Was Jesus mentally ill or did his mother and his family forget about the miracle birth?

Question

According to the Gospel of Mark (Mark 3:19-21, 31), during the period when Jesus was preaching, Mary and his brothers believed that he was mentally ill, or "out of his mind" as per the KJV. The Gospel of John comments that "neither did his brothers believe in him" (John 7:5). Jesus, in turn, rejected them (Mark 3:31-35, Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21).

Apparently, Mary, the mother of Jesus, forgot the visits of angels, magi, and shepherds. The prophecies of Anna and Simeon completely slipped her mind. Most of all Mary seems to have forgotten her own impregnation by the Holy Spirit.

The author of Mark divides his narrative into two scenes in 3:20-35. One scene takes place where Jesus resides (verses 20, 22-35) the other is where his "kinsmen" are to be found (verse 21). It was these kinsmen, his mother and brothers, who "went out to take custody of him [Jesus]." One does not take custody of someone who is well. They felt Jesus had lost his mind. In order to take custody of him they had to go where he was residing. As a result, the text says, ". . . his own kinsmen . . . went out to take custody of him . . . ." In verse 31 the narrative describes their arrival at the place where Jesus was staying.

Jesus is told that his mother and brothers are outside looking for him. His answer, "Who are my mother and my brothers? . . . For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother," (verses 33-35) shows that he was hostile to their attempt to see him. There could be but one reason. His family, mother brothers, and sisters, believed him to be mentally ill and had not come simply to see him, but had come to seize him

Curious, if they truly believed he was the son of God, I don't think they would have questioned his methods.

Well Indy, perhaps you could explain, this is the whole reason we are on Yahoo! Answers isn't it??

Answer 1

Once again, you have shown an inconsistency in the Bible.
...and once again, people accuse you of not being open-minded; although the fact that you are even asking the question shows that not only are you NOT SHUNNING the Bible, but you are trying to understand it.
Asking questions about the Bible need not bring defensive loons that end up doing the same thing they accuse you of. Which is picking and choosing things from the Bible to prove their point.

This is what continues to bewilder me. They say that you need to believe without questioning. That you need to have faith through fear.
They have no clue of the origins of this book, or the authors, or even of their own religion.
Their whole life they have believed and had faith w/o questioning and now they expect everyone else to do the same?
...talk about not being open-minded;
talk about having no mind at all....

"In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep, one must above all be a sheep oneself."
-Albert Einstein

"The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press, usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them."
[Albert Einstein, letter to Sigmund Freud, 30 July 1932]

Answer 2

The Bible is not inconsistent. When trying to understand it through HUMAN reasoning it may appear to. There are several incidences where even Jesus' disciples did not understand clearly Jesus' mission even though He often told them in one way or another. (Matthew 16:23, John 2:16) The Bible tells us that the truths of the Spirit are spiritually discerned by the spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:14)Jesus' family, nor anyone living in the time of His earthly ministry, had been born again. John 3:3-7 and 1 Peter 1:23)They were trying to understand spiritual things through their carnal mind, human reasoning. Jesus stated at one point that they would understand these things later on. (John 13:6-8 )After His resurrection He was walking with some of the disciples explaining to them the events of His death from the OT scriptures and that these things 'had to be'. Luke 24:31) THEN He opened their eyes..in other words HE gave them the understanding. The lost do not understand the things of God until they are born again. And even then it is only as they give themselves to spirit communication that they come to understand and be changed in the day to day lives. Many still live their lives through their human reasoning and philosophies and wisdom of men trying to understand the scriptures through human reasoning. James 1:5 and 1Cor. 1:20-21) Mary and Jesus' brother, sisters and disciples were still relying on earthly wisdom not understanding that Jesus’ life was committed to God’s purpose..to come, reveal God’s will for us, and then give Himself as a ransom, be raised on the third day and be seated on the right hand of GOD having been given ALL authority…to give us what He had come and revealed and provided. They did come to understand on the day of Pentecost. (Acts chapter 1-2) Believers first accept what scripture SAYS and then revelation of the spiritual truth and application come. Mary ‘pondered these sayings in her heart’ but did not truly understand all the ramifications until after His death and resurrection.

