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.