At first glance, these verses give us the chilling
idea that Jesus was irritated with His earthly family. His mother and earthly
brothers came to where He was, seeking to speak to Him. Describing the similar
account, Mark 3:21 suggests that these members of His family thought Jesus had
gone mad. Concerned, they were probably hoping to speak to Him. It appears that
not only was He grossly misunderstood by the scribes and Pharisees, now even
His own kinfolks were disillusioned concerning Him. From the way the Lord Jesus
answered when His family members were waiting to speak to Him, suggests that He
regarded them as distraction.
However, the force of the passage is not on the
negative response that He had shown toward His family. It is pointing positively
to the response He was receiving from His followers. Throughout the chapter we
saw how the Lord was maligned, accused and had to deal with the schemes thought
out by His opponents to undermine His authority and program. His opponents
regarded His work as disruptive to their subversive program, and even demonic
in nature. Despite all that, His disciples were undeterred. They followed and
stayed with Him. They sat listening and absorbing all that He was pouring out. So
pointing to them, Jesus said these disciples of His, who were doing the will of
God, were His mothers and brothers. When we choose to follow Jesus, we are
brought into alignment with God, whom He Himself addressed as Father. Like Him,
we now become the beloved children of God, our Father.
We now have free excess to the Father, and can freely
come into His presence and commune with Him. And now in this relationship, we
are invited to do the His will, and in a brand new way, find meaning and
fulfilment as we journey with Him.
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