Jesus returns to Capernaum where a crowd quickly gathers around Him. The crowd is so thick and invasive that Jesus and His disciples are unable to even eat their homecoming meal. Jesus’s family is worried about Him and thinks He is foolishly putting Himself in danger. They seek to take Him away from all this attention before His enemies find Him.
There are no apparent parallels of Mark 3:20-21Mark 3:20-21 commentary in the Gospel accounts.
After ascending the mountain to appoint the twelve apostles (Mark 3:13Mark 3:13 commentary), He (Jesus) came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal (v 20).
In this context, home most likely refers to the city of Capernaum, where Jesus’s ministry was headquartered, and not Nazareth where He grew up. Moreover, the Gospel of Matthew records that after these events occurred, Jesus departed from this place and went to his hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 13:53-56Matthew 13:53-56 commentary).
The Greek term in this verse that is translated as home means “house” or “building.” Possibly Simon Peter’s house, which was in Capernaum and had previously served as a meeting place for Jesus and His followers (Mark 1:29Mark 1:29 commentary).
The people in Capernaum were eager to hear Jesus’s teachings and witness His miracles. It seems the people had been waiting there since Jesus left for Him to return home again. News spread quickly when He came back. The moment He arrived, the people gathered into a crowdagain.
The crowd gathered again so quickly and to such an extent that Jesus and His disciples were unable to even eat a meal upon returning from the mountain. As home means, “house,” it seems the crowd gathered inside the home with Jesus. Later we will see that this was the case, as “a crowd was sitting around Him” while He is teaching inside a house (Mark 3:32Mark 3:32 commentary).
When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses” (v 22).
In the Greek text, the expression translated as His own people appears to be an idiom. It literally means “His from.” This idiom likely refers to Jesus’s family members. Jesus’s mother and brothers will arrive at the scene in a moment (Mark 3:31Mark 3:31 commentary).
WhenHis mother and brothers heard that Jesus was back in town and that a crowd had already gathered around Him, theywent out to take custody of Him. To take custody of someone means to take control or responsibility for them. It could describe an arrest. But it can also be a way of protecting someone from an unpleasant or dangerous situation.
It seems that Jesus’s family was trying to protect Himwhenthey went out to take custody of Him. Jesus recently withdrew from Capernaum partly because the Pharisees and the Herodians were conspiring to destroy Him (Mark 3:6-7Mark 3:6-7 commentary).
His family possibly made the trip to Capernaum from their home of Nazareth to warn Jesus to keep a low profile and help shield Him from their schemes. They were likely hoping to find Jesus before the Pharisees did. The fact that a crowd immediately gathered around Him and the word was quickly spreading that He had come back only heightened their concerns.
Mark seems to suggest that this was what Jesus’s family was feeling when he describes what His family was saying out loud about this situation: for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”
From His family’s perspective, it made no sense for Jesus to withdraw from Capernaum and the Pharisees who were trying to destroy Him, only to return and instantly draw a crowd. This would attract the attention of the hostile Pharisees to His location and ensnare Him. The fact that Jesus did these things indicated to His own family that He has lost His senses and was putting Himself in danger. His own family wanted to take custody of Jesus before His enemies could.
In the next verse, we will see that His family’s fears were not entirely baseless (Mark 3:22Mark 3:22 commentary).
But before moving on to what happened next, it is important to point out that Jesus had not lostHis senses. And Jesus did not need His own peopleto take custody of Him for His safety or protection.
Jesus is God. He knew what He was doing, even when others, including His own family, did not understand or believe in Him (John 7:5John 7:5 commentary). Jesus did not need others to believe or understand Him to be faithful to the mission God assigned unto Him.
Jesus was devoted to His mission. Jesus was following God’s will for His life. He was performing what He was sent to accomplish, even as it put His life in danger (John 6:38John 6:38 commentary, commentaryPhilippians 5:7-8Philippians 5:7-8 commentary).
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45Mark 10:45 commentary)
There is great irony in the fact that His own people were coming to take custody of Him, because on a more profound scale, Jesus came to take custody of the world.
It was the world, and not Jesus, who had lost its senses:
The world was separated from God, spiritual life, and its true destiny. (Genesis 3:23-24Genesis 3:23-24 commentary, commentaryIsaiah 59:2Isaiah 59:2 commentary, commentaryRomans 3:23Romans 3:23 commentary, commentaryEphesians 2:1Ephesians 2:1 commentary, 2:122:12 commentary, Colossians 1:21Colossians 1:21 commentary)
The world was enslaved to sin. (John 8:34John 8:34 commentary, commentaryTitus 3:3Titus 3:3 commentary)
His family’s intent to take custody of Him—to save Jesus from either political danger or to protect their own reputations—may have been another Satanic attempt to distract Jesus from His mission to die for the sins of the world. If so, it would have been a temptation similar to Peter’s rebuke of Jesus after Jesus told Peter that He would be crucified (Mark 8:31-33Mark 8:31-33 commentary).
In the next section (Mark 3:22-27Mark 3:22-27 commentary), scribes from Jerusalem find Jesus and confront Him as they try to delegitimize and frame Him as a sorcerer, which seems to have been the kind of confrontation His family was trying to prevent when they went out to take custody of Him.
