Jesus crucified is the divine foolishness that is wiser than human wisdom.  He expects his followers to be fools like him in order to be wise.

Jesus comes home.   But his own folks do not accept him in the way that the crowd at the door do.  That is because he embarrasses his relatives.  They count him now among fools.  So, they set out to seize him.

But Jesus makes the crowd happy.  For he represents hope of healing for the sick, the possessed, the fools.  Caring for them, he and his disciples cannot even eat.  They are turning into fools, putting the needs of others ahead of their own.

And the scribes agree with the relatives of Jesus.  They claim that Beelzebul possesses him, so that he drives out demons by the prince of demons.  In effect, the scribes take Jesus for a fool.  And in that way they likewise affirm something like, “The official teachers have spoken, the discussion is over.”

But Jesus keeps the discussion open.  That is because he rejects the scribes’ strange explanation and shows it to be unreasonable.  And he refers to it as he warns that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin.

No, they will not receive forgiveness those who, mistaking the good Spirit for the evil spirit, denies the mission of the Holy Spirit.  And an essential part of that mission is the forgiveness of sins.  Those who claim for themselves control of the Holy Spirit do not need him or his forgiveness.  As though they could confine him within their thought and moral patterns.  But really, the Spirit surpasses us.  We do not guide him, rather he guides us unexpectedly and troublingly.

Jesus rejects his relatives’ conclusion and the scribes’ explanation.  Doing so, he stays on the side of fools.

Neither the relatives of Jesus nor the scribes can turn Jesus away from his ministry.  He goes around to towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel, curing the sick, the possessed, the fools.  So, he perfectly does the will of God, proving himself the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father.

And the disciples who are intimate with their Teacher, and with Mary and the rest of his household, prove themselves by doing as he.  So, no one of them seeks his own advantage, but that of his neighbor.  They gladly spend and consume themselves for the sake of others.  They are like the fools who do the same thing over and over, expecting different results.  For they keep forgiving someone who repeatedly goes right back to sin against them.  And true disciples find comfort and courage in the passage, “He is out of his mind” (VIII:74; SV.EN XII:78).

Lord Jesus, you lay down your life, like a fool, for sinners, giving your body up and shedding your blood.  Grant us to be the fools that you are.

10 June 2018
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Gen 3, 9-15; 2 Cor 4, 13 – 5, 1; Mk 3, 20-35