But he answering said to him that spoke to him, Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?
A crowd is listening, His family waits outside, and someone passes on the message. Instead of going out, Jesus answers with a question: was He being cold to His own mother, and what would replace the tie He refused?
One writer sets out what the family were asking, and what it would have cost Him to go out to them.
They put family claims first, ahead of the carrying on of God's work. He would not accept that… The house was full, so they could not get in. Standing outside, they sent word asking Him to come out to them. If He had gone, He would have had to stop His work, because a crowd sat around Him and He was speaking to them… They were trying to use family influence to draw Him away from the people around Him. Either He must stop His work, or disown the claim of natural ties.
Another writer notes what people were saying about Him then, and what may have driven the family to come.
Even among His friends the cry had gone up that He was out of His mind. His relatives' attempt to speak with Him was no doubt a result of that. The opposition had grown so great that fear for His safety may have moved them, along with a wish to get Him to change course in some ways.
One writer sees here the moment Jesus lets go of a real link He had held until now.
The Lord at once uses the moment to show that He no longer recognised mere natural ties of the flesh. He had a special relationship with Israel, the nation from whom Christ came as to the flesh. He owns it no longer. They would not have Him… But, says the Lord, I am going to have a new thing now — a people according to My own heart… The only tie He acknowledges now is relationship to a heavenly Father, formed through the word of God received into the soul.
Others read the words as bigger than a family incident. They mark a change in how anyone comes to belong to God.
As far as this Gospel goes, we should not read the Lord's words as if they only answered behaviour like this. We should read them with what comes before and what follows: they point to the change of era in God's dealings that is beginning. Judaism was a national religion. People were Jews by birth, as the apostle says, though converts from other nations were also let in. Christians are Christians by a new nature only: the spiritual tie is the whole thing.
One writer explains the refusal by calling Him the true Levite — Levi was the tribe Israel set apart for God's service.
The Lord was doing the will of God in His blessed service, so He could not allow an interruption even from His mother according to the flesh… Here we see Him as the true and perfect Levite. Moses said of Levi, "who said of his father and mother, 'I regard them not'; he disowned his brothers and ignored his children" (Deuteronomy 33:9, ESV). All this is shown in Christ in the scene we are considering! He was for God wholly and entirely, and so outside of all the claims of natural relationship.
He does not leave the question open. What replaces the natural tie reaches even the weakest of His followers.
The Lord used their interruption to set aside a merely natural relationship. He showed that from now on what would count is a relationship of a spiritual kind… He owns His disciples as truly related to Him. Weak as they were, they had begun to do the will of His Father in heaven.
Mary is not shut out here. The words that set aside the natural tie point her to something nearer.
Of course, He set aside the merely natural relationship. Yet Mary clearly had a far nearer relationship than that — the same relationship that every believer has. And His care for His mother shows at the cross.
This is not permission to neglect your family in the name of serving God.
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 area of the spiritual, and the spiritual should not set aside the natural.
- Claim. His family stood outside pressing a natural claim that would have stopped the work; He would not accept it.
- Break. The question ends the tie of flesh — He had a special relationship with Israel, and here He no longer owns it.
- Reason. He was wholly for God — the true Levite — and so outside the claims of natural relationship.
- Offer. In its place comes a tie formed by doing the Father's will — open to anyone, not inherited by birth.
- Reach. Once people belonged by birth. Now the spiritual tie is everything. Mary's real nearness to Him is the one every believer has, and natural ties, though never set aside, no longer decide who belongs to Him.
And, stretching out his hand to his disciples, he said, Behold my mother and my brethren;
Jesus is still speaking to the crowds when word comes that His mother and brothers are waiting outside. Instead of going out to them, He points to the disciples, and that raises a question: who counts as family to Christ?
The hand stretched toward the disciples marks off a company. One writer hears in it both an ending and a fresh start.
The Lord at once uses this moment to show that He no longer recognised mere natural family ties. He had a special relationship with Israel, the nation Christ came from as a man. He owns it no longer... But, says the Lord, I am going to have something new now — a people after My own heart... His only true relations were those who received the word of God and did it... The only tie He owns now is relationship to a heavenly Father, formed as the soul receives the word of God.
The words are not a rebuke aimed only at the people standing outside the door. Read with the chapter around them, they mark a change in how God gathers people to Himself.
As far as this Gospel goes, the Lord's words are not about any behaviour of that kind. Read them with what has gone before and what follows here. They point to the change now beginning in God's way of dealing with people. Judaism was a national religion at heart: people were Jews by natural birth, as the apostle says, though converts from other nations could be admitted. Christians are Christians by new nature only: the spiritual tie is the whole thing.
Another writer points out that the question itself was a declaration.
Someone told the Lord that His mother and brothers wanted to speak with Him. He answered by asking who His mother and brothers were. That was the declaration that He no longer owned His natural ties with the Jewish people.
The people He pointed to were a poor and weak band. He named them as His closest family in front of everyone.
