Blood Is Thicker than Water

Introduction

How many of you have hear the phrase, “Blood Is Thicker than Water”? Most of the time this phrase is understood to be that those belonging to singular bloodline, in other words, ‘family members’, have a stronger connection to each other than those that simply share water, or simply put, ‘friends.’ In other words, family bonds are stronger than bonds of friendship. Typically, this is the way that this phrase is understood.

However, there is an alternate understanding oBlood Is Thicker than Waterf this phrase, one that has grown in use over the last 30 or so years, especially among the military, where I learned of the alternate interpretation. It was made popular by an author named Albert Jack. Jack writes:

In ancient Middle Eastern culture, blood rituals symbolized bonds that were far greater than those of the family. Hence the bond between ‘Blood Brothers’—warriors who symbolically share the blood they have shed together in battle—is far stronger than the one between you and the [people] you grew up with...

The water that is referenced in the phrase is the water of womb, and the blood, as Jack explains it, references blood shed together either in battle or through a blood covenant.

In other words, according to the interpretation that is gaining popularity, ‘Blood is thicker than water,” means friendships forged in battle or through covenants are stronger and more meaningful than family relations.

This will be a little more relevant to the sermon today as we near the end, but I want you to remember this interpretation of the phrase, Blood is thicker than water.

Last week we left off with Jesus rebuking and condemning the Pharisees and Scribes who said that Jesus was performing miracles, not by the power of the Holy Spirit, but by the poser of Satan. After witnessing Jesus perform miracles that were clear proofs of Him being the Messiah, they still claimed that Jesus was not only using satanic power to do so, but that He was possessed by a demon. This, as we learned last session, is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, a sin that is unforgivable, and, since Jesus is not bodily on this earth performing miracles, a sin that cannot be committed today.

When Jesus healed the demon possessed man, the multitude, including his family, friends, Pharisees, and Scribes, were forced into a decision making situation. They needed to decide what they believed about Jesus. Many in the multitude began to draw the conclusion that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but these Scribes and Pharisees did not believe it. The religious leaders, having been soundly rebuked and condemned, answer back.

Matthew 12:38 KJV 1900

38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

“We Want a Sign”

They just were accusing Jesus of being demon possessed, but after their rebuke, they kind of back off just a little. They say, “Ok, ok, ok. Give us a sign that you are the Messiah.” Now, what had Jesus just done? He had fulfilled direct prophecy about the Messiah. Let’s look back at the verse from last week and then compare them to the prophecy.

Matthew 12:22 KJV 1900

22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.

In addition to this, Jesus is healing people in this multitude of various other ailments while also preaching and teaching about the kingdom of heaven.

Now, let’s look at the prophecy concerning the things that the Messiah would do.

Isaiah 35:3–6 KJV 1900

3 Strengthen ye the weak hands, And confirm the feeble knees. 4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: Behold, your God will come with vengeance, Even God with a recompence; He will come and save you. 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, And the tongue of the dumb sing...

Isaiah 61:1 KJV 1900

1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

What had Jesus done? He had set a man bound by demons free, he had made him able to speak and able to see once again. These are the same prophecies that Jesus referenced when he sent messengers back to a doubting John the Baptist. These were all signs of the Messiah. They satisfied John the Baptist, they caused this multitude to begin wondering if Jesus was the Messiah, but they were not enough for the Pharisees and Scribes who hated Jesus, so they continued to ask, “We want a sign.”

They ask this, probably because in light of Jesus’ rebuke and the growing opinion of those that were in the multitude that Jesus was the Messiah, it makes them look a little more fair-minded about rejecting Jesus’ claim of being Messiah. But isn’t it crazy that after witnessing all of this, they still ask for a sign?

Mark 8:11 KJV 1900

11 And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.

They wanted a heavenly sign. They wanted to see something in the sky, whether it be fire fall or the sun to hold in its place for a time.

But we know, as Jesus has demonstrated before and will do so again, Jesus does not perform miracles to satisfy others’ curiosity. He will not be compelled to perform signs to prove himself to the ones that have no inclination to believe in Him.

This was not the first time that Jesus was asked for a sign, nor would it be the last. But I want you to note that the demand for a sign represented an avenue of temptation. This was part of the temptation that Jesus faced directly from Satan. Back in Matthew 4, we read that Satan took Jesus to a high point of the Temple and told Jesus to jump, saying that the angels would catch him before his foot ever dashed the ground.

