Family

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

FAMILY

Luke 8:19-21

19 Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you." 21 He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." 

NIV

There has been much made of this event by a lot of different opinionated scholars, which is supposed because of their various denominational affiliations. There is thought based on another gospel account his mother and brothers were concerned about the state of his mind and that is the reason for their appearance at this time. There is much discussion about whether this was actually his genetic brothers in the sense that Joseph and Mary had children of their own, making Mary no longer a virgin, which of course would only make sense. But the truth we are supposed to learn has nothing to do with his mother and brothers, but in his response to being told they were there. Again some would say he showed disdain for his mother and brothers, but the tone of his voice was not recorded. Was Jesus putting his family down, or casting them aside? No,not at all, his love for all is the same, yet even being fully God, he was also fully man, who had been loved and cared for those years before this time. This was his loving and caring family he grew up in, and it is inconceivable he would say anything harmful toward them. This sort of attitude toward family would not be a life lesson for us, yet in some sense it is. Jesus was merely demonstrating that he needs to be the first in our lives. Yes we all have families who we love dearly, he never meant for us to abandon our families. But we are to love him with all our being, putting our faith in him and our love for him before all else. That is to say if some members of our family were to try to take charge of us, thinking we have lost our minds, that we are being taking in by this foolishness about Jesus, then we would have to tell them we love them, but we love Jesus more and we are going to follow him, not them. If we have family that does not acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, as it appears some of his family had not yet, then we cannot follow them, but follow Jesus. Putting his words into practice, not works, but the practice here in order to be members of his family is acknowledgment that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Messiah, the Savior and Redeemer of our soul. Putting into practice means in order to be a member of his family we must be born again. There is no work, no deed, and no human effort that can make us his mother and brothers, but only our acceptance of his work, his sacrifice for us. If we accept Jesus into our lives, we are his family. We are the family of God.