My Brother and Sister and Mother

Text

Mark 3:31-35

Recall:

Last week we looked at Jesus’s interaction with the Pharisees and how there was a clear rejection of Christ by the Pharisees.

What we noted about this encounter was twofold:

Jesus remarkably does not call this the end for the Pharisees

Jesus warns against blaspheming the Holy Spirit, who we studied as being the agent who carries godly conviction to the hearts of men.

Today, what we will be doing is looking at verses 31-35 against the backdrop of verses 22-30 and looking forward to Mark 4:20. In topic, we will be looking specifically at the phrase “will of God” and how that clause interacts with the material around it in Mark.

We will conclude:

Setting (v. 31-32)

Jesus’s family interrupts the work that Jesus is doing.

Jesus simply seizes the interruption as an opportunity to add a layer to his teaching.

Competition for Center Orbit

Will Jesus stop what he is doing for the Kingdom in order to respond to His family?

What will Jesus do?

Return

Returning to Mark 1:15, one might recall that Jesus has already given the imperative of the gospel of Mark. The reason that this is important is that we do not need to guess what Jesus is getting at whenever he speaks about doing the will of God. The primary “call to action” in Mark’s gospel which comes from the mouth of Jesus is exactly this: “Repent and believe the gospel.”

The reason that this is significant is that if we can put on our “repent and believe” goggles for a moment, it becomes possible to see how this text (a) connects to the introduction to Mark’s work, and (b) integrates with the material around it. This last point is to say that, even though this text seems like its own distinct material, it was selected to logically cohere with the material around it.

To illustrate this, we can note that the Pharisees have just rejected Jesus as Messiah and Lord, and in a moment, Jesus will be telling the parable of the sower which he relates to the concept of hearing the good word and bearing fruit.

The “through-line” of all of this material seems to reemerge in this section. Rather than having us guess at the “glue” which holds these passages together, Mark uses this passage to remind us about the book’s opening intent: repent and believe in the gospel.

Responding to the Revealed Will of God

For some of you, this might come as a relief insomuch as you don’t need to “guess” at what God’s will is for your life: “repent and believe in the gospel.” If you’ve already done this, then your life is in keeping with Jesus’s statement.

What the New Testament communicates about the “will of God”

God wills your sanctification and your abstinence from sin (1 Thes. 4:3)

Have a geared disposition of thankfulness (1 Thes. 5:18)

Doing good in such a way as to silence the ignorance of foolish people (1 Pet. 2:15)

Render service to God (Eph. 6:6-7) that is pleasing to him (Heb. 13:21)

No longer subject to passions of the flesh (1 Pet. 4:2)

Summary Work to bring about the Kingdom of God (Matt. 6:10)

Freedom of this definition: God has set before you many options and ways that you can walk before him and do these things. What I would encourage you to do is to think with this sort of rubric in mind:

Have I trusted Christ with my life and set my belief in him?

How can I work to bring about the Kingdom in/through this?

You glorify God in your work by being a blameless representative of Christ who carries a thankful and generous spirit.

You become the kind of witness that attracts others to the kingdom.

Build into yourself a willingness to say “yes” to Christ whenever he calls you somewhere.

Families:

Your home, in many ways, is a microcosm of the Kingdom of God. For you, parents, God has given you a level of domain where you can set up your home to reflect Kingdom values in critical ways.

Work to become a guardian of the culture of your home.

Let faith, love, grace, honor, and virtue become the currency of your home because these things are honorable to God.

Lead your homes by showing yourselves to be living examples of service to Jesus for your kids. Talk to them about these things too.

Why did Daddy stop and help that man on the side of the road?

Why did Mommy stay up late making food for that other family?

Etc.

Brother, Sister, Mother

Do you share in Jesus’s vision for the Kingdom of God?

Do you share in Jesus’s sense of urgency that the Kingdom of God ought to “take the center”?

Note that Jesus expresses kinship with those who do the will of God. Who is Christ close with? Those who press in and press on to the goal of God and seeing His kingdom grow and appear on earth.

Jesus we have left everything to follow you...

Mark 10:28-30

Chosen Family v. Received Family

Family of God