And a crowd sat around him. And they said to him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren seek thee without.
The crowd sitting around Jesus passes on a message: His family is outside and wants Him. That small sentence raises two large questions: can family claims interrupt God's work, and who really counts as Christ's family?
The family cannot get near Him, so the crowd passes their message along. One writer explains what they hoped to gain, and notes that some copies of Mark add the sisters:
If His mother and His brothers came to Him, they thought, He would pay attention to them. They put forward natural claims to take priority over the carrying on of God's work. That He would not allow... The house was full; they could not get in (Luke 8:19). So standing outside, they sent to Him to come out to them. Had He done that, He would have had to pause in His work, for a crowd sat around Him, and He was speaking to them (Matt. 12:46). "They say to Him, 'Your mother and your brothers' — and some copies read 'and your sisters' — 'are outside, seeking you.'" They were trying to use family influence on Him. They wanted to draw Him away from the people around Him.
Mark sets this moment beside two earlier moves against Jesus. One writer sees a single plan behind all three:
All these efforts failed. But were they separate, unconnected efforts? When Mark brings them together like this, we have to admit that the whole thing looks like the idea of one master-mind. It was a skilful plan, devised by Satan to neutralise the Lord's influence with the people... Why, His friends, who have known Him a long time, agree that He is out of His mind! Who will follow a man like that? Then the scribes from Jerusalem — competent judges — have declared that He is working by demon power... Last of all, His nearest relatives — His mother, brothers, and sisters — want to stop His strange career.
The family came with a claim of their own. Another writer explains why it carried no weight with Him:
Even His relatives according to the flesh thought this glorious Worker was "out of His mind." Now they press in on Him in the middle of His work with what they suppose is a prior claim. With Him they could not plead it: He was the Son of God, and this relationship to God governed everything... For Him, everything else depended on the spiritual condition. The spiritual link was the only one He could acknowledge.
One writer sees far more here than a family matter:
It is for this reason the Lord renounces all relationship with the people according to the flesh. His mother and brothers come to call Him, but the Lord will not recognise them. He brings in the word to form new links with souls, but every link with Israel is broken. His mother has no claim on Him... Here we find the break between the Lord and the people. The Lord's patience went on showing God's goodness until the last Passover. But for the people it was all really over.
His answer does not shut His mother out; it puts her on the same footing as everyone else in the room:
Was their natural relationship to Him going to influence Him to stop declaring the Word of God? He asks instead, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" Then He points to the far higher claims of a spiritual relationship... He did not stop at only hearing the Word. He declared that those who do the will of God were His real relatives. Their relationship to Him was a living one. Thank God, His mother did have this living relationship to Him too. But she needed the reminder that the natural relationship on its own is far below the spiritual.
Refusing the interruption is not the same as despising family. One writer sets out both sides:
The earthly tie was on a different plane from the spiritual. The one is not to set aside the other. The natural must not push into the sphere of the spiritual. The spiritual should not set aside the natural.
The same writer points to the cross, where the Lord cared for His mother to the end:
He saw John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and His mother standing at the foot of the cross. He said to His mother, "Behold, your son!" and to John, "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:25-27). "And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home." See how the Lord cared for His mother. He counted on the disciple He loved to take His place in caring for her.
- Pressure. The house was full, so the family sent word in. They hoped family influence would pull Him out of His work.
- Plot. Mark puts three moves side by side. Friends call Him mad. Scribes call His power demonic. Relatives call Him outside.
- Priority. He would not admit a prior claim from the flesh; the spiritual link was the only one He could acknowledge.
- Parting. Writers see here the break with the nation according to the flesh. The word now forms new links with souls.
- Place. Natural ties are not cancelled. They keep their own sphere. He welcomes Mary on the same terms as everyone else, and He cares for her to the very end.
And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother or my brethren?
Jesus is teaching in a crowded house in Capernaum, fresh from answering scribes who said He worked by Satan's power. Then word comes that His mother and brothers are outside, and His reply resets who belongs to Him.
Commentators see family pressure aimed at pulling Him out of His work.
If His mother and His brothers came to Him, they thought, He would give heed to them. They put forward natural claims to take precedence of the carrying on of God's work. That He would not admit... It was sought to bring family influence to bear upon Him to get Him out from those around Him. Either, it would seem, He must stop in His work, or disown the claim of natural ties.
Three moves come against Jesus in this chapter. His friends say He is out of His mind. The scribes say He works by demon power. Now His family calls Him out.
All these attempts failed; but were they isolated efforts? See how Mark brings them together. Surely we must admit that the whole thing looks like the plan of one master-mind. It was a skilful scheme, devised by Satan to neutralise the Lord's influence with the people... Why, His friends, who have known Him for long, agree that He is out of His mind! Who will follow such a man? Then the scribes from Jerusalem — competent judges — have declared that He is working by demon power... And last, but not least, His nearest relatives, His mother, brothers, and sisters, want to stop His strange career.
