Mark 3:20-21; 31-35

Mark 3:20–21 KJV (WS)

20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

Mark 3:31–35 KJV (WS)

31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

Introduction

Blood is thicker than…water.

Tricky topic, fraught with opportunity for offense.

I know this church.

Family is not the god of the Christian

There is an interesting literary device at work here.

Mark brackets one account within 2 parts of another.

Jesus’ friends fear for his sanity.

It’s been awhile since Jesus or his followers have eaten.

Peter recalls this fact as he recounts his experience to Mark.

The lack of food wasn’t so much the point as the crowds were.

Lot’s of people experience a lack of appetite when engaged in highly fulfilling work.

Thomas Edison went without food for days in the lead up to the invention of the light bulb.

The crowds were what prevented Jesus from eating.

So much is going on in Jesus’ world right now.

The size of the crowd is growing.

He has assumed students.

The religious leaders are plotting his death.

He has stopped eating.

If you had a friend that had this all going on, you would be concerned too.

When word got to his friends, they decide that something must be done.

Who are these friends though?

Friends = those of his household.

It is quite likely that these friends are his family.

These people, whoever they may be, head out to find Jesus to rescue him.

How do they plan to save the Savior?

There are two parts to their plan.

They are prepared to detain him by force.

I am curious how that would have worked.

When the men of Nazareth tried to throw him off a cliff, in Luke 4, he simply walked through the crowd and no one could stop him.

When the soldiers came to arrest him in the garden, John 18 tells us that spoke three words and the whole mob was pushed to the ground.

Nobody ever forced Jesus to do what he didn’t want to do.

Jesus’ well-meaning friends intend to try to shield him from accusations of demonic activity by claiming he was a lunatic.

Cause that’s better right?

They believed Jesus was out of his mind.

Something about Jesus could be plausibly explained by madness.

Jesus’ friends were sure Jesus was confused and possibly deranged.

They came all the way from another town to intervene.

If this is Jesus’ family, then they would be traveling from Nazareth.

There is a strong possibility that their arrival is seen in verse 31.

Jesus’ family comes to rescue.

If this is the same group from vs 21, then a whole day must have passed between their going out and their arrival.

When they show up, they can’t even get to Jesus because of the crowd.

So, they send word through the crowd that they would like to speak to him.

One commentator said that family was as dangerous as Satan in this instance.

Jesus’ half-siblings were not believers at this point.

Both threatened to divert him from his ministry.

Jesus refused to be distracted for removed from his task by his family.

Remember, we know what they were there to do.

So did Jesus.

Did they get to speak with him?

Not at the moment.

Instead, Jesus used their arrival as a teaching moment.

Jesus reveals, in v34, his perspective on family connections.

Now, he is not denying his human family with these words; he is affirming the family of God.

Blood relatives are very close but spiritual relatives can be even closer.

Jesus is not suggesting that believers abandon their families; only that God’s will comes first.

Obedience to God is the true token of blood relation to Jesus is obedience to God.

This is not the process of entering Jesus family, it is the token/proof that they are such.

John 14:15 “15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Notice Jesus doesn’t exclude his mother from his spiritual family.

What a blessing it is to enjoy both the connection of blood relation and spiritual relation.

We have no reason to believe that she was not a believer.

By Acts 1:14 “14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.” It seems that his brothers had joined his spiritual family as well.

Jesus’ spiritual family took precedence over his physical family.

When there was a disagreement, Jesus leaned towards the spiritual.

The physical had to wait for the spiritual.

Your spiritual family should take precedence over your physical family as well.

Application

I know that sounds crazy.

Mark the similarity of the estimate which will be passed by the world upon Christ’s followers.

It’s easier to say, “poor fool” than to learn a lesson from the life of a sold out disciple.

D.L. Mood was called Crazy Moody.

If a church has earned the praise of the godless, then there is much reason to ask whether that church is after Christ’s pattern.

Are we more spiritual in our existence or physical?

Are we primarily a spirit or a body?

Which should be more important to us?

Spiritual concerns?

Physical concerns?

To put some things to rest.

Is your relationship with your spouse based on the physical elements of your relationship?

Or, is there something deeper there?

Your marriage should be a spiritual matter, since it is designed by God to be a living picture of the gospel.

If you are married to a Christian, then the more permanent relationship that you have with your spouse is that of brother and sister.

What about with your kids, are they solely your physical wards?

Is your only responsibility to keep them alive and healthy?

Is your highest goal to prepare them to make as much money as possible?

Or, is your primary responsibility to evangelize and disciple them?

To insure that they make their entrance into Jesus’ family as well as yours.

There is nothing more important than your spiritual family and that includes the idea of insuring your physical family becomes a part of your spiritual family.

There is one major reason for this.

Our future is built around our spiritual family; not blood.

Spiritual relationship is deeper, more permanent, and absolute then that which is natural.

Conclusion

Our families are gifts, most of the time.

They are not the ultimate expression of society for all of eternity.

Our family structures will one day dissolve.

What will never dissolve is our spiritual family.

Jesus is not advocating neglect or rejection.

But we should remember that if we really love our families we will pull them to Christ; we will not let them pull us from him.