It was in 2014-2015 when I was helping lead a young adult Bible
study at First Baptist of New Port Richey. When I first met this person I am about
to mention, we talked for about an hour in the church parking lot. I promise you
that this romantic story is not about when I met Lasita but when I met my best
friend, John Cooper. He knows that date and time you could even ask him. John is
more than a best friend. He is my brother and is family to me. He is not flesh and
blood, nor do we have the same mother.
We are closer than blood because the blood of Christ bonds us. We may have many
things in common and similar interests, but Christ unites us. He has been closer to
me than my sisters because he has encouraged, prayed, and spurred me on out of
the depths of my sin, sorrow, loneliness, and depression and has pointed me to the
one who makes me whole, who is Christ. There is another person in here that I can
say just the same: who is my brother, and that is Anthony Del Valle, and I praise
God for both of them. I could take it further with Adam and the other elders. But
my point is that we all have someone closer to us than our flesh and blood and
people we consider family. We all have a flesh-and-blood family, but there are
those we consider to be a true family. Today, we will examine a gospel encounter
about who Jesus defines as a true family.
“And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and
called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your
mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who
are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him,
he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God,
he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk 3:31–35).
Context: Mark describes earlier a chaotic scene where Jesus is forced to preach
and heal from a boat near the shore to keep the crowds under control. The
multitudes seek Jesus because of his miracle-working power, while the scribes and
Pharisees hate Jesus and are plotting against him because of these same miracles.
While demons immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God, neither the large
crowds nor the Pharisees understand that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God.
The religious authorities conclude Satan possesses him. His family assumes he has
lost his sanity. Verses 31-35 are thematically connected to vs. 20- 21. The religious
leaders have accused Jesus of being an agent of Satan (vs. 22-30). His family, sad
to say, accuses him of being deranged and in need of forced confinement (v. 21). It
is in this context Jesus makes clear who is family and who is not, who is inside and
who is outside. It is here where we begin our gospel encounter.
Mark 3:31-32 Jesus’ Family Outside
Mark 3:31-32:
“And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they
sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to
him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.”
Mark resumes the account, which was broken off in verse 21. The scene takes
place with Jesus at a house most likely Peters, surrounded by those listening to His
teaching. As the text points out, “a crowd was sitting around him.” Those sitting
around tell him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” So,
word is passed, from person to person through the crowd because Jesus’ mother
and brothers couldn’t get in. Standing outside, they send someone in to call him.
Mary is there. Jesus’ brothers are there. Joseph isn’t mentioned, most likely
because he is deceased. Why is Jesus’ family outside seeking him?
They are there to intervene. Notice they are standing on the outside while others
are on the inside. Why is this significant? The reason is that, at this point in the
story, they are acting like outsiders. He knows their intention to take Him away
over the fact He is causing a public spectacle or in some sort of an attempt to
“save” Him from the crowds. In either event, Jesus’ blood relatives were not
willing that He should address or stay with the crowd following Him, the very ones
Jesus referred to as His “mother and brothers.” “They are on a rescue mission to
save Jesus from the ultimate rescue mission. They are saying that he is out of his
mind because their minds are not set “on the things of God” (Matt. 16:23). Though
they do not want Him to die they do not understand that it is the will of God that
He dies” (O’Donnell, 2024, p.173).
They think He is out of His mind; I can relate; I used to think my parents were
dorks before I knew Christ. I remember making fun of them behind their back
because they were wearing matching shirts from the church they attended. I was
like, what losers? How Ironic that now I wear a SonRise T-shirt everywhere I go,
and when I walk into church and see Adam wearing the same shirt, I say excitedly
no way, you too, then, awkward bro hug, and then let’s get a picture! You see, we
have family members who look at us a certain way and do not understand why we
follow and submit to Christ; however, we pray for them that God will save them.
