Mark 3:20-21

Familiarity breeds contempt? How could it be that those closest to us cannot see the change within us and be glad? Jesus knew rejection. God sees the heart of a person!

God in the form of a perfect human being lived and breathed within His circle of family and friends and some… knew Him not.

Within the narrative of the coming of Jesus’ relatives is inserted the account of the unbelieving scribes from Jerusalem who attributed Jesus’ power over demons to Beelzebul. There were those even among the relatives of Jesus who disbelieved and regarded Jesus as out of his mind. Against this background, Jesus is informed of the arrival of his mother and brothers [and sisters]. He responds by showing that not family ties but doing God’s will is decisive in the kingdom. Catholic Bible.

Jesus’ family might have wanted to preserve their reputation. The political ramifications of Jesus’ actions and teaching also could have caused His family to attempt to restrain Him, for fear of reprisal from Roman authorities or local Jewish leaders. Alternatively, they might have not have believed that Jesus was the Messiah and so attempted to silence Him to avoid being ostracized from the religious system (believing that it, too, would reject Him). Since Jesus has been at the center of a crowd almost continuously since His first teaching in Capernaum, it is unclear why His family reacts now. Faithlife Bible.

Opposition to Jesus came not only from His enemies. Jesus’ own people, no doubt close friends and perhaps even relatives, heard of His teaching and assumed that He was out of His mind. NKJ Bible.

Mark 3:20–21 (NKJV)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

Matthew 13:55 (NKJV)

⁵⁵ Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

Psalm 69:8 (NKJV)

⁸ I have become a stranger to my brothers,

And an alien to my mother’s children;

Mark 6:3 (NKJV)

³ Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.