WHEN NOBODY GETS YOU

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK
Jesus, help me be patient when some people don’t understand me, because there are others who will get me! Amen.

“Jesus came home with His disciples. His relatives worried about Him and came to get Him. But Jesus began to teach people: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” Jesus’ relatives arrived and everyone told Him they were there. But He looked around at the crowd and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Do you ever feel like no one understands you? Most kids struggle sometimes with feeling like other people don’t “get” you. You try to be outgoing, but a teacher writes on your report card, “Work on your shyness.” You ask a lot of questions and an adult says, “Stop being a pest!”

You end up groaning, “Nobody understands me!”

Jesus does. In fact, this week’s Gospel (Mark 3:20-35) is about His own struggles with being understood, even by His family.

If it’s hard for you to make people understand you, it was probably a lot harder for Jesus. People who knew Him as a kid and a young man didn’t seem to think He would really end up teaching people about God. The Gospel story tells us that some of them even said, “He’s out of His mind.”

When it feels like people don’t get you, all you can do is keep being yourself. Some people will accept it and some won’t. Some people will take the time to really learn who you are, but sadly, there are others who might judge you.

Jesus talked about unity. When He said that “a house divided against itself can’t stand,” He meant that people need to support each other. When He looked at everyone and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers,” He meant that we need to act like family to one another.

Not everyone is able to do that. But the best way to find people who understand you is to be understanding to other people. Jesus showed us how!