Jesus’ family would eventually repent and believe. James, one of Jesus’ brothers,
who was trying to get Jesus away from the crowds because he thought he was
crazy would eventually become a follower of Jesus and end up not only writing the
book of James but also pastor the church in Jerusalem and be killed for following
Christ. We know that later, Jesus’ family repents, believes, and becomes disciples
of Him. This is encouraging for us who have friends and family that may call us
crazy. Our families may not understand our willingness to live a life in submission
to Christ. Though our family may be on the outside looking at us and considering
us a fool to follow Christ, we can know that Christ empathizes with us and will
show us that those who are obedient are His true family. Though some of us here
might be the only Christians in our family, know that we are not alone. If your
family doesn’t appreciate your faith, take heart. Jesus faced the same thing in His
family. Be faithful in obedience and faithful in proclaiming the gospel. We have
looked at Jesus’ family outside. Now, let’s look at the next point, Jesus’ family
inside.
Mark 3: 33-34 Jesus’ Family Inside
Mark 3: 33-34,
“And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother
and my brothers!”
Notice Jesus asks a rhetorical question. What do you mean, “Who is my mother or
brothers?”
Jesus is not aloof from his mother or brothers, nor is He crazy. Jesus drew a sharp
distinction, using a metaphor of family. Jesus was asking a question to get the
people to start thinking. To start thinking about which relationships are most
important. He wanted them to change their focus from the physical to the spiritual.
In verse 34 He begins to look around the room. Jesus looked to his disciples, those
sitting at His feet learning from Him. He is looking at the family that are inside
with Him. He was not disowning His physical family in this passage but showing
that believing in Him is the criteria for entrance into His spiritual family and
kingdom, no matter what blood runs in a person’s veins.
Notice that Jesus’ choosing of the crowds over His blood relatives foreshadowed
the fact that most of His kinsmen in Israel would not believe in him and would not
therefore be His “brethren,” while Gentiles would be saved through Him and
would become His brethren (Romans 8:29). It is a pronouncement of judgment
upon unbelieving Israel. In other words, Jesus would be rejected by His own.
Recall John 1:11-13, which says of Jesus: “He came to his own, and his own
people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of
blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Though Jesus’ statement is shocking, it’s important to understand that within the
Jewish culture, this was a significant statement. The crowd would have gasped and
said, “What did He just say?!” Jesus lived in a culture that prized family above just
about everything else. Some Jewish teachers even claimed that honoring one’s
father and mother was the most important of the Ten Commandments. Thus, when
Jesus’ mother and brothers came to visit Him while He was speaking, no doubt
those who had gathered around Jesus would have expected him to welcome his
family. However, he was not going to abandon the work entrusted to him because
his family was seeking to take him home because they thought he was crazy. He
would not make obedience to the fifth commandment an excuse for disobeying the
first commandment. He turns his family interrupting into an opportunity to ask
those listening to reflect on a far more important spiritual question, “Who is in the
family of God?”
Jesus is making a clear distinction of who truly belongs to the family of God. What
He’s saying is that there is something that runs deeper and is actually more
meaningful and significant than just flesh and blood. He’s saying, there’s a new
family, a spiritual family that surpasses the earthly family. And he’s saying, not
everyone is a part of this new family of God. This is Jesus’ family inside, “Here
are my mother and my brothers!” Jesus prioritized the relationship of those “who
believe” over those “who do not.” Jesus is teaching here that there is a family that
is more united, “He knows the family is no less fallen than other human
institutions. He knows that marriages end in divorce, that parents are cruel to
children. He did not come to praise the family but to redeem it. Even a godless
family can bring joy to its members, but the highest glory and pleasure for the
family come when the family puts God first” (Doriani, 2008, p. 539).
Jesus was not suggesting we, as believers, should abandon our families in order to
serve God. He commands us to put God’s will above everything else in life—
including our family. It is God’s will for us to care for our families and provide for
their needs; however, in Christ, we gain a new family that lasts forever. To them,
we commit our all. Continuing in our gospel encounter, let’s look at the next point.
Mark 3: 35 Jesus’s True Family
Mark 3: 35,
35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and
mother”
What Jesus is saying here is, those who trust me and obey me are my true family.
The fruit of salvation is demonstrated by obedience. John 8:31,
“If you abide in myword, you are truly my disciples.” Jesus said over and over that obedience is the
mark. You can look at it in John 12, John 14, John 15, “Whoever has my
commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will
be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (Jn.
14:21). Jesus was pointing to the disciples as those who are his true family. They
dropped everything to follow and obey Him. In doing so, they become Jesus’ true
family since even His own brothers do not understand the nature of his mission and
will not believe that He is the Son of God until after the resurrection. Jesus
redefined the sense of family that literal kinship pales in comparison to spiritual
kinship based on obedience to God.
