Mark 3:20-35
Christ's True Colors
by Rev. Joseph M. Rampino
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington Catholic Herald"

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Mark wrote to explain Christ
to the new Gentile converts.

Jesus came home with his disciples.  Again the crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat.  When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."  The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "By the prince of demons he drives out demons."

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him.  But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man.  Then he can plunder the house."  Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them.  But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin."  For they had said, "He has an unclean sprit."

His mother and his brothers arrived.  Standing outside they sent word to him and called him.  A crowd seated around him told him, "Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you."  But he said to them in reply, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"  And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.  For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

A peacock plays a central role in Flannery O'Connor's story "The Displaced Person."  Through the novella, his own, the pragmatic and proud Mrs. McIntyre, sees the bird as a nuisance, difficult to understand.  She complains that he only shows his beautiful tail feathers when it suits him, and that since he won't show off at convenient moments, he represents only trouble and frustration.  The local priest, however, is entranced by the peacock, and delights in feeding him and following him about.  He alone is content waiting to see the animal's colors in his own time.  O'Connor often used the peacock as a symbol of Christ, just as the first generations of Christians had, and it is this image that can help us to understand the portrait of the Lord we receive in this weekend's Gospel.

Christ in his Gospel passage refuses all attempts at understanding him according to comfortable human terms.  He works with such fervor and constancy that his own family tries to "seize" him because they think he has lost his mind.  In response to the same zealous ministry of Jesus, full of healings and conversions, the scribes and Pharisees accuse him of being possessed.  Christ then claims to be stronger that all demonic powers, as the strong man who ties up the devil and despoils him.  After all of this, he goes on to redefine membership in his family, including those who do the will of the Father, rather than those related to him by blood.

In all of this, it becomes clear that Christ calls us to meet him on his own terms, and not on ours.  He resists even to the present day any attempt to define  him and understand him too easily.  When we want to think of Christ as an exalted religious teacher, he tells the apostles that he teaches in parables precisely in order to confuse the crowds.  When we want to think of him as a healer, he compares himself to Elijah and Elisha, who each worked miracles for one foreigner apiece.  When we want to think of Christ as gentle, he makes a whip out of rope and uses it to attack the moneychangers in the temple.  When we want to think of Christ as forceful and fiery, he teaches us to love our enemies, receives the kiss of Judas, and submits quietly to the Passion.  When we want to think of him simply as God, he shows us his hunger, exhaustion, anger, sadness, joy and all the other features of his humanity.  When we want to think of him simply as man, he reveals the thoughts of hearts, forgives sins, raises the dead and speaks with authority about the Father. 

So, then what are we to do?  How do we relate to this strange and multifaceted enigma of a person who is Jesus Christ?  O'Connor's priest understood.  Knowing that the peacock would show his colors on his own terms, the priest simply placed himself in his presence and waited joyfully.  Just so, Christ is not ours to figure out at a comfortable distance.  Our faith articulates who he is as clearly as possible, but even the full number of our theological truths does not give us a convenient picture.  We will understand Christ only insofar as we let him revel himself to us in his time on his terms.  We will see his glory if we follow him in patience.  He will show his colors if we look to love him rather than figure him out or put him to work for us.  If we wait with him as friends, then we will see and understand.