Sermon Tone Analysis

2010-06-27 (am) Mark 3:31-35 Being Jesus’ Family—By Doing God’s Will

 

            Is it just me or is this passage just a wee bit shocking?

Come on, this is not the response we’d expect from Jesus, is it?

But what’s going on in this passage?

Well, like the parable of the prodigal son, there are two groups, those Jesus considers his family, and those who are is biological family, but who are not his family.

When you think of the brothers in the story of the prodigal son, who is the true son?  No, it isn’t the brother who stayed at home, it is the brother who truly came home.

It was the one who really realised who his father was, and where true life, true happiness came from.

It didn’t come from carousing, partying and hanging out with immoral people, it came from being with the Father.

The people who were with Jesus, we don’t know their hearts, but Jesus did, they were the ones who were seeing him for who he really is.

They recognised his authority.

They were willing to submit to it.

They were at Jesus’ feet, in a position of humility, receiving from him what he was giving.

Contrast that to Jesus’ biological family.

They were coming as people in authority.

In verse 21 we read that “they went to take charge of him, for ‘he is out of his mind’” (Mk.

3.21).

They came to take charge of him because they were his family, they were his siblings, his mother.

Jesus had to listen to them; Jesus had to come to them, simply because of who they are.

They’re his relatives.

He should deal with them on their terms, not his.

Jesus embarrassed them.

He was doing all these strange things; he was getting into trouble with the Pharisees.

He was making some bold claims about himself, even going so far as to say that he was God’s son.

This was silly.

The Pharisees were claiming that Jesus was possessed by a demon.

I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that demon possession isn’t something you want to have in your family.

It probably kept you from being invited to the Rabbi’s house for bagels.

This is the problem.

Jesus wasn’t behaving as they expected him to behave.

They knew who he was.

Sure, he was a good guy and all, but he was Jesus.

He was familiar.

He was family.

And so they come to fetch him.

They come to sort him out.

They come while there’s still a chance of preserving some dignity to the family name.

So, arriving at the house, which was chock full of listeners and Pharisees accusing him of being possessed by Beelzebub.

Pssst.

“Hey you!  Umm, we’re Jesus’ family.

We’ve come to take him away.

We’ve got a specially padded room for him.

Just go and tell him that his mom and brothers are here.

He’ll come right away.

So the guy, whoever it was, goes into the house.

Presumably, he was a listener, but we don’t really know.

But given the stuff going on in the room, the miracles being performed, the teaching with authority, the rapt audience, the fuming Pharisees, it took a bit of courage to get to Jesus and interrupt him.

It’s possible that he didn’t actually make it into the house.

It’s probably quite likely, given it was so jammed packed, that the guy just whispered to the next closest guy, “Hey, Jesus’ family is here, they want him to go with them, pass it on.”

And so it goes until there’s a few people near Jesus who hear the message, and say, “Jesus, your family is here.

Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.

Hey Jesus, it’s your mom, you’d better go.

Hey Jesus, your family is here, you’d better do their will.

When Jesus was 12, he did.

He submitted to Mary and Joseph’s authority, he left his father’s house, the temple, and he obediently went with them.

But not anymore.

Jesus is on his own, he’s doing is Father’s will again, and he’s not going to be diverted.

Jesus has his eyes set on the goal, on the cross.

And he will not be moved.

No amount of cajoling, no amount of family guilt tripping, nothing can move him from the task that is laid out before him.

What is Jesus here to do?

He has come to seek and save the lost.

He has come to save his people from their sins.

He has come to heal and forgive.

He has come to preach and teach and tell the truth to many.

He has come to die.

No one can move him from his path, not even his family.

How does Jesus respond?

He asks a question.

He often does this.

It works to get people thinking.

Have you given thought to his response?

How would you have responded?

Do you think you would have gone out to your mom and dad?

Or would you have simply said to the people, “that’s nice, I’ll be out in a bit.”

But not Jesus.

Jesus, after all, came to preach and teach.

And that’s what he does.

“Who are my mother and my brothers?”

No ifs, ands or buts about it, this is a very, very strange question.

You can almost hear those nearest to Jesus say to themselves, “Is this a trick question, or what?”

The people outside are his mother and brothers!

But no, Jesus refers to those who were sitting around him, his disciples, and others and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers!

Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus includes those inside, and for now, excludes those outside.

Biologic relation is unimportant.

Spiritual relation is what matters!

Those outside, by their actions were indicating that though they were biologically related to Jesus, spiritually, they were not related to him at all.

In fact, we could say that Jesus’ response is a typical response for him.

Consider Nicodemus.

Jesus tells him, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And Nicodemus takes him literally, not spiritually.

Same with the woman at the well.

Lady, if you knew the one you were talking to, you’d ask him for something to drink.

Again, she took him literally, not spiritually.

Same with the disciples after the woman went into town to tell everyone about Jesus, they said to Jesus, “Eat something!”

Jesus said, “I have food you know nothing about.”

They asked themselves what grocery store he went to.

They didn’t realise that Jesus was talking about spiritual food.

Another example is Jesus as the bread of life, the 5000 who were miraculously fed by Jesus didn’t see the spiritual quality of Christ, they wanted more physical food, and when Jesus said they would have to eat his body, they left.

There’s a saying, blood runs thicker than water.

But there’s something thicker than blood.