Dwell in the Word Mark 3:31-35

Consider these questions as you dwell in Mark 3:31-35:

1. How does the incident with Jesus' family seeking him and his response reveal a deeper message about the family of God? What does it mean for believers to be considered brothers and sisters in Christ?

2. Why do you think Jesus chose this moment to emphasize the idea that those who do the will of God are part of his family? How does this redefine the concept of family in the context of faith?

3. How can believers actively demonstrate care and support for their spiritual family, both locally and globally? What are practical ways to fulfill our responsibility towards our brothers and sisters in Christ?

Transcript:

As we come to this story that we see in verses 31 through 35, I'm reminded of the way that stories are told in movies and television shows. You know how it goes. The stories are sort of layered. You start out with something here and something is said and then you might even forget about a little bit. And then we come back to it and you think, ah, that's why that was mentioned earlier on in the story.

So, to understand this pass passage a little bit better, we go back to verse 21 of chapter three. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, he is out of his mind. Now then we get this passage about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that we looked at this past Friday. But now we come back to this. His mother and his brothers have found him.

Now we know how this goes. We've all been someplace where someone is looking for us and they can't necessarily get to us, or we're looking for someone else, no matter how this goes here. But we send word, hey, we're looking for you. Can you come talk to us? Now, this sort of smells like an intervention, doesn't it?

When we go back to the earliest verse or earlier verse, they want to talk to him about what he's teaching. And you know, Mary knew who Jesus was. The angels told him. The family likely understood that he was anointed of God. But the stuff that he's doing just it isn't what they're expecting.

They don't expect Jesus to be healing and to be speaking with authority and to also be talking in such a way that he is over so many of the rituals that they have come to hold dear. Remember back to when he was saying that they could do this or that on the Sabbath. This is going against what the Pharisees are teaching. And so, you can understand why the family is concerned this could end him up in some sort of trouble. And so, the crowd comes to him and says, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.

And you naturally think, hey, I'm going to go see where they are. But that's not what Jesus does. He sees this as an opportunity to teach something true about the family of God. So, he says, who are my mother and my brothers? And now you think maybe the people in the crowd are saying, why am I sitting here listening to this guy if he doesn't know who his own mother or brothers are?

Well, he's instead wanting to make a point. Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. In other words, whoever does the will of God is in his family. And so we understand here, as we look at this, that for us, as we think about the family of God.

We are united to one another, to those who are in Christ, because we are united to them. We are family. And so, we care for one another. And so, what do we do? We gather to worship and praise God.

Not with random people who we decide that, hey, they'll be in the same pews as us. No, the people that we worship with, because they are united to Christ just as we are. They are our brothers and sisters. So, what we do in worship is a gathering of our family, of the people that we are closely knit together with because of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. And so, what do we do with this?

Well, we remember this family connection we have with our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. And we pray for them, we care for them, we find ways to support, know, think about not only people that you go to church with, but the people that you know who are your brothers and sisters in Christ in maybe another part of the country or another part of the state. Or what about the persecuted brothers and sisters in other parts of the world? We should be praying for them because they are so much more than just other people in another part of the world. They are our family.

So, may we care for them, may we pray for them, may we support them, because that is what family does for one another.