Matthew 12:46-50 Mark 3:31-35 Luke 8:19-21
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46 While
He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were
standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47 Someone
said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside
seeking to speak to You.” 48 But Jesus answered the one who
was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And
stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and
My brothers! 50 “For whoever does the will of My
Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
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31 Then
His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to
Him and called Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him,
and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside
looking for You.” 33 Answering them, He said, “Who
are My mother and My brothers?” 34 Looking
about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My
brothers! 35 “For whoever does the will of
God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
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19 And
His mother and brothers came to Him, and they were unable to get to Him
because of the crowd. 20 And it was reported to Him,
“Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wishing to see You.” 21 But
He answered and said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear
the word of God and do it.”
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Family is a wonderful blessing from God but it can also
become an idol in our lives. We know
very little about Mary, Joseph and their children during the years that Jesus
was growing up. There is a great deal of
speculation about what it must have been like to grow up in the same home with
Jesus. We don’t know if Jesus healed
birds as a child. Being omniscient, He
must have been the all-time champion hide and go seek player. The Bible does not tell us about the family
life of Jesus as He was growing up. What
we do know is that Jesus loved His family very much and that one of His instructions
from the cross was concerning the care of Mary, His mother. We also know from other Scriptures that His
brothers did not believe in Him until after the resurrection. However, once they did believe, they became
very prominent leaders in the church and James and Jude wrote the books of the
Bible that were named after them. In
today’ text we see one of the few encounters between Jesus and His family. It does not give us very much information but
it does provide us with some interesting insights.
THE EXPECTATION OF JESUS’S FAMILY: As Jesus was teaching and
the crowd were gathered around Him; His mother and brothers want to see Him but
cannot reach Him because of the crowd surrounding Him. It is believed that Joseph died sometime
after the children were all born. This
passage also lays to rest the idea that Mary remained a virgin after the birth
of Jesus. We do not know what Mary and
the brothers wanted when they came to visit Jesus. Perhaps they were concerned about His safety
because the heard about the confrontations between Him and the Pharisees. Perhaps they were there to try to convince
Him to stop being so controversial. It
seems that they expected to have immediate access to Him because of their close
relationship but that they were having a hard time due to the size of the
crowd. Perhaps it came as a surprise to
them to see the number of people who were following Jesus. It is hard for us to imagine someone we grow
up with becoming famous. Whatever the
case, it seems that there was frustration on the part of the family because
they were not able to have access to Jesus.
Many times ministry and the Mission of God to take the Gospel to all the
nations of the world requires that we spend significant periods of time separated
from our families.
THE EXPANSION OF JESUS’S FAMILY: When Jesus is informed that
His family is looking for Him, His response takes us by surprise. At first glance, it seems like He is ignoring
His mother and brothers and dismissing them an unimportant. However, that is not the point of what Jesus
is saying. Instead of seeing this as a
dismissal of His physical family, we should look at this as being and expansion
of His spiritual family. Jesus gestures
to the disciples who have turned their backs on their business and left
families in order to follow Him and He says that these disciples are His family. He goes even further to say that all men who
do the will of the Father are His family.
It is an astounding truth to consider that we can be a part of the
family of Jesus by following the Father’s will and trusting in Jesus as our
Savior from sin. Jesus was not excluding
His mother and brothers from His family; He was simply including His disciples
and all of us who believe.
APPLICATION: We need to be willing to live separated from
our parents, siblings and grown children in order to spread the fame of Christ
and fulfill the mission of God in the nations.
We should not be surprised when unbelieving family members do not
understand our commitment to the mission.
Be eternally grateful that we can be members of the family of Jesus by
doing His will.
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