Matthew 12:46-50
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Question:
ReplyDelete- Is Jesus disowning His mother and brothers?
http://www.cfaith.com/index.php/article-display/22-articles/christian-living/20377-what-did-jesus-mean-in-matthew-1247-50 says:
ReplyDeleteJesus was explaining how people on the earth become related to Him. He indicated that the natural ties that His brothers, sisters, and mother had were only temporary and earthly.
The most important relationship we can have with God is spiritual; we can become His child by putting faith in Christ Jesus. "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26 NKJ).
Doing the will of God, which Jesus referred to in Matthew 12:50, is demonstrated by putting faith in Christ Jesus.
http://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/lectio-matthew-1246-50 says:
ReplyDeleteTo understand well the sense of this response it is convenient to look at the situation of the family in the time of Jesus.
In the Old Israel, the clan, that is, the large family (the community), was the basis for social living together. It was the protection of the families and of the persons, the guarantee of the possession of the land, the principle vehicle of the tradition, the defence of identity. It was the concrete way on the part of the people of that time to incarnate the love of God and the love toward neighbour. To defend the clan was the same as to defend the Covenant.
In the Galilee at the time of Jesus, because of the system established during the long periods of government of Herod the Great (37 BC to 4 BC) and of his son Herod Antipas (4 BC to 39 AD), the clan, (the community) was becoming weaker. The taxes to be paid, both to the Government and to the Temple, the debts which were increasing, the individualistic mentality of the Hellenistic ideology, the frequent threats of violent repression on the part of the Romans and the obligation to accept the soldiers and give them hospitality, the ever growing problem of survival , all this impelled the families to close themselves in self and to think only of their own needs. This closing up was strengthened by the religion of the time.
And thus, the concern with the problems of one’s own family prevented the persons to meet in community. Now, in order that the Kingdom of God could manifest itself in community living of the people, the persons had to overcome the narrow limits of the small family and open themselves again to the large family, to the Community. Jesus gave the example. When his own family tries to take possession of him, he reacted and extended the family: "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother." He crated a community.
Jesus asked the same thing from all those who wanted to follow him. Families could not close themselves up in self . The excluded and the marginalized had to be accepted in the life with others, and in this way feel accepted by God (Lk 14, 12-14) This was the path to attain the objective of the Law which said “There must, then, be no poor among you” (Dt 15, 4). Like the great Prophets of the past, Jesus tries to consolidate community life in the villages of Galilee. He takes back the profound sense of the clan, of the family, of the community, as an expression of the incarnation of the love toward God and toward neighbour.
http://gcfonline.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/Matthew-12-46-50-for-web.pdf says:
ReplyDeleteJesus is inside a building/house speaking to the disciples while his biological family is outside. This
means that his family was not in his inner circle. Which is why they send someone in to tell Jesus that they are
outside wanting to speak to him. We don’t know exactly why they want to see him. Although Mark 3:21 and
John 7:1-5 seem to indicate that they are concerned about Jesus’s sanity at this point.
Jesus biological family is offended (probably)
According to the customs of the day, Jesus probably should have stopped what
he was doing and gone outside to honor his family, especially his mother.
It is difficult to imagine his family not being offended at this point.
Lets be clear on one thing. Jesus is not renouncing his family or saying that we should dishonor our families.
Jesus spiritual family is full of siblings!
By the way it was incredibly costly for Jesus to become your older brother. In order to make this a
reality he had to die on a cross for your sins.
He ignores his biological family for the time being to spend time with his spiritual family indicating his
priorities.
Jesus priorities were not God, family, church.
Jesus priorities were God, church, family…
Is your biological family important? Absolutely.
Should you neglect your family to serve the church? No!
But Jesus makes it clear that the people of God (your spiritual family) are more important than your
biological family. So don’t let your family get in the way of the mission of the church.
We should frequently ask ourselves if our commitment to our biological family is hampering our
ministry effectiveness???
Furthermore, if your family has rejected you for following Christ you have another family that will
never leave you or forsake you. This family will last forever!!!
Jesus spiritual family is full of siblings!
Jesus spiritual family is primary!
Jesus does not saysFor
whoever attends church is my brother or sister
For whoever understands the trinity, justification, and the virgin birth is my brother or sister
For whoever understands and embraces the intricacies of reformed theology is my brother or sister
For whoever gets baptized…
For whoever was raised in a Christian home…
For whoever walked down the aisle at church or a crusade and signed a pledge card…
For whoever goes to Christian school or youth group…
Jesus says in verse 50, “For whoever does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and sister and
mother.”
How do we know that we are members of God’s family??? According to Jesus, we know that we are
members of God’s family if we obey God. This is the family test that God gives us!!! This is the DNA test
that proves our heredity.
He does not say, “Whoever does the will of my father in heaven becomes my brother and sister and
mother.”
He says, “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
There is a massive difference between is and becomes. This difference makes Christianity unique
among world religions.
So than why does Jesus say that we will know that we are in his family if we obey his father?
Jesus knows what happens when we believe the gospel!
When we believe God writes his laws on our hearts.
When we believe God dramatically changes our desires.
When we believe God places the Holy Spirit inside of us.
When we believe God breaks the power of sin in us.
When we believe God gives us a new nature.
If all these things happen to us it is impossible for us not to change. Impossible!
So are we saved by obeying? NOOOO!!!
But when we believe the gospel (explain) God changes us so radically that we will obey, not perfectly,
but we will gradually, slowly, over time obey God more and more.