Answer 3

Well, strangely enough one of his brothers later changed his mind about the crazy part. I don't believe even he thought he was the son of God, that seems to have been a metaphor that was lost on people at some point while his family thought he was crazy for renouncing all possessions and wandering around the desert with a bunch of other men...

Answer 4

Neither. The interlinear text from the greek says for Mark 3-19 -21 "and Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him. And he came into a house. And again a crowd came together, so as they were not able even to eat bread. And hearing, those with him went out to take hold of him; for they said "He is out of his wits". Although this text doesn't explain why they thought he was out of his wits, both before and after, in Mark, it speaks of casting out demons and the scribes especially saying that Jesus was aligned with Satan for doing so. Pehaps that was why they thought him out of his wits. There are cross references as well. In 3:31 it says "And then his mother and brothers came. And standing outside, they sent to him, calling him." "They sent to him", not "came to take custody of him." Jesus was not crazy although the more educated and wealthy of his time thought him to be, just as the more educated and wealthy today think he and his followers are. In John 7.5 Jesus was having a conversation with his brothers about going to Judea and doing his works openly so that his disciples could see his works and believe in him. It says "For his brothers did not believe into him". Neither did Thomas either until he showed Thomas his hands. That could be why his brothers wanted him to reveal himself. And as far as his "mother and brothers" (Mark 3:31-35, Matthew 12:46-50, Luke 8:19-21) Jesus was not rejecting his true family. What he was saying, in essence, was that the doers of the will of his father were just as much his mother and brothers as were his blood mother and brothers. What you pointed out does not indicate Jesus as being mentally ill, maybe severely misunderstood, as he is today. Nor does it make reference, as far as I can tell, about his mother forgetting the virgin birth or the other phenomena preceding. But there again, it is easy to come to these conclusions when you read anything with a critical mind and then remove certain segments out of context to make a point. Especially if you don't believe any of it to begin with. Perhaps you should read what Jesus says in Matthew 18:6 and Mark 9:42 about causing others who believe in him to stumble and
go wrong.

Answer 5

Evidence indicates the character called Jesus suffered from the temporal lobe disorder called limbic epilepsy, whose seizures manifest in behavioral, not physical changes. (Think of the mood swings, hearing voices, cursing a fig tree.)

That was probably worsened by his use of the psychotropic drug reserpine, made from the roots of a plant and used by many so called mystics of his time.

Answer 6

Read it again, friend. The Bible says that the brothers though Jesus was out of His mind. It does not say Mary did. She was with them, but it doesn't say she agreed with them. I always pictured her going along and trying to talk them out of it the whole time.

I seriously don't know how you get "neither did his brothers believe in him" to mean, "neither did his brothers and mother believe in him."

Mary never forgot, and the Bible says she didn't but "treasured" all the details in her heart. (See the Gospel of Luke).

Furthermore, Jesus never rejects His brothers. He expands the definition of brothers to include everyone who believes in Him, but that is not a rejection of anybody else.

And when Jesus says, "Who are my mother and my brothers? . . . For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother," you are in error if you think this is excluding Mary. We all know that Mary did the will of God, and Jesus knew it, too, obviously.

Try reading what is IN the text instead of reading something INTO it.

Answer 7

Mary never actually recovered from the trauma of having been deflowered from the inside out by her own son....

Answer 8

Here's a better questions:
If you were creating a religion from imagination would you add this part?
So were the Bible writers (who according to you fooled a large percentage of the population for 2 millenia) stupid or giving a truthful telling of what they experienced?

Answer 9

He was a radical. They tried to get him to go home, but he refused.

Answer 10

I just think anyone who belives all that bull sh*t is mentally ill.