by Ricky Doc Sauceda
I have been in Bible study for nearly a decade now. I have been listening to lessons and reading during this time period. I bring up this topic of mother and brothers because I haven't heard a satisfactory reason why Jesus states his words.
The answer is right in front of us. This is a portion of The Book of Mark, chapter three: verses 20-35. Our LORD is once again confronted by the religious leaders of that day.
His family has come to forcibly take him home. He has been causing commotion and controversy among the religious community and church leaders. This was due to his acceptance of the lowly people of the community: beggars, lepers, cripples, demoniacs, prostitutes, tax collectors and gentiles.
Christ was uprooting the system. He was redefining exactly what the people of God were supposed to be living by - Spirit and truth. Instead the people were led by powerful, influential religious heretics. The religious had created a verbal set of rules and dictates called Oral Law.
God was no longer their focus. Instead, they now implemented their laws onto the people and expected them to live by it. The word of God was altered, changed and conformed to serve man. All for the purpose of self glorification and control.
In this Bible story we find our LORD addressing the true teachings of our Father, who is God. He is attempting to point out how wrong they are in their thinking. He frustrates them due to the solidity of his knowledge and understanding: they can find no way to crack his armor.
When Jesus is told that his mother and brothers are there, he responds in a way that seems to confuse us unto this very day:
Mark 3:32-35
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.”
Jesus said this as part of his teaching for that moment to those in attendance. What is being shared is radical and strange to them. It is simple in all actuality.
His mother and brothers were there to force him to come with them. He had his Father's work to do and needed to continue. He states that whoever does God's will is his brother and sister and mother - family.
He is saying whoever is of my family follows the will of God. He did this to point out how wrong the religious were and how wrong his mother and family were being at that time. He emphasizes how important the will of God is done in our lives.
Our LORD was instructing us about proper thinking and living. This is all that God has been trying to get us to do since we were first created. We have free will within us to make that decision.
If we do the will of God, we choose to do it. If we live otherwise to the will of God, we choose to do that. It is our choice to decide, we are not forced.