We studied that this was Satan’s attempt to make Jesus act out of vanity and pride, for surely, had that happened, all who saw this would instantly believe that Jesus was sent from God. However, Jesus did not fall for it then, and He does not fall for the same type of temptation now.

Instead, he once again rebukes the Pharisees.

Matthew 12:39–40 KJV 1900

39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

First off, Jesus calls them “evil and adulterous.” Evil is something that He has used to refer to the Pharisees before, but now He also uses the term “adulterous.” The reason He does this is that Israel is still living under the Old Covenant. This Old Covenant held Israel as married to God, and yet, they did not trust Him. Throughout the Old Testament, God calls Israel ‘adulterous’ when they turn to idols and false gods. In Jesus’ day, they were proud not to be bowing down to idols nor sacrificing to false gods, yet they had turned to their own intellect and pride and elevated themselves so high above God that they could not even recognize His Son that was right there in front of them, fulfilling prophecies.

So Jesus says, “You will not get a heavenly sign except for one - I’ll give you the sign of Jonah.”

Jesus would die and be buried. For three nights and three days he would be in the ground and then Jesus would rise again from the dead.

Luke 11:29-30 also gives us this conversation.

Luke 11:29–30 KJV 1900

29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. 30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.

What had happened with Jonah? Jonah was a prophet. You can read about his story in the Old Testament book of Jonah. Jonah was a prophet, but he was not an obedient prophet. He was rebellious and hateful. He loved Israel, but he hated her enemies. You might think that this would be a natural thing, but Jonah hatred toward the Assyrians far outweighed Jonah’s willingness to obey God.

We find this out because God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them so that they will repent. However, Jonah does not want the Ninevites to repent, he wants them to be destroyed, which is exactly what God had told them would happen. Knowing that God is merciful, Jonah refuses to travel to Nineveh, and instead boards a boat going the opposite direction.

But you can’t hide from God. God causes a storm to come, one so powerful that the experienced sailors are afraid that the ship is going to sink. Jonah fesses up that the storm is punishment for him running from God, and if they will throw him overboard, the storm will stop. So the sailors do just that. Now Jonah is in this sea, but along comes a giant fish or whale and swallows Jonah. But Jonah does not die. For three nights and days, Jonah is in this fish’s belly. Finally, he prays to the Lord and confesses his sin, and when he does, the fish spits Jonah up onto dry land. Jonah enters Nineveh with bleached skin because of all the acids, stinking like the inside of a fish, and with seaweed wrapped around his head.

He preaches a simple message to Nineveh to repent, and miraculously, the whole city repents.

What we do not see in the book of Jonah that Jesus actually clarifies for us is that it was not simply the message that Jonah spoke that caused them to repent. It was the sight of Jonah himself. See, the Assyrians worshipped a fish god and goddess. And when Jonah comes up, having survived being swallowed by a fish, this shows that his God is more powerful than their gods and the repent and turn to the one true God.

And just like Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites that Jonah’s message was true, Jesus’ resurrection would be the sign to prove that He is in fact the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ.

However, even when Jesus did resurrect, the Pharisees and many other continued to reject Jesus and looked for other signs. Knowing this, Jesus has some things to say to them.

Matthew 12:41 KJV 1900

41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.

“Those people,” Jesus says here, “that were in Nineveh, are one day going to ‘rise in judgment’ against you.” That phrase ‘rise in judgment’ references the Jewish tradition of witnesses standing while they were speaking to a court. The men of Nineveh will one day give witness for the prosecution in judgment against these Scribes and Pharisees and those that witnessed and heard Jesus. They will rise because all it took for them to believe was for a prophet that had one sign, and the whole city repented, thousands of men, women, and children. So sincere was their repentance that they even made their cattle wear sackcloth and ashes, just in case God was angry at them too.

But here stands Jesus, a greater man than Jonah (because he is not just a man, but God in the flesh), preaching to a crowd of His own people, performing miracles that fulfill their own prophecies, and the religious leaders that should have been the first to recognize Jesus for who He is, are still asking for a sign.

