Following Jesus

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Scripture Reading
Prayer
Introduction
What is family?
Is it a group of people who were born to the same parents?
Grandparents?
Blood related?
Close Friends?
In today’s passage, Jesus is going to say something about Family
He has already said some controversial things
Remember:
Matthew 8:22
Matthew 8:22 ESV
22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
Matthew 10:37
Matthew 10:37 ESV
37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Before we dig in, I want to zoom out
Matthew is arranged in narrative and discourse section
Chapters 11-12 were narrative
Chapter 13 will start Jesus’ third discourse
11-12 showed various reactions to Jesus, most negative, from simple indifference to hostile rejection.
There were the “little ones” who came to Jesus for rest in chapter 11 and now we have a final, positive reaction.
This will usher us into the 3rd discourse in which Jesus explains these divided reactions.
Outline
So this sermon will be a little different as the text basically includes one point.
Steps:
Work through the whole text
Discuss Implications
Apply
Work through the text
Matthew 12:46 ESV
46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.
Many commentators take this verse to make a point about Jesus family claiming inappropriate authority over Him.
In Mark, there are verses which seem to indicate this
However, Matthew does not give any indication of this
explain importance of understanding author’s intent...
First mention of Jesus’ family since chapters 1-2
Simply serve Matthew’s purpose as a point of comparison
Matthew 12:47 ESV

Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you”

Textual variant/criticism
I will try to not get too bogged down here/yet important
Originals are perfect
God preserves His Word
Science of Textual criticism
define manuscripts
Many more manuscripts than older lit. ex. The Odessey
Much older manuscripts
Verse is necessitated by verse 48, notice, “but He replied to the man who told Him”
But go back to verse 46, and no man is mentioned
Verses 46 and 47 simply provide a setting, Jesus’ family wants to speak with Him about something and a messenger is telling Jesus.
Jesus is about to use this simple situation to teach a profound point.
So far, initial observation, all we see is that...
Jesus family is not the family that matters to Matthew’s Gospel
Next, Jesus asks an intriguing question
Matthew 12:48 ESV
48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
This question sets up a shocking answer.
To Jesus’ day as well as ours, these statements are against the accepted moral norm.
“Blood is thicker than water”
“He/she is family”
He is essentially asking, who has unconditional loyalty? Who are the one’s that I love? Who is my family?
The answer...
Matthew 12:49 ESV
49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!
The answer is His disciples are His family!
Then He elaborates in verse 50...
Matthew 12:50 ESV
50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
His disciples are characterized by doing the will of the Father!
This leads to the one main idea...

Main Idea: A follower of Jesus does the will of the Father and thus is Jesus’ family

This truth is profound
Put another way...

You have Jesus’ loyalty, protection, and unconditional love!

So I told you at the beginning, we would get to the main idea, then discuss implications, then apply it, so here are some implications.
Implications:
Kingdom righteousness supersedes human righteousness
Kingdom citizens, as siblings to Jesus, are family to each other
Family obligations do not negate kingdom responsibilities
Disciples are truly the children of God
Applications:
Be willing to stand “on the wrong side of history”
Defend your brothers and sisters in Christ as you would family
Be faithful to God first and foremost
Live in confidence that the Lord is on your side
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