Writers see more here than a family scene. His mother and brothers stand for His link with Israel by birth. His question cuts that link.
It is for this reason the Lord renounces all relationship with the people according to the flesh. His mother and brothers come to call Him, but the Lord will not recognise them. He brings in the word to form new links with souls, but every link with Israel is broken. His mother has no claim upon Him, He refuses to own her call... Here we find the break between the Lord and the people.
Another writer shows what takes its place:
The Lord at once uses this moment to show that He no longer recognised mere relationships according to the flesh... But, says the Lord, I am going to have a new thing now — a people according to My own heart... He renounced all earthly connection for the present time. The only tie He now recognises is relationship with a heavenly Father. It is formed by the word of God received into the soul.
Jesus does not answer the interruption with irritation. He turns it into teaching.
He did not answer this uncalled-for interference with an angry rebuke. It came from natural affection. But it was ignorant affection, blind to His heavenly mission. But the Lord used the incident as a text, so to speak. From it He announced the basic principle of the kingdom that was near. His relatives tried to influence Him. That led Him to declare that obedience to the will of God is the only reliable foundation of relationship with God. It must come before every other claim.
Before naming His true family, Jesus looks around at the people sitting near Him. The word Mark uses is worth noticing.
"Looking round" (periblepo) is a characteristic expression of Mark, and is only used once by any other New Testament writer (Luke 6:10). Mark uses it six times, and on all but one occasion it refers to the Lord Himself (Mark 3:5, 34; Mark 5:32; Mark 10:23; Mark 11:11)... The term seems here to imply the intense personal and individual interest the Lord took in those who sat around Him in the attitude of discipleship.
Setting aside the claim of birth does not leave His mother outside.
But He makes it plain: this relationship is nothing compared to His relationship with His Father, and with those who did the will of His Father. Those who merely knew Christ after the flesh have no claim on Him at all. Believers no longer know Him in this way (2 Corinthians 5:16). They know Him as one who died and rose again, the Head of a new creation. Of course, He set aside the merely natural relationship. But Mary clearly had a far nearer relationship than that, the same relationship that every believer has. And He showed His care for His mother at the cross (John 19:26-27).
- Pressure. His family used their standing to pull Him out of His work. He refused to let natural claims outrank God's work.
- Plan. Friends, scribes, and relatives attack in turn. Commentators see one mind behind all three.
- Break. His question ends His link with Israel by natural descent. He drops every claim based on birth.
- Basis. Obedience replaces birth. Doing God's will is the one dependable ground of relationship with Him.
- Gain. Mary loses no real closeness. She and every believer have a nearer tie than birth ever gave, and He cared for her at the cross.
And looking around in a circuit at those that were sitting around him, he says, Behold my mother and my brethren
A crowd fills the house, and His family waits outside asking for Him. Jesus stays, looks at the listeners seated near Him, and calls them His family — so what makes a person His?
Mark has a favourite word for this look, and it means more than a passing glance.
"Looking round" (periblepo) is a word typical of Mark. Only one other New Testament writer uses it, and only once (Luke 6:10). Mark uses it six times, and all but one of those refer to the Lord Himself (Mark 3:5, 34; Mark 5:32; Mark 10:23; Mark 11:11)... Here the word seems to imply the deep, personal interest the Lord took in each one who sat around Him as a disciple.
His relatives wanted Him out of that room, and He weighed their claim against the work He was doing.
In Mark 3 His mother and His brothers came to Him, and they seem to have had a plan to pull Him away from His work, to themselves... But the Lord urges the importance of what He was then doing. He says this against their move, and in answer to the claims that flesh and blood had on Him. He was teaching His disciples and the crowd, getting the light and word and truth of God into them. He solemnly lets us know that the fruit of such a work was worth far more than every connection with Him in the flesh. And the claims of God's word, which He was then ministering, weighed far more than the claims of nature.
His look at the seated crowd announced a new basis for belonging to Him.
Now our Lord shows that it must no longer be a question of nature, but of grace... In short, He owns no one from now on because of any connection with Himself after the flesh. The only ground of relationship is the supernatural tie in new creation. Doing the will of God is the point. For this, grace alone works: "the flesh is no help at all."
His answer settled something for the whole nation, not just for that room.
The solemn scene that follows is the terrible result for the Jewish nation. The Lord gives up all relationship with Israel after the flesh. He breaks every link with the nation. At the same time He marks out a remnant who are in relationship with Himself. Their tie to Him does not come from their natural connection with Israel. It comes by faith in His word.
His mother was in that group outside, and His answer includes her too.