Look at the next verse. Matthew 12:42

Matthew 12:42 KJV 1900

42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Solomon, the third king of Israel, and besides Jesus, the wisest man to walk the earth, was renown for his wisdom. People travelled from all over to visit Solomon, to see his amazing amount of wealth, and to listen to his astounding wisdom. One such person was the Queen of Sheba. She travelled from the south, possibly around the area of modern-day Yemen. She travelled a long way to see Solomon and test his wisdom. Yet here stood Jesus, far greater than Solomon, right there in the presence of these unbelieving men. He had been proving his wisdom from the time he was twelve. And none of these Pharisees cared to listen to what He said.

Willing Blindness

Jesus then reiterates something that He preached about in His Sermon on the Mount. But now, instead of saying it to believers, he is addressing these Scribes and Pharisees.

Luke 11:33–36 KJV 1900

33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. 34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. 36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.

There is a similar application, but here, Jesus is using this slightly different form to rebuke the Pharisees for not using the light that Jesus has provided. The light that Jesus was giving was the proof of His miracles. Had they had a single eye for looking for the One they should have been looking for, they would have been full of light. Jesus had told the Pharisees once before to search the Scriptures. John 5::39-47

John 5:39–47 KJV 1900

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. 41 I receive not honour from men. 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you. 43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. 46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

He is speaking to the Pharisees. I think it is funny and sad at the same time that He has to tell them to search the Scriptures. That was basically their job. But though daily they had the Scriptures in front of their faces, they failed to see Jesus in them.

Jesus goes on to tell them that He has come in the Father’s name, not His own, and the Pharisees refuse to honor Him, but they look to honor one that will come in his own name and seek glory for himself. They did this on various occasions.

But Jesus goes on to tell them that He is not going to accuse them before the Father for their unbelief. He has no need to do so. The same Scriptures that they constantly were studying, those would be their accusers.

See, even though they studied Moses and the laws and his writings, they did not believe it. Which explains why they had added so much to the law and reinterpreted the prophets. That is why Jesus says, “If you don’t believe Moses’s writings, how will you ever believe my own words?”

And this takes us back to Luke 11:34

Luke 11:34 KJV 1900

34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.

If they had a focus on actually knowing what the Scriptures were saying, they would have recognized Jesus. But because their interest in the Scriptures for their own gain and vanity, they completely missed it. They wandered in darkness, willingly blinded to the light that was right in front of them.

But they were not the only ones blinded. They were not the only ones that did not believe in Jesus. If you were here last week, you may remember that as Jesus was surrounded by the multitude, so much so that He and His disciples could not even eat in peace, along came a group of people. Mark 3:20-21

Mark 3:20–21 KJV 1900

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.

That word translated friends is not the Greek word for friends. In fact, this is the only time that it is translated friends, if your reading the King James or the New King James. In other translations it is translated as family. Everywhere else this word is found in the Bible, it is generally translated as the words “of, from, with, or by.” These are primary prepositions in the genitive case showing close relationship to something or someone. When Jesus says, “I am from the Father,” this is the word He uses.

The way that it is used in this sentence, some translations have it as “his friends,” others translate it as “his family,” it is likely that the best translation is “his own people,” as we saw last week. We understand, because of the context, that these people are none other than Jesus’ family, specifically Mary and some, if not all, of Jesus’ half-siblings. It is recorded in the book of Matthew that Jesus had at least four brothers and two sisters, born of Mary and Joseph. And these family members have come to lay hold on Jesus. They come, seeking either to calm Jesus down or to take him away from the crowd.

Look at Matthew 12:47

Matthew 12:47 KJV 1900

47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.

Mary and Jesus’ siblings are outside the crowd. they cannot get in so they send word to Jesus to let Him know that they are there and want to talk to Him.

This message they send Jesus is as much of an interruption as it is an attempt to interfere with Jesus’ ministry. First off, we know that Jesus’ siblings did not believe in Him.

John 7:5 KJV 1900

5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.

They come, already blinded by their unbelief, and they want to take Jesus away from there - get him to stop this nonsense. “He’s out of his mind,” they thought. But when they can’t press through the crowd, they send word.

You would think that Jesus would honor His mother and his siblings’ request to speak to Him, but look at how Jesus responds. Matthew 12:48-49

Matthew 12:48–49 KJV 1900

48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

He points to His disciples and says, these are my brothers and my mother. What an odd way to respond. It almost sounds disrespectful, and if we didn’t know the purity of Jesus’ heart, we would probably consider this to be an insult or an intentional slap in the face. But that is not what Jesus is doing. Jesus holds no anger toward his siblings that don’t believe in him. He is not frustrated that his family is interrupting his ministering to others, even if they were there with good intentions.

