family

There’s an obscure little vignette in Mark 3 that I’ve never really thought about before. As Jesus becomes more famous, drawing larger crowds and putting him at cross purposes with the Jewish religious establishment, this happened, told to us in verses 21-22, 31-34: 

“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.’”

It must have been a painful thing for Jesus, to have his family show such a lack of confidence in him. At that moment, he must have felt truly alone, except for his disciples. And that’s what he said: You are my family now.

There some special irony because of what happened in verses 23-30, the part I skipped. The Pharisees accused Jesus of being demon-possessed, leading to his famous statement that a house divided against itself cannot stand. This is the well-known story in Mark 3, the thing that overshadows the part about his family. But Jesus’ point could have been made about his family; it too was divided against itself.

Can it sometimes be said of the church? Of course, but there’s comfort in Jesus words to his disciples: whoever does God’s will is our family. Members of our congregation might hurt us, our own family might not believe in us, even our pastors and elders might let us down, but we are never alone. Not only is God always with us, but we always have family.

Soldiers know there is no friend closer than the one who has suffered at your side. The same is true of Christian soldiers: those are the best and closest companions, another great blessing for our walk in this life.