Word of Salvation – May 2018
The Brothers and Sisters of Jesus
By Rev. John Westendorp
Text: Mark 3:20, 21, 31-35
Scripture Readings: Matthew 7:15-29 & Mark 3:20-35
Theme: The response of Jesus’ unbelieving family to His ministry
becomes an opportunity for a lesson
on the nature of a true relationship to Him.
Introd: It’s interesting that while Jesus was here on earth He too was part of a human family.
Think of what that meant for his earthly parents, Joseph and Mary.
Sure, there was the awesome responsibility of bringing up the Son of God.
But how delightful to raise the only perfect child who ever lived.
Can you imagine it?
Never once a lie… and not even once a single stolen biscuit.
Perfect obedience… the model child.
Or think of what that might have meant for you as a child or teenager?
How would you like to have Jesus as your older brother?
Okay, it might be very difficult having to live up to His standards.
But think of what it meant in other ways.
Playing a game with Him and knowing He would never cheat.
A brother who would never be mean and never belittle you.
Jesus grew up in a human family… and we might well envy that family.
He was the brother you could always look up to and admire.
He was the son whom could absolutely and always rely on.
The one member of the family who would always encourage you.
Wouldn’t it be great if Jesus had been part of your family?
A] THE RESPONSE OF THE FAMILY TO JESUS.
- Our text shows us that Jesus being part of a family also brought its problems.
The family misunderstood Jesus… and misunderstood Him badly.
This wasn’t the first time there had been misunderstanding.
That happened already when Jesus was left behind at the temple at age 12.
“Didn’t you know that I had to be about my Father’s business?”
Or we think of the wedding at Cana when mother Mary felt she had to prompt Jesus to act.
There had been the same gentle rebuke:
Woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.
Here the family have come to take charge of Jesus and His work.
At first glance what they do seems quite commendable.
Read the story and outwardly it all seems rather positive… even helpful.
Vs.20 sets the scene.
Large crowds…. with so many needs… so many sick to heal.
All His energy goes into teaching people and helping them.
Even to the point that He neglects His own needs.
Time after time meals just get missed in all the busyness.
So while they are perhaps a little over zealous we can understand some of their concerns.
There are certainly times in our lives when the rest of a family steps in and takes action.
When there are difficulties… or certain problems…
It can be great when the family gets together and helps to sort things out.
Here the family of Jesus decide to do that too.
They are going to make sure that things don’t get out of hand.
It seems the brothers may even have persuaded mother Mary to use her influence.
- All this becomes even more relevant when you read the first part of this chapter.
A man with a shrivelled hand who get healed on the Sabbath Day….
Much to the disgust of the Pharisees with their rigid Sabbath Day rules.
And so as the crowds grow… so does the opposition.
Opposition even to the point where the Jewish leaders plot together with the Herodians.
Mark tells us about it quite specifically in verse 6
Then they began to plot how they might kill Jesus.
Doesn’t that make the intervention of the family even more understandable?
They want to intervene for the health and well-being of their brother.
If He doesn’t take time for His meals… they’ll step in and sort things out.
Plan a program for Jesus to follow… a time-table that has adequate meal breaks.
But now we see that their concern may have gone even deeper than that.
They may have acted because of the danger they see looming ahead for Jesus.
Not just to save Jesus from Himself….
But to save Him from the growing hostility of the Pharisees.
Why should a member of their family be killed by the authorities?
Perhaps if they take charge for a while things might just settle down again.
We can almost sympathise with the actions of Jesus’ brothers.
- And yet… we know that what they want to do is wrong.
You don’t have to read far to realise how mistaken they were.
Matthew, Mark and Luke all tell us this same story…!
And each one leaves us with a clear impression that the family made a big mistake.
The problem was that they wanted to control Jesus.
They wanted to decide what was best for Him and for the Kingdom of God.
Can you see the foolishness of that?
They want to plan the mission of the Son of God.
A plan is to set the time-table of Messiah Jesus. That’s absurd.
They want to save the Saviour of the World.
Their goal is to protect the Redeemer of the world. That’s crazy.
Family brought its problems for Jesus… we see that in this little story.
Misunderstanding as the family thought they needed to save Jesus.
That helps us appreciate again the total humanity of Jesus.
Jesus… the Son of God who took on a human nature.
And lived here in a human family with a mother and brothers and sisters.
He identified with us… and with our needs and our problems… also in family life.
Even having to deal with overly-protective family members.
There are perhaps times when we want to take the hard road for God…
the busy road of Kingdom service or work in the church.
And maybe members of our own family want to hold us back.
Brothers or sisters or parents who don’t want us taking risks for God.
Well, the encouraging thing for us is that Jesus has been there.
B] THE DEEPER ISSUE BEHIND THE STORY.
- There is, however, something deeper behind the attitude of Jesus’ family.
The issue here isn’t just of an over-protective family.
Something more serious lies behind it… and that is unbelief.
John, in his gospel tells us: “Even His brothers did not believe in Him.” (7:5)
Great guy, that Jesus… wonderful to have Him as a brother.
But the Messiah? The Saviour of the World?
That’s too much to believe… we can’t accept that.
Here in this chapter too their lack of faith comes out clearly.
It wasn’t just a concern about His busyness…; or about the danger of opposition.
It was unbelief…! That comes out in vs.21:
They said: “He is out of His mind!”
They are actually accusing Him of insanity… He is deluded!
Their brother Jesus has actually become an embarrassment to them.
‘Nice fellow… that brother of ours…!
He has always been honest and reliable… but we have to admit it… He’s a little strange.
‘Been out in the sun a little too long!
If you’re shocked that Jesus’ family could talk like that then notice how the Pharisees spoke about Him.
They had an even more radical answer to the teachings and actions of Jesus.
