You Are Not Like Us

Through history, those who follow God have been considered "weird" by those gripped with the madness of shallow living. It's nothing new and it still is the symptom of the madness of darkness.

St. Anthony the Great once said, “A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”

Of course, that “time” St. Anthony warned us about has been with us since our mother and father believed the insanity of the snake in the garden! And this madness, this insanity, doesn’t just exist in “those people;” it is the common temptation of each of us every day.

Before we get too confident in our own “correctness,” it might surprise you to learn that the Lord’s family in His day thought He was “beside himself” (what a lovely way to say “crazy” or “out of his mind”). They thought He was too zealous for His new ministry, message, and healing. They thought He needed to be rescued.

So, what motivated these family members to think this way about the Lord? I’m sure they thought it was only out of concern for Jesus’ safety and well-being. But often, when we dig deeper into our motivations, we discover something else. And that something else usually has more to do with our fears and insecurities than our concern for someone else. The maximum commitment shown by the Lord’s willingness to serve all who came to Him looked dangerous and crazy to those whose lives didn’t quite measure up to maximum commitment themselves. The Lord’s focused life starkly contrasted with their own lives of selfishness and mediocrity.

The fear that Jesus really is Who He says He is lies at the heart of the madness of our own day. If Jesus Christ really is God in the flesh, then living a narcissistic and fantasy-indulging life is the exact opposite of real living.

Look at our Gospel Lesson this morning in Mark 3:13-21:

At that time, Jesus went up on the mountain, and called to him those whom he desired; and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach and have authority to cast out demons: Simon whom he surnamed Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, whom he surnamed Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaios, and Thaddaios, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.”

The truth is that all the saints' lives accomplish this same uncomfortable task of revelation. Story after story of the saints' behavior seems “crazy” to us. Just take one such story of St. Symeon the Stylite. St. Symeon lived at the top of a tall pole on a platform exposed to the elements. Other saints refused rescue from the violence of those who hated them, enduring even physical death rather than return hatred for hatred.

To a world intoxicated with the delusions of “fairness” and “rights,” this looks crazy. They see a Man being unjustly executed, saying, “Father, forgive them,” and think He’s insane.

When we compare the effort and work we put into our own lives to make our living conditions as comfortable as possible, the choices of the saints seem bizarre. In the face of their witness, we recoil from the implications. Our indulgent society of “love is love” or “live your truth” rejects any notion of ascesis that might suggest our narcissistic madness has to be tamed, repented of, and rejected for the higher reality of sober joy and communion with Christ.

But our society labels such discipline as madness or phobia or supremacist. To make sure everyone rejects such preaching of repentance and a life of disciplined taming of passions, they label such talk as racist or “hate.” Of course, they do; they must or will have to confront their childish slavery to the spirit of the age. That’s not a pleasant confrontation!

What makes more sense? Pouring all our energies into a present life that will end at the grave OR giving our best energies to “laying up treasures in heaven” for a life that will never end? Put this way; it seems crazy to invest all our best energies in such a temporary situation! So, in the end, who’s really the crazy one?

The Apostle Thaddeus was from the ancient city of Edessa. A Jew by birth, he came to Jerusalem and became a disciple of Jesus Christ. As one of the 70, Thaddeus was part of that wonderful group of disciples who followed Christ and remained faithful to Christ, becoming leaders, bishops, and evangelists all over the Roman Empire. After Jesus' ascension, St. Thaddeus returned to Edessa and became the city's first bishop, preaching the Gospel of Christ and seeing many convert to the Faith. One of these converts was King Abgar. The king wanted to reward Thaddeus and lavish gifts on the saint in gratitude for his conversion to Christ. But Thaddeus refused, choosing to continue evangelizing the areas around Edessa and even traveling as far as modern-day Beruit to preach the Message and convert others to Christ. St. Thaddeus would be considered “crazy” for rejecting these lavish gifts by those whose perspective is sickened by selfish desires.

Today, please don’t be surprised when people call you crazy for believing in the Faith and actively practicing the faith. You are not alone. All the saints and even the Lord Himself were thought out of His mind for His focused and purposeful life. Don’t let these voices who are merely disturbed by the displayed realization that their lives lack this focus and purpose so they react by trying to pull you back to the mediocrity that comforts their conscience. Don’t do it! Dare to look crazy to a crazy world so shortsighted that they pour their life gift into a temporary world and ignore the eternal life lying at their feet! Be crazy enough to live a Normal Orthodox life!

P.S. The Apostle's joyous feast comes with radiant splendor; let us keep it on this day with jubilation and gladness. For to them, whoever honors him in sincere faith, it does grant their sins' forgiveness and true divine health, for he has great boldness as a divine initiate of Christ's omnipotent grace.

Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack.

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