The fruit of being in Jesus’ true family is obedience. We are in the true family if we
keep His commands. John writes, “And by this we know that we have come to
know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does
not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever
keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know
that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way
in which he walked” (1 Jn. 2:3–6).
I want to clarify that this is not teaching salvation by works. That would contradict
the rest of the New Testament. When He says, “Whoever does the will of God, he
is my brother and sister and mother,” he is pointing to the evidence his family
members show that they’re in his family. He does not say, “Whoever does the will
of the Father can enter my family.” We do not become the brothers and sisters of
Christ by our obedience. Rather, “we identify ourselves as the brothers and sisters
of Christ by our obedience” (Doriani, 2008, p. 538).
Those who do God’s will reveal themselves to be in God’s family. Obedience to
God isn’t legalism. It’s evidence that we actually belong to God. It’s also a sign of
love. Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn.
14:15). Loving Jesus means obeying Jesus. It means doing the things that He’s
revealed in His Word. Things like loving our enemies and our neighbors, serving
one another, walking in purity, living generously, walking in humility, and making
disciples.
In other words, through the Spirit, we are brought into Christ’s family and united
with Christ; our new disposition is to obey Jesus. This is evidence that you belong
to him. As you walk with him, the fruit of the Spirit will develop in your life: “The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23). By his
blood, Jesus made a new family. If you belong to Jesus, you belong to Jesus’s true
family. Our relationship with other Christians is a more fundamental part of our
identity than our relationships with our physical families. Our blood-bought kin is
closer to us than our kin by blood. Beloved by faith, Jesus is composing one body.
There is no bond of relationship more holy and united than the spiritual. Look at it
this way: it’s a consummation of God’s reconciliation; He is renewing Adam’s
fallen race by making sinners into holy and heavenly sons of God. All who believe
in Christ have “received the Spirit of adoption as sons.” We are heirs with Him.
This changes everything about what it means to be in a family. For those with
healthy, close families it lifts their eyes to an even greater reality. For those whose
families are utterly dysfunctional, who are lonely, abandoned, orphaned, or
divorced, it is a warm invitation to a real family. In God’s family, we share Christ’s
familial rights and standing in the eyes of God, and that means we will inherit the
glory and riches of the heavenly kingdom.
Near the end of his famous work, Confessions, St. Augustine records the last days
of his mother Monica’s life. By that time, Monica’s fervent prayers had been
realized and her son was not only a Christian but a fervent defender of the
orthodox faith. Augustine recalls a moment standing with his mother at a window,
“conversing very pleasantly” about their present situation and the future,
specifically, “the eternal life of the saints.” The image is beautiful: a mother who
will soon pass away comforted by her loving son and two saints contemplating the
joy of heaven, which will soon be attained by one of them. Augustine writes, “We
opened wide the mouth of our heart, thirsting for those supernal streams of thy
fountain, ‘the fountain of life’ which is with thee, that we might be sprinkled with
its waters according to our capacity and might in some measure weigh the truth of
so profound a mystery.” (Confessions, Book Nine). They both stood there,
realizing they were more kindred than ever before.
Application
1st Examine your life for places where you put family or other things above Christ
and His love. Ask for forgiveness and strength to enable you to do his will. Your
children need to know the importance of this spiritual family outside of their clubs
and sports teams. The church is a family that will be there for them in their faith
journey and who will love them for longer than a season.
2nd This does not mean we abandon or forsake our family, yet if they do not know
Christ, we invite them to be a part of the family of Christ through the gospel. We
must be faithful
How do you become a part of the family of God? You must repent of your sins and
believe in Jesus and His atoning work for sin on the cross, raised with resurrection
power to provide everlasting life you believe by faith. You see the Son of God
became the Son of man that the Sons of men might become Sons of God. If you
want to hear more about Christ and His gospel, there are people in this room who
would love to talk with you more.
3rd The church is our true family. Faith is what makes a true family. Family
members of God’s house should gather regularly to listen, sing, and pray the Word
as a family. Christians need to do life together. This is why church membership is
important. We are not bound together by superficial things but by glorious
realities that we cherish together on our pilgrimage to the celestial city.
