Are We Crazy?

 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.  When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:20

How important is it to you that you be seen by others as normal?

Are you willing to cross the line of other people’s perceptions from normal to crazy?

People thought Jesus was crazy.  His own family thought he had completely lost it.  Which is really odd when you consider that they knew something about the miraculous circumstances of his birth and the expectations of his life’s work.  

Sometimes we give a pass to slightly crazy, successful, creative, innovative people like Jesus because we think that maybe craziness is the cost of being truly unique.  

But Jesus calls us to follow him.  He calls us to be seen as crazy too.  He calls us to become like him.  He calls us to let him be the pattern for who we are and how we live our lives and relate to others.  He calls us to be crazy in the eyes of the world.  

It’s crazy to invite a bunch of people you don’t know and who aren’t even like you into your space and offer to go through life with them.  But that’s what Jesus does. 

It’s crazy to gather more people together for an evening’s conversation than you can possibly feed with the food you have on hand.  But that’s what Jesus does. 

It’s crazy to wash the feet of the people who betray you with a kiss.  But that’s what Jesus does. 

It’s crazy to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.  But that’s what Jesus does. 

It’s crazy to think that people from different classes, ethnicities, abilities and generations could praise God together and go through life together.  But that’s what Jesus believes. 

It’s crazy to give away things you could use to help yourself and the people you want to impress and thereby improve your own position.  But that’s what Jesus teaches.  

It’s crazy to keep coming up with new ways to help people and minister to them when you aren’t even sure you can survive another month.  But that’s what Jesus teaches us to do.  

I hope people think our congregation is crazy.  Crazy like Jesus.  Our constant temptation is the temptation to be normal in the eyes of the world.  But keeping things normal won’t change the world and show it Jesus.  The true ambition of everyone who follows Jesus is to be crazy like he is.