I seem to take occasional hiatuses from blogging, but tonight, the girls are in bed and it's still early. And by girls, I mean all 3. And by early, I mean 9:15. I on the couch watching Apocolypto by Mel Gibson and thinking about a passage of Scripture that I read last night.
Mark 3:31-35
Brief summary: Jesus is chillin' and his mom and brothers come and ask for him. When he's told that they are waiting for him, he says, "Who are my mother and brothers? Here are my mother and brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."
I've always had a tough time with this passage. I do understand that Jesus is emphasizing the importance of our brothers and sisters in Him. No arguments there. However, it seems like He's tossing aside his mom and brothers. That I don't get.
Hannah suggested that we don't know what had gone on in their personal lives. Had any of them not believed in Him? Had any of them turned their backs on God? We'd like to think, "no," but we can't deny that it's a possibility, right? It was in His hometown that Jesus said a prophet is without honor because no one believed.
Is Jesus implying that our earthly family holds little importance when compared to our Christian family?
I don't have the answer for what Jesus intended about His biological family. I wish I did. Here's where it'll get fun, though. Do you have the answer?
Now...back to the last few minutes of Apocolypto.
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The way I see the passage is that Jesus is saying that His family isn't limited to biological ties, but with anyone who believes and follows Him. That is what He wants to get across to the crowd. I don't think He was minimizing their importance or belittling them but rather just making an important point to the crowd. His earthly family was included if they followed Him which I assume they did. He never told them to leave or anything so I see no indication that after that statement, they didn't come in and listen to Him or He went out to greet them.
ReplyDeleteI also think that perhaps they either thought Jesus was getting too much attention from dangerous religious folks and they wanted to get Him out of there, or they still had not fully believed that He was sane....not sure which.....I'm sure a lot of what He said seemed weird to them though
ReplyDeleteTry Luke 14:26 on for size.
ReplyDelete"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple."
Perhaps Jesus is emphasizing to the crowd that their relationship with God is vastly more important than their relationships with anyone else. So much so that their relationships with family members look like hate in comparison to the love and devotion they have for God.
John 7:1-5 tell us that Jesus' brothers didn't believe in him. I think that was part of the issue. Jeff, I think your comment about the verse you shared is correct, but that is a tough passage to understand. I guess what we need to remember is that the most important things are things of heaven, not things of this world.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Jesus wants us to love our family. But when our love for our family is great than our love for Him I believe we get off focus.
ReplyDeleteThe questions we need to ask is, "Who gets more time Jesus or family?"
Dustin I agree about God wanting us to love our family. The question you ask however might point us in the wrong direction.
ReplyDeleteWe have a tendancy to compartmentalize our lives. I do this much for Jesus, this much for my family, this much for work, and so on. What we need to be doing is making it all for God. The way I love my family should be a reflection of God's love and God in my life. The way I work should reflect God in my life.