They didn’t just say, “He’s a little mad”.
They said: “He’s got a demon! He’s possessed!”
In fact they claimed that the prince of the demons had got into Him.
A claim Jesus rejected as the unforgiveable sin.
- So this story takes a more serious turn than just some family misunderstanding.
These people are motivated by a lack of faith in the person and work of Jesus.
Okay they haven’t gone as far as the Pharisees.
Those leaders attributed the work of Jesus to Satan… that’s unforgiveable.
The family don’t go that far.
They just doubt His sanity.
But the point is that they do not believe in Him.
This then is a story of human unbelief.
And then on the part of those who are closest to Jesus.
Family members who interfere because they don’t believe.
In some ways it’s a picture of the whole Jewish people in Jesus’ day.
They prided themselves on being Abraham’s children.
Part of the covenant family of God.
But in their unbelief they rejected the work of Jesus and handed him over to the Romans.
That brings us to another way of applying the lessons of this story.
Here is unbelieving opposition to the work of Jesus and His Kingdom.
And that still happens in families today.
I think of a teenager in a family of unbelievers who is converted.
And the family say: Poor Suzy, she’s gone all fanatical!
And she used to be such a sensible kid.
Hasn’t been herself since she went overboard on religion.
We really must get her to come to her senses.
It’s great that Jesus understands such opposition.
He identified with human families and all their problems.
But that also calls us to deal with the unbelief that is often there in families.
- You see, the great tragedy of this story is that you can be ever so close to Jesus Christ….!
Even to the point of being a member of His physical family.
And yet being out of the Kingdom of God because there is no faith and trust in Jesus.
These brothers of Jesus had heard His teaching.
They had seen some of the marvellous things He had done.
Signs that He was indeed the Son of God.
And yet… instead of saying: ‘My Lord and my God’, they said: ‘He’s insane’.
Being in Jesus’ physical family was no guarantee of a relationship with God.
Being a son of Abraham was no guarantee of belonging to the Kingdom of Jesus.
Being born to a Christ honouring family and brought up in the church is no guarantee.
You can be ever so close to Jesus… and still miss out.
Okay, in many ways it must have been wonderful to have had Jesus in the family.
And no doubt many of us could well be a little envious about that.
But that helps very little when it comes to ultimate realities.
Your eternal destiny is not measured by how close you have been to Jesus.
It is measured by faith in Jesus as Messiah and Lord.
The family of Jesus had trouble with the radicalness of Jesus’ way of life.
Here was one who was so dramatically different…
– that some said: This man is demon possessed.
– and even those closest to Him said: He’s not all there.
Yet in this man the good news of the gospel was breaking into our world.
And it is faith in that message that settles your eternal destiny.
C] THE RESPONSE OF JESUS TO THE FAMILY.
- As Jesus receives the message from His family His response is interesting.
Jesus, in fact, does two things.
First of all He distances Himself from His natural family circle.
He declines to acknowledge the family’s claim on Him.
He asks: “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
He stays where He is.
He does not allow them to make any claims on Him.
That may seem to border on rudeness and a lack of common decency.
That may even come across as ignoring of the fifth commandment which calls us to honour our parents.
But then we need to remember what they wanted to do.
They wanted to take charge of things and tell Him how to go about His work and ministry.
Imagine! Telling the Saviour of the world how to go about His business!
That is why Jesus does not give in to the demands of the family.
He will not allow them to set the agenda of the Kingdom for Him.
Jesus is not saying here that family ties don’t matter… of course they do.
Rather in His failure to acknowledge His family He shows us that there are higher priorities.
And that is loyalty and obedience to the will of God.
Jesus once said: Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.
Obedience to the will of God may take a person off to the mission field… or to train for the ministry.
And sometimes families don’t always like that.
Jesus shows us here that ultimately there is a more important allegiance than our families.
- Jesus then also uses this situation to teach us something beautiful about the Kingdom of heaven.
Looking around Him in the circle He says: Here are my brothers and my mother.
For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.
That is a wonderfully encouraging teaching.
And then especially for those whose family doesn’t share their faith.
The true brothers and sisters of Jesus are not just blood relatives.
What makes us part of Jesus’ family is not ancestry.
But what binds us to Him is obedience to the will of God.
And if following Jesus and doing God’s will means going against the family
then it is a comfort to know that in the Kingdom there are new relationships….
those who are brothers and sisters with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me say again: Jesus is not doing away with family ties.
Family ties are God’s gift to us too.
Especially believing families… and we ignore that at our peril.
But what Jesus is saying is that there are higher and more lasting bonds.
Spiritual ties of obedience.
And they take precedence over the physical ties of ancestry and blood.
- Please notice what it is that makes for a right relationship with Jesus.
We’ve seen that family connections won’t get us there.
Neither will knowledge.
Knowledge is very important… but it is not enough.
The surprising thing is that it is obedience that makes for a right relationship with Jesus.
That’s surprising because we usually talk about faith in Jesus making us right with God.
You believe in Christ… and that makes you a child of God.
Here Jesus says that it is ‘obedience’ that makes things right with God.
IOW our faith has to show itself in obedience to the radical Kingdom demands of Jesus.
We don’t control Him… but He controls us…
As His brothers and sisters bound to Him through obedience to the will of God.
It’s great when someone commits their life to Jesus.
It’s wonderful when someone comes to true faith in Christ.
But only when that shows itself in obedience to the will of God
will there be the certainty of being brothers and sisters of Jesus.
How do you see you relationship with Jesus Christ?
Do you have a tendency to say:
Well, I was brought up in a Christian home and a Christian family.
No! The big question is:
Is there in your life that desire to do the will of God?
Has the Holy Spirit created within you the new obedience?
If not pray that Jesus Christ may become a living reality in you life.
Amen