Key Verse: "For whoever does the will of my Father in
Heaven is my brother and my sister and my Mother."
Matthew 12:50
Before I make any comments on this passage, I believe that I
need to make clear my opinion of the physical make up of Jesus' immediate family
while here on earth. After a careful reading of scripture and research, I
believe that, after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph went on to have a
normal marriage, including physical relations. One verse that I can use to
support this view is Matthew 1:25, "But he had no union with her until she
gave birth to a son." It does not say "never," it says that he
waited until Jesus was born.
There is a view, mostly from the Catholic theology, that
Joseph was a widower with children and that Mary was his second wife, but
scripture just doesn't seem to support this view. Thus, it would appear that
Jesus was the oldest son, who should have inherited half of Joseph's property
along with the family business, Joseph's carpenter shop. The family that is
mentioned here would have been Jesus' Mother and younger, half brothers and
sisters. I suppose that it could have been his half siblings from Joseph's
first marriage, checking up on a youngest brother, but then Mary may not have
been involved, and she is obviously with them. Thus, my thoughts here are
written from my view of Jesus' earthly family as I understand it.
It is supposed that Joseph had passed on by this point. None
of Jesus' family were included in Jesus’ immediate circle of disciples, though
his brothers James and Jude later did believe and proved to be influential in
the early church. (Galatians 1:19) It's too bad that we don't know that story.
Why have they come to talk with Jesus? Again, we must
speculate, but what is obvious is that Jesus wasn't doing what a good oldest
son was supposed to do. Instead of minding the business, He was out making a
reputation for Himself that was way outside any accepted norm. He had offended
the local synagogue earlier when He had gone home and He was making enemies of
all the respected leaders everywhere He went throughout Judea and Galilee. They
had probably come to try to gain some control over the situation. Perhaps even
Mary had some concern. Yes, there was the miraculous birth and the miracles,
but who knows how the brothers and sisters were handling all the controversy,
and, was Jesus supposed to be causing so much trouble among the religious
people? Like John, Mary may have wondered if things were going according to
plan or if Jesus was deviating a bit off course.
Interestingly though, Jesus does not rush out to reassure
His family. Instead, His next comment seems to almost insult them. "Who is
my family?" What! They're right outside!
But now, Jesus begins to introduce an idea that He will
visit again and again. He is not ignoring family, or saying that family is not
important, but He is taking the opportunity to tell His followers, who have
also all left their families, by the way, that there is a tie that needs to be
stronger than blood. That tie is the Will of God. When we obey God, we show
ourselves to be brothers and sisters of Christ. It's not enough to say we are
His family. It is through obedience that we demonstrate that He is in us,
connected with a stronger tie than blood to God the Father because His will is
stronger than any affection or desire on this earth. He must be first and all
else must follow. Once again, it's about our priorities.
Hymn: "Family of God"
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