Redefining Family

65 – Redefining Family; Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21

Matthew 12:46 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.”[a] 48 But [b]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.”

Mark 3:31 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.”

Luke 8:19 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.”

Footnotes

a. Matthew 12:47 This verse is not found in early mss

b. Matthew 12:48 Lit He

Commentary

This passage begins with a reference to Jesus’s mother and brothers. We of course know who Mary is, and four of Jesus’s brothers are mentioned by name in Matthew 13:55 (James, Joses, Simon, and Judas). I have mentioned before that there is a debate over the perpetual virginity of Mary, and, while I do not find this issue to be crucial to salvation, I have read the arguments in favor of both her perpetual virginity and her commencement of normal marital relations after the birth of Jesus. This article generally sums up where I landed after studying the Bible passages and the opposing arguments https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-siblings.html. To the arguments in the attached article, I would like to add a couple of thoughts of my own. From the time of creation, God designed man and woman to have a certain companionship, and marital intimacy is part of His design. Paul mentions that those who are able to remain single, in order to focus on their relationship to God, should do so. However, he says that if they marry, they should not withhold themselves from one another, except during periodic and mutually agreed-upon episodes of concentrated worship. God did not tell Mary to remain single. The angel who spoke to Joseph went as far as to dissuade Joseph from divorcing Mary and instead encouraged the union, per God’s plan. Although God dictated a temporary period of celibacy prior to the birth of Jesus, there is no indication that God deviated from His original design for marriage or His command to “be fruitful and multiply.” It would have been cruel and unusual for Him to ask Joseph to marry and then require him to withhold himself from his wife for the rest of his life. Maybe if God had created a situation in which the two remained single, I would believe Mary never engaged in intimate relations during the course of her life, but since God encouraged Mary and Joseph to marry, there is nothing about His direction to them or His design for marriage that indicates to me they should have remained celibate for life while having to live with one another.

This brings us to the idea of Jesus’s blood family (His half-brothers and sisters). Because blood relationships were greatly emphasized in ancient culture, Jesus’s speech “must have sounded quite foreign to the crowd. He seemed to be breaking with tradition and disowning His family. But notice: Jesus didn’t deny that the woman and the men at the door were His family. He merely pushed beyond the normal understanding of family to a larger reality – the claims of spiritual kinship. This new “family” included anyone who does the will of the Father in heaven” (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 1655). “Jesus called attention away from earthly relationships to more important spiritual relationships. A believer is even closer to Christ than to a physical relative. This saying was not intended to be one of disrespect to Mary or to His brothers, for they too would come to share that spiritual relationship” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1198).

His lack of urgency to see them may have come, in part, from the exchange we read about in Mark 3:20-21. “’His own people’ had already shown that they understood very little about Jesus or the values of His kingdom (3:20-21). They were limited by their own sinfulness, and needed God’s help like everyone else” (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 1717). “One need not suppose that Mary agreed with her sons’ conclusion about Jesus. She probably joined her sons to prevent them from doing something rash” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1242).

Switching focus from Jesus’s blood family and looking at the family Jesus claimed while He was talking to the crowd, we see Jesus own His relationship with His disciples. “The beauty of this passage can be seen in the fact that while they had left all and followed Him, they were still often “of little faith” (8:26). Yet He was not ashamed to call them brothers (see Heb 2:11)” (Nelson KJV Bible Commentary pg. 1198). This gives us hope for ourselves and our own redeemed relationship to God, through Jesus. The concept of ‘redemption’ is one that was familiar at the time because it usually referred to a kinsman who would buy back his family member and restore his or her rights within the family. The idea also applied to paying a ransom or purchasing the freedom of an enslaved person. Knowing this adds so much depth to our understanding of Jesus’s redemption of the world. In this small picture of brotherhood with His disciples, we see Jesus redeeming people from their sin and restoring them to their place as part of God’s family. They were enslaved, but now they are elevated to a position of power and authority as representatives of God. That is powerful.

Find the next post here https://onthepath.online/2020/12/07/66-parable-of-the-sower/

Scripture References

Matthew 12:46

Matthew 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged in marriage to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with Child through the Holy Spirit.

Mark 6:3 Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him.

Luke 1:43 And why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Luke 2:33 The Child’s father and mother were amazed at what was spoken about Him.

Luke 2:34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,

Luke 2:48 When His parents saw Him, they were astonished. “Child, why have You done this to us?” His mother asked. “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.”

 Luke 2:51 Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was subject to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

John 2:1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,

John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

John 2:12 After this, He went down to Capernaum with His mother and brothers and His disciples, and they stayed there a few days.

John 7:3 So Jesus’ brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples there may see the works You are doing.

John 7:5 For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.

John 7:10 But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, He also went–not publicly, but in secret.

John 19:25 Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother and her sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene.

Acts 1:14 With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

1 Corinthians 9:5 Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

Galatians 1:19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

Matthew 12:50

Matthew 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

John 15:14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.

Mark 3:31

Mark 3:21 When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”

Mark 3:30 Jesus made this statement because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Mark 3:34

Mark 6:6 And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.

Hebrews 2:11 For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Luke 8:21

Luke 11:28 But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

Commentary

Mark 3:20 And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

Matthew 8:26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm.

Hebrews 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Matthew 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

1 Corinthians 7:1-9 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. 3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But this I say by way of concession, not of command. 7 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.