Ridiculed For Doing Good Series

Mark 3: 31 – 35

Ridiculed For Doing Good

31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” 33 But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

Now, as you know there were two other documents in circulation and they were the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. As you know, Matthew was an apostle who was with our Lord Jesus Christ for over three years and was an eye witness to all that our Lord said and did. Luke, on the other hand was a friend and fellow traveler with the apostle Paul. He later came back to Israel and interviewed the eye witnesses to this event.

So, to get a full picture let us take a quick look at both Gospels and see if there is any other information that would bless us.

Luke 1: 19 – 21 “19 Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. 20 And it was told Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring 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.”

Matthew 12: 46-50, “46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

Why do you think Mary and our Lord’s family came to take Him back home? If we just look at the passages above we will miss some significant facts. Our Compassionate Lord was constantly busy healing all people who came to Him. In fact He was so busy He had little time to eat or rest. In the midst of all the needy people as you are aware of, there were spies sent by the religious leaders to catch our Lord doing or saying something that they can use against Him. If you follow today’s Republican Presidential Candidates you will see the same issues conducted by the media.

In our sinful world there are many today who call evil good and good evil. I can related. For over 20 years I have been slandered, insulted, abused, and misused by those I serve and by those I serve with. I am an evil sinful man but not our Lord. He Is Good and Holy and does not deserve these onslaughts of evil.

The Gospel of Mark gives us a clue on what had transpired before the verses we are studying today.

Our Lord had just cast a demon out of a man and then someone commented that our Lord’s family had come to take Him home because they thought that He was out of His mind.

Look at what it says in the Gospel of Mark chapter 3, “21 But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

We see the cause that sparked this evil response to our Holy Master. It was His family.

Only Peter remarks about our Lord’s family, who basically came to take Him back home to Nazareth.

Please note the wording ‘heard it’. News was constantly reaching our Lord’s family. As we find even today most news is distorted. You remember that His town folks wanted to kill Him because He had proclaimed that He Was God’s promised Messiah. So, you know they were not discussing favorable details regarding our Precious Lord.

Just as Mark lists that our Lord was working Himself to death, without taking proper care of Himself. He wasn’t eating right or getting proper rest.

In addition, news must have reached Mary and her sons and daughters that the religious leaders were out to get our Lord Jesus.

Perhaps His family felt that if they informed the leaders that He was out of His mind that they would back off their pursuit of dealing drastically with Him.