8. JESUS' FRIENDS ALARMED Mark 3:20-21 (Matt. 12:22 to 13) And he cometh into a house.--The meaning probably is found in the margin: "They came home." That is, to Capernaum (Matthew 9:1), the headquarters of their operations. 20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.--Jesus enters upon one of the busiest and most eventful days in all his history. He was so engaged about his Father's business there was no time for eating. 21 And when his friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him:--They meant to take him away from the multitude, and to remove him to a place of safety and where he might be given medical attention (if need be) and be absent from the causes of excitement. for they said, He is beside himself.--Probably the enemies of Jesus started the report that he was delirious, or deranged. The charge of derangement on account of attention to religious matters has not been confined to Jesus. Festus said "Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad." (Acts 26:24.) Men may endanger themselves on the bosom of the ocean, or in the bowels of the earth, for wealth; or may plunge into the flood of fashion and folly, and vice, and break in upon the hours of repose, and neglect their duties to their family, and the demands of business, and in the view of the world it is wisdom. But, let a godly man lend his time and attention in the same way in building up the kingdom of God and saving souls, the charge comes, he is crazy or a crank he is carried away by an unwise enthusiasm. Jesus has been constantly teaching and healing amid enthusiastic crowds. Shortly before this he spent a whole night in prayer on a mountaintop, and now he is hindered from taking the necessary food; so his kindred determined to take charge of him, and stop all this. Solicitous of her son's welfare, his mother goes with them.