Christians, if Mary knew her son Jesus was God incarnate, why did she think he had gone insane at first?

Question

Mark 3:21, et seq.
When his family heard about this [i.e. that Jesus was preaching to a crowd] they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."...Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent someone to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you."

If an Angel of the Lord had come to Mary before Jesus' birth and told her that she would conceive the Son of God, why then did she at first think Jesus had gone insane when he started preaching, and go running to fetch him?

If Mary had known Jesus was the Son of God all along as the gospels claim she did, why would she have been surprised at all?

And even if she were mildly surprised by Jesus' actions, she CERTAINLY wouldn't have thought he was insane and gone running to stop him, would she?

Does this sound like a woman who knew her son was God incarnate to you? Christians, how do you explain this?

Sorry, but most Bible translations indicate it was his family who was saying that:

When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses." (NASB ©1995)
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GWT: When his family heard about it, they went to get him. They said, "He's out of his mind!" (GOD'S WORD®)
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KJV: And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
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ASV: And when his friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
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BBE: And when his friends had news of it, they went out to get him, saying, He is off his head.
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Mary was worried about protecting the Son of God, thinking God needed protecting? She didn't have much faith in God then did she?

Or is it perhaps that she never thought he was the Son of God in the first place?

Oh I agree Sarge, this isn't even close to the biggest whopper. But it certainly seems to suggest that Mary didn't think Jesus was the Son of God, for if she had she would have known everything was going according to God's plan and would not have been worried about his safety, as he had just begun his mission.

Out of his mind, off his head, lost his senses, beside himself...I don't know, sounds pretty clear to me that his family and friends were suggesting the boy warn't quite right in the head.

Answer 1

Mark was not a there to witness any of his hearsay testimony....if he even wrote that tale of fantasy. One cannot take any story in the Bible as having factually occured as there is no way to authenticate any of those whoppers.

Answer 2

Of course you are choosing bits & pieces of a passage out of context to try to prove a point that doesn't exist. Even so, as a mom, if I looked around while traveling & found my 11 yr old son to not be with me, God or not I would be worried about him. He was God's Son & God entrusted Mary to take care of Him and raise Him. I'm sure Mary would not have wanted to go to God in prayer that night and say, "Oh, by the way, I lost Jesus today."

Answer 3

He was doing something out of the ordinary. For 30 years,
He had been the ideal #1 son - and Mary may have forgotten the
scene at the Temple when Jesus was 12 and he was teaching the
elders. She surely did not fully remember when she was younger
and had the vision of the angel.

She also had to learn who the Son of Man was - and at that moment
she thought He was an embarrasment to the family...

But Mary, like us, was human. And we make mistakes.

Our loving God forgives us.

Answer 4

It is your premise that is insane.

No where in scripture is there the slightest hint that Mary ever thought her son was insane.

If anything, she knew that some day he would be brutally killed as the sacrifice for sin, and she probably had no idea exactly how or when that would come about.

That said, she would most certainly want to be there with Jesus, when it happened.

That would have been her motivation for coming to him, when she heard about the crowd.

And since that is exactly what she did, when the time actually came, the truth of this is self evident.

Answer 5

First of all, the Bible doesn't contain every thing Jesus said or did; "the whole world couldn't contain the books" Second, you're right, the Bible doesn't record Jesus saying anything like "I am God" however the Jewish and Roman leaders understood Jesus's claim to be God as did Jesus's followers. The words of Christ and the NT writers are not ambiguous... Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father-John 14:19 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, Titus 2:13 A thorough reading of the Bible will convince the open minded person that Christ did indeed claim to be God. take care

Answer 6

Mar 3:21 -
When his friends - Greek, “they who were of him.” Not the apostles, but his relatives, his friends, who were in the place of his nativity.
Heard of it - Heard of his conduct: his preaching; his appointing the apostles; his drawing such a multitude to his preaching. This shows that by “his friends” were not meant the apostles, but his neighbors and others who “heard” of his conduct.
They went out to lay hold on him - To take him away from the multitude, and to remove him to his home, that he might be treated as a maniac, so that, by absence from the “causes” of excitement, he might be restored to his right mind.
They said - That is, common report said; or his friends and relatives said, for they did not believe on him, Joh_7:5. Probably the enemies of Jesus raised the report, and his relatives were persuaded to believe it to be true.
He is beside himself - He is delirious or deranged. The reason why this report gained any belief was, probably, that he had lived among them as a carpenter; that he was poor and unknown; and that now, at 30 years of age, he broke off from his occupations, abandoned his common employment, spent much time in the deserts, denied himself the common comforts of life, and set up his claims to be the Messiah who was expected by all the people to come with great pomp and splendor. The charge of “derangement” on account of attention to religion has not been confined to the Saviour.

Answer 7

First , you should always read the complete chapter...it was the Sabbath and it was considered a sin to heal on the Sabbath, and that's why they said what was said, he could have been hurt for doing so.....and as for Mary.... she being like all good mom's should be, she wanted to protect her child, son of God or not...... and they didn't say he was crazy, they said "He is beside himself"

Answer 8

Mary was human and as a human she made mistakes.
If you read ALL of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John you will know that Mary followed Jesus all the way to His death and resurrection.

Answer 9

An angel came to him and said all about her pregnancy...An angel of the Lord said it to her..why not belive?? besides Mary is God-fearing woman..and knows what God really wants for her..

Answer 10

real bibles say: 21 and when his friends(or kinsman) heard of it, they went out to lay hold of him, for they said; he is beside himself.

Thats a big difference from crazy. definition from dictionary.com

beside oneself, almost out of one's senses from a strong emotion, as from joy, delight, anger, fear, or grief: He was beside himself with rage when the train left without him