Looking at those who sat to hear His Word, He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!" But He did not stop at hearing the Word. He declared that those who do the will of God were His real relatives. Their relationship to Him was a living one. Thank God, His mother did have this living relationship to Him as well. Still, she needed the reminder that the merely natural relationship is far below the spiritual one.
He asks others to do God's will. He Himself did it by choice, not by duty.
For every living creature, service to God is not a choice but a duty. On the Son there was no such duty to serve. He chose to take on Himself "the form of a servant." He planned this before the world began. The prophetic Spirit showed it through the psalmist: "Then I said, 'Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart'" (Ps. 40:7-8).
His words reach past the group in front of Him.
He tenderly kept up natural relationships to the very end of His days in the flesh. But He always had before Him the founding of a lasting relationship that death could not destroy. So He added — not limiting it to the disciples of Israel — Whoever does God's will is My brother (Mark 3:35; Matt. 12:50). The gospel of Luke connects the relationship with hearing the word of God and doing it.
- Cause. The family outside pressed a claim of blood. He answered that the word He was ministering weighed more than nature's claims.
- Ground. The new relationship rests not on birth but on grace — the tie of new creation, with doing God's will as the mark.
- Pattern. He asks nothing He has not done first: He came saying, "I delight to do your will, O my God."
- Reach. "Whoever" is not restricted to Israel; Luke ties it to hearing God's word and doing it.
- Result. He looks with personal interest on those seated around Him and names them His family — His mother among them, on the same footing as the rest.
for whosoever shall do the will of God, *he* is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Jesus is teaching in a crowded house, and His mother and brothers send word for Him from outside. He does not go out to them, but calls the people sitting near Him His family — so why refuse His own relatives, and what tie replaces theirs?
The family did not simply ask; they pressed. One writer weighs what their message showed.
They must have known that scribes were in the audience. As teachers of the law of Moses, these men had a right to some reverence and regard. The family ignored that and sent their demanding message, as if to assert that natural ties have the highest claim on Jesus.
Another writer names the choice their request forced on Him.
They put forward natural claims as taking precedence over the carrying on of God's work. That He would not admit... Either, it seems, He must stop His work, or disown the claim of natural ties.
He did not simply refuse the request. His answer sets out a rule that holds for everyone.
The Lord used the incident as a text, so to speak, to announce the basic principle of the kingdom that was at hand. His relatives tried to influence Him, and that led Him to declare the only reliable foundation of divine relationship: obedience to the will of God. It must come before every other claim.
If natural birth and family give no place, what does? One writer answers in a single line.
In short, He owns no one from now on because of any connection with Himself after the flesh. The only ground of relationship is the supernatural tie in new creation. Doing the will of God is the point. For this only grace avails: "the flesh is no help at all."
One writer reads the moment as a turning point for the nation — and not only a negative one.
The solemn scene that follows is the terrible result for the Jewish nation. All relationship with Israel after the flesh is renounced. Every link with the nation is broken. At the same time the Lord marks out a remnant who are in relationship with Himself. Their tie is not their natural connection with Israel, but faith in His word.
Mark notes that He looked round before He spoke. The word he uses is a mark of his own Gospel.
"Looking round" (periblepo) is a phrase typical of Mark. Only one other New Testament writer uses it, and only once (Luke 6:10)... Here the term seems to imply the intense, personal interest the Lord took in each one who sat around Him as a disciple.
The titles He gives are family names, not ranks. And the obedience He asks for is within reach of the weakest.
He gives the dear titles and the dear names of relationship to anyone who does God's will in this self-willed world... That obedience is not a feeling that fades. It is not self-esteem, which comes to an end sooner or later. A broken heart can obey, a broken heart can be subject; and that is what I call real life.
This relationship is not a figure of speech. One writer links it to a line in Hebrews.
He acknowledged a real spiritual relationship with those who did God's will. Elsewhere we read that He is not ashamed to call such people brothers (Heb. 2:11).
The other Gospels word the same test in their own way.
It is interesting to compare how the three Gospel writers report the way the Lord identifies with such disciples. Matthew 12:49-50 has "the will of my Father". Luke 11:27-28 has "the word of God". Mark 3:34-35 has "whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother". Do we belong to this company?
- Claim refused. His relatives pressed natural ties as the highest claim on Him; He would not stop God's work to honour them.
- Test named. Obedience to God's will is the only sure ground of relationship with Him. It outranks every other claim.
- Tie replaced. Birth and family give no standing. The tie is supernatural, in new creation, and the flesh is no help at all.
- Circle redrawn. He disowns Israel after the flesh and marks out a remnant as His — those who believe His word.
- Names given. He looks round with personal interest and gives the obedient the family names — brother, sister, mother. A broken heart can hold that place, and He is not ashamed to own it.