Albert Barnes Commentary Mark 3:21

"And when his friends heard it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself." — Mark 3:21 (ASV)

When his friends. Greek, "They who were of him." Not the apostles, but his relatives, his friends, who were in the place of his birth.

Heard of it. Heard of his conduct, his preaching, his appointing the apostles, and his drawing such a large crowd to his preaching. This shows that "his friends" did not refer to the apostles, but to those at a distance who heard of his conduct.

They went out to lay hold on him. That is, to take him away from the multitude and remove him to his home, so that he might be treated as someone deranged and, by absence from the causes of excitement, might be restored to his right mind.

They said. That is, common report said this. Or, his friends said it, for they did not believe in him (John 7:5). Probably the enemies of Jesus started the report, and his relatives were persuaded to believe it was true.

He is beside himself. This means he is delirious or deranged.

The reason this report gained any belief was probably that our Lord had lived among them as a carpenter; he was poor and unknown; and now, at thirty years of age, he had given up his occupations, abandoned his common employment, spent much time in the deserts, denied himself the common comforts of life, and put forward his claims to be the Messiah, who was expected by all the people to come with great pomp and splendor.

The charge of derangement on account of dedication to religion has not been limited to our Savior. Let a man be made deeply aware of his sins, spend much of his time in prayer, and find no pleasure in the ordinary amusements or business of life; or let a Christian be deeply impressed with his obligation to devote himself to God, act as if he believed there was an eternity, and warn his neighbors of their danger; or let a minister show uncommon zeal and exhaust his strength in the service of his Master—and the world is not slow to call it derangement.

And no one will be more ready to originate or believe the charge than an ungodly and unbelieving parent or brother, or a self-righteous Pharisee or professing believer in the church. At the same time, people may endanger themselves on the bosom of the deep or in the bowels of the earth for wealth; or they may plunge into the vortex of fashion, folly, and vice, disrupt their hours of rest, and neglect their duties to their family and the demands of business—and in the view of the world, this is wisdom and proof of a sane mind! Such is the consistency of boasted reason; such is the wisdom and prudence of worldly men!