Jesus — rude or right on?

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100822.cfm
Galatians 3_22-29 
Luke 1-27-28

Controversy makes for a good reflection. Some people say this Saturday’s gospel highlights a fault in Jesus’ character. He’s kinda rude. It’s not the first time. Jesus seems to regularly diss his Mom.

While Jesus was speaking,
a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,
“Blessed is the womb that carried you
and the breasts at which you nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it.”
(Luke 11:27-28)

Scriptures cite three other times that Jesus contradicts at his mother’s expense. He corrected his mother’s scolding that her father was frantic when he brushed off their three-day search for him by saying he was doing his real Father’s business in the temple. He was 12.

Our English translation portrays a snippy Jesus when he admonished his mother during the wedding in Cana. She asked him to perform a miracle for a family’s reputation, and he curtly replied, “What does this have to do with me?” He told Mary, calling her “Woman,” that it was not his “time.”

There’s one more. This one is rather brutal.

In Mark 3:31, [Jesus’] 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 said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and [my] brothers?”

Is Jesus repeatedly insulting his mother? In all four of these scripture accounts, Jesus’ reaction seems triggered, even taunting. However, we resort to scriptural dishonesty to find a justification for jealousy or a power play on Jesus’ part. Is it cruelty or clarification? Jesus seals into our memories three important theological points in these scripture events by getting our attention. In truth, each of these accounts elevates Mary. She is the Mother of Jesus, the incarnation of God. Her DNA is melded with God, making her the most respected human in history. (Read more on the DNA phenomenon of mothers, called microchimerism.)

We too often twist the scriptures to fit our presuppositions.

“Rather!” Jesus says with pointer finger held high, emphasizing Mary’s lowly motherhood beneath his Messianic position. Jesus flaunts his independence, denying his parents’ worry and authority over him by slipping away for 3 days. He childishly rebukes his mother’s wishes at a wedding (Mom!) because a family’s reputation doesn’t meet the high bar of his mission. And, when his family is worried that Jesus has gone nuts, the Messiah flattens his relatives to the same creature space as everyone else, including his Mother.

One could conclude that Jesus is rude and dismissive, especially since his mother is a significant part of these scripture selections. One would be wrong.

Jesus is consistent. He says, “Pay attention,” followed by insisting that his followers “adhere” and “comply with” the word God. He is the Word in flesh. He is the one whom they should follow. Is the subscript, in any sense, to elevate Jesus above his Mom’s authority? Well, yes, he’s God, made flesh. Love, however brusque and blunt, tightens the bond between God and us. Jesus loves his mother, his family, and his followers.

If we take these four scriptures individually, the controversy of insult and rudeness falls apart. 

The temple experience, where Jesus is only 12 years old, is an awakening. Jesus is truly the one whom both Mary and Joseph heard about — told them by angels. He is the Son of God and Man. Reading the rest of that scripture, Mary’s concern holds sway. Jesus “remained obedient” to his mother and father. 

Jesus loved his mother just as God loves all who plead with him. He is moved by his Mom’s trust and knowledge of who he is at Cana. Her plea changes the course of his earthly ministry. His “time” began at that event due to the intimacy of Jesus and Mary, not from a power play. “Do what he tells you.” She turns over her concerns and worries to her son.

Mark reports that Jesus’ family had been informed that he offended their faith’s religious leaders. They rushed from Nazareth to gather him, concerned at many different levels. Their role as his kin drove them to rescue him. Jesus broadens his role as a brother to all creation at that encounter. He did not belittle his family. He raised all men and women to the status of his kin. His mother was not aghast at his behavior. She, and probably James among his extended family members, awakened further about Jesus’ relationship to all of creation. His suffering did not need rescuing. He was here to rescue everyone through his suffering.

These incidents are recorded in scripture because they set Jesus aside from every other creature. It’s an impossible reality to grasp. An incarnated God, born into his creation, has a mother and blood relatives. He isn’t just God as an observer and incidental hero. He’s related in blood, flesh, birth, and death.

Consider the settings. In almost every situation, Jesus encountered arrogance. His fellows in faith and citizenry were stuck in a cultural religion that couldn’t allow for Christ to be a Nazarene. A bastard child. A carpenter. An unmarried, homeless man. They weren’t just suspicious of Jesus. He stood out as an anarchist, a saboteur. 

The Jewish nation had morphed into legalism, counting sins and exacting punishments. They used God to their advantage. Jesus didn’t fit the mold of a warring king or legalistic leader. Pharisaical folks and their followers manipulated God. Jesus assured them, with uncanny boldness, that he could not be manipulated.

Worse for them, Jesus was not afraid. He held fealty only to his Father. He taught this same message to everyone — be not afraid. He called the Chosen people to follow him because he was the incarnation, the face of the Father.

Following Luke’s recording of the woman’s compliment about his mother’s holy body parts, Jesus tells the scrupulous Jews that they lived by darkness. They needed to let God’s light shine through them. Yes, his mother was blessed to be the Mother of God, but she was more blessed as the hearer of the Word, which she acted on from the moment of Jesus’ conception to the day Jesus asked John to take her as his mother. 

Women dreamed of being the Messiah’s mother. It was to be an esteemed role. And, indeed, Mary was called blessed. But a people poisoned by Satan must be awakened that being Jesus’ mother or Jesus’ confidante was an assignment for following the Word, not for being praised.

How are we being intimate with Jesus? Are we focused on the honor of being regal like Jesus’ mother or getting to be his spokesperson? Or, are we women who defer to Jesus, like Mary constantly did (and has repeated in every apparition)? Are we men who quietly do as Jesus’ Spirit prompts and leads us, like Joseph, who is never quoted in the scriptures?

The incarnated Messiah, the rabbi of the 12 and teacher of disciples, the murdered and then risen Christ, is now our King. He is also our brother, one of us. Not like us, but one of us. To be called blessed, truly his beloved brothers and sisters, we don’t need to lift ourselves in this world, shine over others, perform everything to perfection, or fawn over God in an embarrassing grovel to win him over.

“Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”