If Jesus Was Virgin-Born Why Did His Family Think He Was Crazy?

According to Bart Ehrman's reading of Mark 3:21, Jesus' mother thought he was crazy, therefore the virgin birth most likely did not happen. Here's Dr. Ehrman in conversation with Michael Shermer:


So if Jesus was really virgin-born, why is his family reacting to him this way? Here I look at Bart's use of the Gospel of Mark as an objection to the virgin birth.

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[cbrooks]

I'd focus on the messanic expectations of the time. He wasn't acting like Messiah was supposed to. Instead of raising and army and overthrowing Rome, he's hanging out with drunks and prostitutes and picking fights with Pharisees. That'd be crazy to them. (But you're right, saying "Mary thought he was crazy" is reading in more than the text says.)

[thetheoreticaltheologian]

Actually from the view point of the scriptures, it doesn’t seem like it was saying that his family thought He was crazy, rather it was the crowds who thought Jesus was crazy and Jesus’s family was trying to restrain Him to get Him out of there to make sure He was safe from what they might do to Him, not that they thought He was crazy. Now, I don’t think that they knew full well exactly what He would do or have happen to Him since even Bis disciples were not even getting it fully.

[ExploringReality]

Quoting Tim McGrew from our latest stream together…

“Nothing makes me more worried that the doctrine of innerancy is true than listening to Bart Ehrman”

[austinapologetics]

The title gives me "if George Washington was so smart, why is he dead?" vibes

[Gamerz]

In the passage, as you wrote, it says “people” were saying he has lost his mind. It doesn’t say his family, much less his mother. It merely says of them that they went to “restrain him” because of what people were saying, not that they themselves thought similarly.
You’re right, the text spoke for itself.
I’ll grant not every version translates it that way, but it does not seem to specify who the “they” was that were saying it.
Even in the case it was them, you have a perfectly solid explanation laid out here.

[silasabrahamsen]

The text also does not state, that the family thought he was crazy, only that they did it because other people said so.

[philweingart]

Mark 3:20 says that the crowds were so large that Jesus and his disciples couldn't even eat. The natural reading of Mark 3:21 is that it was the out-of-control crowding, and not "He's performing miracles, " that led the family to think that Jesus "had lost his senses."

As usual, Ehrman is simply seeing what he wants to see and misrepresenting the account.

[lukewaidmann]

I love Barts stuff. I fresh analytical take on a topic that feels full of appeals to anything but historicity and logic.

[hunterklise]

I actually raised this objection in your previous videos. I’m glad you made a video resolving it.

[Nov_Net]

I think I remeber a story in the old testament where prophet Elijah proved the Baal prophets to be false since God sent fire on his sacrifice which was a miraculous event. After when the queen was threatening him, he ran away and wanted God to kill him and rid him of his dilemna since he was scared.

So I think even if Mary thought Jesus was crazy, that still doesn't necessarily conclude that the virgin birth and the events surrounding it didnt occur since it is normal for humans to have doubts or lose trust in God even after miraculous signs and revelations.

[kernlove]

Who as a mature believer actually takes nonsense like that seriously?

[hiddenrambo]

When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.” *What did they Hear* = "Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples could not even eat." - So is it a mother wanting a son to put himself first & eat?!
Or is it the massive crowd that he had no way to escape this time before he had a boat ready (Jesus asked His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that the crowd would not crush Him.) Either way it isn't "crazy" in the sense they didn't believe him but crazy because he put others first and had no prepared escape & they feared for him, where he did not fear for himself so they came to seize him, which he declines. - Could say this is a prelude to the cross, mental preparation for his family.

[gerryquinn]

Context is King.
According to the criterion of embarrassment, this suggests a real event. An event so well k nown that it could not be edited out of the story.

[Hissatsu]

It seemed to me from the text, the family cam the restrain him becase the some in the crowd thought he was crazy .

[Mel.]

Thank you so much for making this video. I’ve been puzzled by the very question for years.

[defvent]

I love that your videos are so well structured and strongly supported

[MortenBendiksen]

Actually the text doesnt say any of his family though he was crazy. It says they would try to stop him because PEOPLE were saying he was crazy. They might want to stop him from making everyone think he was crazy. Whether they know there is something special about him or not, it doesn't mean they won't behave as people towards him.

[estherbaptist]

Maybe they wanted Jesus to pull back and be more careful lest the religious leaders would really set about hurting Him or his family

[shanehanes]

Also, if as we Catholics believe and the Church has taught for centuries, that Jesus brothers we’re actually cousins or extended family, they may not have been that aware of everything about him.

Some translations make it sound as though His family were saying, "He has gone out of His Mind" but the translation here has the much better "for people were saying, " which means that what the family actually did could have been merely coming and restraining Him (the text is ambiguous as to whether the family thought the same or if they only restrained Him). If they only restrained Him, it could have been something as simple as that His family was merely trying to protect Him from the scoffers. While it is not too difficult to imagine some of Jesus' family (whose exact relation to Jesus is ambiguous) to have been against Him, I see nothing in this text to state that that was the case. They could have been merely trying to help Him.