselves by our own fault. 

The evangelist Mark introduced this controversy with the scribes to allow Jesus’ relatives to come to Capernaum, and they are now on their way. Let us hear: 

His mother and his brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent word to him and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.’ But he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ Looking around at those seated in the circle, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’ 

Now, Mark sets before us two distinct groups that are also physically separate. One is inside the house, and the other is outside; they belong to two families. Those who are outside are members of the natural family of Jesus; there is the mother; there are the brothers who came down from Nazareth; they are all Israelites, children of Abraham; they belong to the chosen people. Inside the house is Jesus, and around him is a new family made up of members who are not bound by blood ties but by the fact that they hear the word of the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus and adhere to it. What do those who are outside do? They wish Jesus would come out and rejoin what they believed in: their one true family. One senses the bewilderment of these family members, who don’t seem to comprehend that Jesus initiated the Christian community; he did not repudiate the family into which he was born, but now he wants to become part of the new family, characterized by listening to and adhering to his word. 

At this point, Mark refers to Israel, the place where Jesus was born, rather than to the relatives of Nazareth. And the Messiah came out of this town; the mother of Jesus is Israel. Now, this Mother Israel must realize that she cannot keep Jesus to herself; she must become aware of the newness willed by God. A new family has been born, the Christian community, in which Israel is also called to enter. And now Mark invites us to contemplate a marvelous look of Jesus that is addressed directly to us; he says, “directing his gaze to those around him” … in Greek, περιβλεψάμενος – periblepsámenos, precisely turning his gaze, he turns to the face and the eyes of each one of us because he wants to know if we listen to his word and give him our adhesion. Only then will we belong to his new family. 

I wish you all a good Sunday and a good week.