ARE YOU RELATED TO JESUS?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You."
He replied to him, "Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?" Pointing to His disciples, He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."
Matthew 12:46-50

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they told Him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for You.”

“Who are My mother and My brothers?” He asked.

Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! Whoever does God’s will is My brother and sister and mother.”

Mark 3:31-35

Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see Him, but they were not able to get near Him because of the crowd. Someone told Him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see You.”

He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

Luke 18:19-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
If you’re like me, you value family.
The Lord has blessed me so very much with two wonderful parents who loved me and raised me and my four siblings (three sisters and a brother) the right way. Then, as if that wasn’t enough already, the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to be married and have a family of my own, giving my wife and I the privilege to raise two beautiful girls into adulthood (now 35 and 31 years of age). To cap things off, we now celebrate having three grandchildren to love and watch grow up to be the next generation, carrying on our family’s legacy.

 
Yes, family has been a part of my life from the very beginning whether I was on the receiving or giving end of upbringing.
Well, in keeping with this theme, today’s scripture passages are centered on this matter of family but not just any ordinary family for in looking at these words from our Savior, we find out that there is a family of Jesus that doesn’t carry with it the traditional boundaries and definitions of worldly ones. Look again at His words here from Matthew’s Gospel:

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You."

He replied to him, "Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?" Pointing to His disciples, He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." Matthew 12:46-50

We know that Jesus had been addressing a crowd of people that included the Pharisees and teachers of the law. As the scene is further set in today’s verses, we find that Jesus’ “mother and brothers” were standing outside and trying to get a moment to speak to Him. We get the feeling that Jesus is unaware His family is near because the scriptures tell us that someone went to inform Him of the situation.

Now, if we were expecting a conventional response, we would anticipate Jesus politely excusing Himself from the crowd in order to go and see what His family needed to talk to Him about. But as we have seen over and over and over again with Jesus, nothing seems to be conventional when it comes to the way He acts. For He seemingly always changes the way we look at our perceptions and thinking about the world we live in and how we are to behave within it.

In this case, Jesus uses His own immediate family to let everyone know that His family was (and is) far larger than a mother and few brothers. He starts with a rhetorical question, one that had to catch everyone off guard:

"Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?"

Think about if you were the person who had told Jesus about His family’s presence and their desire to speak with Him.

What would your reaction have been?

I can’t help but think that the person in the scriptures was shocked (and maybe just a little bit confused) when Jesus asked His question.

Now if Jesus had left room for anyone to answer, anyone may have said, “Your mother is Mary and she stands outside with your brothers waiting to talk to you Lord. That’s what the man told you.” But that’s not what happened for we read where Jesus answers His own question before anyone can respond, pointing to His disciples and saying, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

What was Jesus’ point?

He simply was letting His audience know then (and us now) that the family of Jesus can’t be seen in the same light as worldly families, not by a long shot. For Jesus wanted everyone to know that He has a family unlike any other, a family that included everyone who would choose to carry out the will of His Father in heaven, a will that would have them receive Him as their Savior. Anyone who would do that, accepting Jesus into their lives and striving to live as He did, would find themselves related to the One who was sent to fully carry out God’s purpose, the One who would willingly give up His life to pay the price for the sins of all mankind.

Jesus lived and died for the purpose of making the way for every person in the world to be in His family. Everyone is given that opportunity but unfortunately, there have been and there will continue to be many who do not accept what Jesus is offering and in doing so, they cut themselves off from Jesus’ family tree.

So given this, where do you stand today? Have you received Jesus as Savior so He can refer to you as His brother or sister?
If you are following the will of God the father who art in heaven, willfully and willingly receiving His Son Jesus and the salvation only He can bring, then you can believe with full confidence that you are part of the Savior’s family.
Who wouldn’t want to have a brother like that?
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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