Mark 3:20-21; 31-35

Mark 3:20-21; 31-35 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” -- Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

Does Jesus honor his mother when he refuses to immediately respond to her request for him to come to her? We see Jesus again breaking one of the Ten Commandments by not revealing to the men around him how much he honors his own mother by obeying her. He places his birth mother into a general category of many mothers, those who did not expend their energy to raise him. These other mothers seemingly are just as important to him as his own mother. We see Jesus in the above passage breaking the Old Testament Law's standards, for Jesus knows He is the fulfillment of the Covenant that was given to Abraham 430 years prior to the Law. Jesus is the Promised Seed, the one who will bring righteousness to all nations, all people. Through him all of mankind who accept him by faith will be blessed, and they will truly be the children of God. "Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:25-29) Jesus tells these people that those who do God's will are his brothers and sisters and MOTHERS. Those who place their trust and faith in him are God's people, and God is not just the Father of the Old Testament people, He is the Father of all people who will do HIS WILL, which is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.

When the Law, which was to establish righteousness, was given, God promised the Children of Israel that He would perform wonders in their midst to verify that He was with them, protecting them, identifying them as his people. "Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you." (Exodus 34:10) And the Lord God did this: the Children of Israel experienced many miracles. When Jesus came, He performed many wonders and miracles to verify He was the Son of God, the SEED OF WHICH the first covenant spoke. He came with signs and wonders, so the people would see, listen, and believe. Jesus fulfilled the covenant with Abraham; He satisfied the Law by being perfect; He took on the wrath of God which was intended for sinful people. "Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:7) He literally gave righteousness to the unrighteous. He completed the vision that God had for man. He, Jesus, the Great Creator, recreated man in God's image. This, of course, is all accomplished through faith in Jesus Christ and his works of righteousness. Jesus' mother, father, brothers and sisters are no longer just those who are defined by the Law. No, they are those, the whosoever will, who believe in Jesus as their personal Savior. Therefore Jesus' words in today's text were not meant to be a rejection of his birth family; they were meant to be inclusive, to show to all the reality of his Father's plan and Christ's mission: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)