A Family in Christ

"Then His mother and brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him and they said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You." Answering them, He said, "Who are My mothers and My brothers?" Looking at those who were sitting around Him, He said, "Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother, and sister, and mother." - Mark 3:31-35

The text above often makes people feel uneasy. My mother is one of these. We were talking over coffee a few mornings ago about God and the bible, as we often do, when she brought up a concern. "Honey," She said, "there's only one story in the bible that bothers me."

"What's that?"

"The one where Jesus is teaching and healing in the tent and His brother and mothers come and He rejects them."

Her concerns really had me thinking, so I prayed on it and read the story several times. Nowhere does it say He completely rejected his family. It does show that He was willing to loose His mother's respect, who had berthed Him and raised Him, in order to accept us into His family in God and in Heaven. We see later on that she was not truly hurt by Jesus's actions. It was because Jesus loved us so much that He wanted us to understand that he who does the will of God holds a special place in His heart. Now, I think the biggest problem with our interpretation of this story (and many others) is that we use visuals from various movies and the filmmaker portrayed Mary as being wounded by Jesus's words. First, in the book of Mark, he says "Your mother and Your brothers are Outside looking for you." If someone had to tell Jesus that they were looking for Him, then she wouldn't have had eye contact and was likely unable to hear Him. Secondly, this is Mary... the woman God chose among ALL women to raise Jesus. She had to be strong, knowing full well who He was.

So it is that I've concluded that the act wasn't for His mother and brothers. It wasn't to disrespect them in favor of the people in that tent. It was for us, so that we know we can gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven through Jesus. This story was recorded so that we would know just how much Jesus loves us, that He loves us as much as He loved His mother and brothers.

Thank you all so much for reading. If you have a topic you would like to read a post on or just something to say, please comment below, message me on Facebook, or shoot me an email. I would love to hear from any of my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Be blessed, I love you all.
Jimmy