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Mark 3:20-21 meaning
There are no apparent parallels of Mark 3:20-21Mark 3:20-21 commentary in the Gospel accounts.
After ascending the mountain to appoint the twelve apostles (Mark 3:13Mark 3:13 commentary), He (Jesus) came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal (v 20).
In this context, home most likely refers to the city of Capernaum, where Jesus’s ministry was headquartered, and not Nazareth where He grew up. Moreover, the Gospel of Matthew records that after these events occurred, Jesus departed from this place and went to his hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 13:53-56Matthew 13:53-56 commentary).
The Greek term in this verse that is translated as home means “house” or “building.” Possibly Simon Peter’s house, which was in Capernaum and had previously served as a meeting place for Jesus and His followers (Mark 1:29Mark 1:29 commentary).
The people in Capernaum were eager to hear Jesus’s teachings and witness His miracles. It seems the people had been waiting there since Jesus left for Him to return home again. News spread quickly when He came back. The moment He arrived, the people gathered into a crowd again.
The crowd gathered again so quickly and to such an extent that Jesus and His disciples were unable to even eat a meal upon returning from the mountain. As home means, “house,” it seems the crowd gathered inside the home with Jesus. Later we will see that this was the case, as “a crowd was sitting around Him” while He is teaching inside a house (Mark 3:32Mark 3:32 commentary).
When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses” (v 22).
In the Greek text, the expression translated as His own people appears to be an idiom. It literally means “His from.” This idiom likely refers to Jesus’s family members. Jesus’s mother and brothers will arrive at the scene in a moment (Mark 3:31Mark 3:31 commentary).
When His mother and brothers heard that Jesus was back in town and that a crowd had already gathered around Him, they went out to take custody of Him. To take custody of someone means to take control or responsibility for them. It could describe an arrest. But it can also be a way of protecting someone from an unpleasant or dangerous situation.
It seems that Jesus’s family was trying to protect Him when they went out to take custody of Him. Jesus recently withdrew from Capernaum partly because the Pharisees and the Herodians were conspiring to destroy Him (Mark 3:6-7Mark 3:6-7 commentary).
His family possibly made the trip to Capernaum from their home of Nazareth to warn Jesus to keep a low profile and help shield Him from their schemes. They were likely hoping to find Jesus before the Pharisees did. The fact that a crowd immediately gathered around Him and the word was quickly spreading that He had come back only heightened their concerns.
Mark seems to suggest that this was what Jesus’s family was feeling when he describes what His family was saying out loud about this situation: for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”
From His family’s perspective, it made no sense for Jesus to withdraw from Capernaum and the Pharisees who were trying to destroy Him, only to return and instantly draw a crowd. This would attract the attention of the hostile Pharisees to His location and ensnare Him. The fact that Jesus did these things indicated to His own family that He has lost His senses and was putting Himself in danger. His own family wanted to take custody of Jesus before His enemies could.
In the next verse, we will see that His family’s fears were not entirely baseless (Mark 3:22Mark 3:22 commentary).
But before moving on to what happened next, it is important to point out that Jesus had not lost His senses. And Jesus did not need His own people to take custody of Him for His safety or protection.
Jesus is God. He knew what He was doing, even when others, including His own family, did not understand or believe in Him (John 7:5John 7:5 commentary). Jesus did not need others to believe or understand Him to be faithful to the mission God assigned unto Him.
Jesus was devoted to His mission. Jesus was following God’s will for His life. He was performing what He was sent to accomplish, even as it put His life in danger (John 6:38John 6:38 commentary, commentary Philippians 5:7-8Philippians 5:7-8 commentary).
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
(Mark 10:45Mark 10:45 commentary)
There is great irony in the fact that His own people were coming to take custody of Him, because on a more profound scale, Jesus came to take custody of the world.
It was the world, and not Jesus, who had lost its senses:
(Genesis 3:23-24Genesis 3:23-24 commentary, commentary Isaiah 59:2Isaiah 59:2 commentary, commentary Romans 3:23Romans 3:23 commentary, commentary Ephesians 2:1Ephesians 2:1 commentary, 2:122:12 commentary, Colossians 1:21Colossians 1:21 commentary)
(John 8:34John 8:34 commentary, commentary Titus 3:3Titus 3:3 commentary)
(John 3:18John 3:18 commentary, commentary Romans 1:18Romans 1:18 commentary, commentary Ephesians 2:3Ephesians 2:3 commentary)
(Matthew 18:11Matthew 18:11 commentary, commentary John 3:16-17John 3:16-17 commentary, commentary Romans 6:23Romans 6:23 commentary, 8:18:1 commentary, Colossians 1:13-14Colossians 1:13-14 commentary, commentary 1 John 4:141 John 4:14 commentary)
His family’s intent to take custody of Him—to save Jesus from either political danger or to protect their own reputations—may have been another Satanic attempt to distract Jesus from His mission to die for the sins of the world. If so, it would have been a temptation similar to Peter’s rebuke of Jesus after Jesus told Peter that He would be crucified (Mark 8:31-33Mark 8:31-33 commentary).
In the next section (Mark 3:22-27Mark 3:22-27 commentary), scribes from Jerusalem find Jesus and confront Him as they try to delegitimize and frame Him as a sorcerer, which seems to have been the kind of confrontation His family was trying to prevent when they went out to take custody of Him.