Blood Is Thicker Than Water

No, what Jesus is about to show here is the concept of the more modern interpretation of the phrase, Blood is thicker than water. Jesus is about to show how much he values spiritual relationships over even family relationships.

Look at the rest of Jesus’ response. Matthew 12:50

Matthew 12:50 KJV 1900

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Mark records this almost exactly the same while Luke’s record adds an important detail. Luke 8:19-21

Luke 8:19–21 KJV 1900

19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. 20 And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. 21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.

Jesus showed no loyalty to family, even his own mother, Mary. Mary and Jesus’ half-siblings come to interrupt and interfere in His ministering, and with this response, Jesus makes it known to them that He holds those that hear and do the will of God are those He values most. At this point, and really, from the beginning of His ministry, Jesus only recognized spiritual relationships. Remember at the wedding in Cana, when Jesus turns water into wine? What did he say to Mary when she told him to do something about the situation? He told her, “Woman, what have I to do with you?” It was not disrespectful, but He let it be known to Mary that he no longer was under her authority, and that just because she was family, it did not garner her special relationship. And it is at this time where Jesus makes it very clear that he values spiritual relationship over all others. Why?

It is a relationship that in just under two years, he will pay for with His blood. It is a blood covenant type of relationship. Not only that, but we, those who have entered into this type of relationship with Jesus, we will value our relationship with Him much more than even our own family relationships.

Why is that? Because it took no effort of mine for me be born to Danny and Michelle Jones. Not only that, but I didn’t choose them, and they did not choose me. I was given to them - placed into that family. But you know what, Jesus chose me. God chose me. He chose to love me, along with the rest of the world, He chose to love me so much that He gave His son, Jesus, to die on the cross so that I could become part of God’s family. Jesus chose to obey the Father, and He willingly came and sacrificed His life so that I could be a joint heir of God with Him. God chose to love me, knowing everything about me.

Listen, knowing what I know about myself, even I wouldn’t choose me. But God did. He loved me, and He loved the world so much that he chose to send Jesus.

Jesus initiated a blood covenant, and when I entered into that covenant by putting my faith in Him for the forgiveness of sins and salvation of my soul, He became closer to me than any family member ever has been or ever will be.

And you know what? Here is another aspect of that phrase, blood is thicker than water: the Christian life is often difficult. It is paved with hardship and loss and difficulties and tears. It hurts to follow Jesus. My natural inclinations do not want to be made conformed to Jesus, but as I follow Him, he molds me into His image more and more. And sometimes that hurts. He asks me to sacrifice things and pleasures, and relationships and goals, and dreams. And sometimes that hurts. He tells me that I am to be a living sacrifice, and that hurts sometimes.

The Christian life is a fight. I have cried during the fight, and at times, it feels as though my own soul is bleeding. But the more that I follow Him, the more that I get to know Him, the more I trust Him. The Apostle Peter was martyred for his faith at the hands of Nero, the same emperor who had Paul beheaded. But before Peter was crucified, he was forced to see his wife lead off to be martyred first, presumably by crucifixion as well. Yet not even the threat of death, his own or his beloved wife’s death, could shake Peter’s confidence in Jesus Christ. Clement of Alexandria records Peter’s last words to his wife as she was being led away - “Remember the Lord!”

Application

It is true, we can see it all throughout Scripture, when we get saved, Jesus promises to be with us forever. “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” “Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus,” “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And no man is able to pluck them out of my hand.” On and on, we find verses like these that show us that Jesus holds an amazing amount of loyalty toward us, and we don’t even deserve it.

He has made a blood covenant, His own blood shed for our forgiveness, for our adoption into God’s family. That blood is thicker than if we were part of Jesus’ own earthly family.

But too few Christians feel the same loyalty to God. I believe with all my heart it is because too few Christians have been willing to follow Jesus to the shedding of their own blood. Think about it, if we complain about shedding a couple drops of sweat doing God’s work, then we probably aren’t willing to follow God when it means certain trials of the soul.

Too many Christians are only willing to follow Christ if there is AC included, if there’s food available, and if, and only if it fits my schedule. “If I can fit doing something for Jesus around my schedule and it doesn’t ‘overload me,’ then I will. But if there are other plans, I’m sorry, I’m just not available for it.”

