Joining The Right Family Series

We see the nature of this urgent request in verse 32: “And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.’” Jesus is told that his family has arrived but He doesn’t stop what He’s doing because He’s following His father. Mary should have remembered what Jesus said when He was 12 in Luke 2:29: “Why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

The family is foundational but following Christ must come first.

2. A startling rhetorical question about family. Once the message comes to Jesus that his family is asking for Him, He asks a very startling question, a question that must have messed with his mom and shaken up his siblings: “And He answered them, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’” I imagine those sitting in the house looking around at each other. The tension must have been palpable. The crowd would have fully expected Jesus to stop his teaching and go with his mom and siblings because in that culture, there was nothing more important than family.

This response of Jesus seems radical to us but would have been revolutionary to those listening because the family bond in first century Israel was tight and long lasting. It was normal for children to live close to their parents, sometimes in the same house. Loyalty to the family was equated with loyalty to God.

A rhetorical question is a figure of speech used to drive truth into a person rather than to elicit an answer. Jesus skillfully asked these kinds of questions to emphasize a point in a powerful but non-combative manner. In Mark 8 alone, He asks 8 different questions. All of this is designed to get his listeners to slow down, to ponder and to be prepared for what He is about to say.

3. A radical redefinition of family. Instead of easing the awkward tension, Jesus dials up the discomfort they’re all feeling. In verse 34, He looks around at those seated in a circle and redefines the family: “And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!” The phrase “looking about” literally means that He “looked round about.” Matthew 12:49 provides this detail: “And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers!’”

Don’t miss this. Being a half-brother to Jesus didn’t make any difference to their spiritual condition. In fact, according to John 7:5, his siblings didn’t believe until after the Resurrection. Even Mary saw herself as a sinner in need of the Savior according to Luke 1:46-47: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” You can be in the best family ever but if you’re not in the family of God through the new birth you are lost.

Verse 35 provides some clarification about how to make sure one is in the family of God: “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” We talk a lot about the importance of not having to “do” anything to become a Christian. Works don’t save us. So how can Jesus say doing God’s will is an entrance requirement into his family? The key is found in John 6:28-29: “Then they said to him, ‘What must we do, to be doing the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’”