What precious grace He showed here! In front of everyone He declared that He was completely one with that poor and weak group. They followed Him with such stumbling steps, and yet, through His care and support, they stayed with Him in His trials. They were doing the will of His Father — they were doing it by listening to His call. So they came into the blessed circle of which He was both the centre and the Head, and in which He found His delight... He owned as the closest of all ties those that bound Him to the children God had given Him.
Setting the spiritual tie above the natural one is not the same as destroying the natural one. One writer keeps both in place.
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, and the spiritual should not set aside the natural.
Jesus is not pushing Mary away. She loses a claim based on birth. She keeps something better.
Of course, while He refused the merely natural relationship, Mary clearly had a far closer 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).
What Jesus says here is an early signal. He could say it in full only after His work was done.
Rejected by the Jewish people, He turned away from His natural family and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!" (Matt. 12:49). But now that redemption is accomplished and accepted as the new standing fact... He could announce that His brothers enter the same relationships that He Himself had as risen from the dead and taking His place on high.
- Rejection. The nation would not have its Messiah. So the Lord marks the break in public: He owns His natural tie with Israel no longer.
- Replacement. Judaism was a religion you were born into. The new tie comes by new nature only: "the spiritual tie is the whole thing."
- Reach. The stretched-out hand takes in anyone who receives God's word and does the Father's will. The test is obedience, not ancestry.
- Grace. Those He pointed to were following "with such stumbling steps," and He still owned them before the whole crowd as His nearest relatives.
- Ripening. The word looks ahead. After the resurrection, His brothers share the very relationships He has as the risen Man on high.
for whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in [the] heavens, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
Jesus is teaching in a crowded house when word comes that His mother and brothers are outside. He does not go out to them. He points to His disciples and draws a new family line. Why does He set blood ties aside here? And what does doing the will of His Father mean for anyone who wants a place among His own?
The chapter has just pronounced judgment on a generation that refused Him. Against that background the interruption becomes an opportunity.
The Lord at once uses this moment to show that He no longer owned mere relationships according to the flesh. He had a special relationship with Israel, "from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ." He owns it no longer. They would not have Him... But, says the Lord, I am going to have a new thing now — a people according to My own heart. So He stretches out His hand toward His disciples and says, "Here are my mother and my brothers." His only true relatives were those who received the word of God and did it... The only tie He owns now is relationship to a heavenly Father, formed through the word of God received into the soul.
The bond He owns is not inherited; something has to produce it. Writers point to the word of God as the instrument, with obedience as the visible proof.
Jesus publicly breaks the bonds that naturally existed between Himself and the people after the flesh, acknowledging those only which were formed by the word of God, and manifested by doing the will of His Father which was in heaven.
One writer, looking at Mark's account of the same scene, notes that Jesus does not scold His relatives. He turns their visit into teaching.
He did not answer this uncalled-for interference with an angry rebuke. It sprang from natural affection, though it was ignorant affection, blind to His heavenly mission. But 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 that obedience to the will of God is the only reliable foundation of divine relationship. It must also come before every other claim.
The word "whoever" both narrows and widens. It shuts out privilege by birth and opens the door to anyone.
His new relationships would be with the doers of His Father's will, and with these alone (Matt. 12:46-50). This would clearly exclude the nation of Israel in their unbelief, while it would bring in any and every believing Gentile. Judaism, with its narrow restrictions, was therefore gone.
Brother, sister, mother are the warmest words a person owns. Jesus hands them to anyone who obeys.
He gives the dear titles and dear names of family to the person who does God's will in this self-willed world: "whoever does the will of God." Friends, how blessed it is to think of that obedience! It is not a feeling that evaporates. It is not self-esteem, which will come to an end sooner or later. A broken heart can obey. A broken heart can submit. That is what I call real life.
Notice who He was pointing at. This was not a strong or steady group.
What precious grace He showed here! In front of everyone He declared that He was completely one with that poor and feeble little group who were following Him with such stumbling steps... They were doing the will of His Father by listening to His call, and so they came into the blessed circle where He was both the centre and the Head, and in which He found His delight.
This saying is not permission to neglect your own family.
So He spoke about the sphere of God's work and service. His words were meant to give His disciples the idea of a relationship that is nearer, closer, and altogether different from any earthly tie. The earthly tie was on a different plane from the spiritual. The one is not to set aside the other. The natural must not intrude on the sphere of the spiritual. The spiritual should not set aside the natural.
These words were preparation. After the resurrection He could say far more.
Rejected by the Jewish nation, He turned away from His relatives by blood and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!"... But now redemption is accomplished and accepted as the new standing fact. He has made purification of sins, and His resurrection has given life in abundance. So He could announce exactly this: His brothers enter the same relationships that He Himself had as risen from the dead and taking His place on high.
- Rejected — His nation refused Him, so He stops owning family measured by descent. He announces a people after His own heart.
- Reformed — the word of God received in the soul makes the new tie, and doing the Father's will shows it.
- Reaching — "whoever" shuts out unbelief and lets anyone in. Birth and privilege count for nothing.
- Renamed — He gives the warmest human names — brother, sister, mother — to those who obey. Even a broken heart can obey.
- Realised — risen from the dead, He calls them His brothers. He brings them into His own relationship with the Father.