If that is your attitude, it is no wonder that you have no loyalty to the savior.

Polycarp, one of the early church fathers. And when I say early church, I mean early church. Polycarp was discipled by the Apostle John himself. When Polycarp refused to burn incense in worship of the roman emperor, he was arrested. His sentence was that he be burned at the stake, but first, he was given a chance to recant, and to worship the emperor as a god. This is what Polycarp had to say, “For eighty-six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior. You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched. Why are you waiting? Bring on whatever you want.” He then prayed and said, “I bless you, Father, for judging me worthy of this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ.”

When they brought him to the place to be burned, they took out nails and a hammer to fix him to the place so he could not run, but Polycarp said, “Leave me as I am, for He that gives me strength to endure the fire, will enable me not to struggle without the help of your nails.”

When the fire was lit, the flame blazed furiously, but did not burn Polycarp. Witnesses attested that the fire formed a ring around Polycarp, but never touched him. The crowd in the the stadium grew angry, and Polycarp was then stabbed. Again, witnesses to the even said that the blood flow quenched the fire surrounding him. After he died, Polycarp’s body was burned.

What made Polycarp so confident? What made Polycarp trust Jesus so much that he was willing to endure flames without even being tied or nailed down? I’ll tell you what it was. “Eighty six years I have served him,” Polycarp said. For 86 six year he had followed Jesus. For 86 years he had invested himself as a disciple of Jesus. For 86 years he had suffered for Christ, whether persecution or other kinds of hardships. And for 86 years he saw God faithfully sustain him.

That’s where his loyalty had come. He had bleed for Christ, he had wept for the cause of Christ, he had struggled in a wicked city for the cause of Christ. He had done it for so long that there was no questioning his loyalty.

What about you? Listen, I know we are not in the situation that Polycarp was in. We are not being hunted down and persecuted. Paul the apostle was persecuted well before he ever was beheaded. He wrote to the Galatians, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He had suffered and bled. I dare say that in this congregation, there none of us that bear the marks of persecution for our faith on our body.

But I can sit and tell you of the marks on my soul that have suffered for Christ. Some suffering has been a type of persecution. Some of it has been a suffering by the hands of others. But there are marks on in my soul and in my heart of Jesus chiseling things away. There are marks of lessons learned and trials gone through.

But too many Christians don’t have any marks in on them of where obedience to Christ has cost them. There are no metaphorical bloodstains or scars, and for too many, it’s because there are not even any sweat stains for the cause of Christ.

Let me tell you something, and let me be very clear about this. If your Christianity is comfortable, your doing it wrong. You’re either not a Christian, or not following Jesus.

Do you ever wonder if you could stand the test of persecution for Christ’s sake? How uncomfortable are you willing to be now for His sake? That will give you an idea. There is work to be done and work to be involved in, but there are Christians who don’t want to risk breaking a sweat before they have the appropriate “sign” to get to work.

If you’re waiting for a sign, here’s your sign: Are you a member of this church? Are there ministries that you could help with? Get to work then!

Are you a child of God? Are there areas in your life you need to be following Jesus more closely in? Then this is the sign that you need to connect with someone in this church for some accountability, discipleship, and mentorship.

Invitation

Home Groups

What has God been doing in your life? or What areas is He helping you grow in?

What, if anything stood out to you about the sermon?

1. What is the significance of Jesus refusing to give a "sign" to the Pharisees? What does this reveal about the nature of true faith?

2. Why was the resurrection (the “sign of Jonah”) the only sign Jesus offered? Why is this event central to the Christian faith?

3. Contrast the Ninevites’ repentance and the Pharisees rejection of Christ.

4. Jesus says, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and do it.” How can we better live as spiritual family members of Christ?

5. Have you ever struggled with wanting a “sign” from God before trusting Him? What does this sermon teach about seeking signs versus walking in faith?

6. What are things that keep people “willingly blind” to the truth, like the Pharisees?

7. Why do you think Jesus showed no partiality even to Mary and His siblings? What does this say about God's priorities?

8. Have you ever experienced tension between your spiritual family and your biological family? How do you navigate that as a Christian?

9. What sacrifices have you made—or might you be called to make—for the sake of following Jesus? How do you process that pain or loss?

10. What practical steps can you take to become more attuned to how God is working around you so you don’t miss it like the Pharisees did?