Luke 8:19-21

Luke 8:19-21

And His mother and brothers came to Him.  And they were not powerful enough to meet with Him through the crowd.  And it was being told to Him that, “Your mother and brothers have stood outside while desiring to see you.”  And answering, He said to them, “These people of God who hear and who do are my mother and brothers!”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus’ family comes to see Jesus.  We should be a bit careful here.  In other Gospels, we are told that Jesus’ family comes to see Jesus because they think that He has gone out of His mind and they want to bring Him back home.  But Luke doesn’t give us that idea here.  In Luke’s account, they are simply here to see Him.  They could be curious.  They could be skeptical.  They could be checking on His needs.  But what we can learn about this is that they do care about Him.  They do have some innate curiosity towards Jesus’ mission.  Of course, given what Mary went through at the time of Jesus’ birth, she should have some innate curiosity about Jesus’ mission.

Have you ever been surprised that Jesus’ family didn’t play more of a part of Jesus’ ministry?  Why do you think Jesus’ family isn’t really involved until after He dies and is resurrected?

Second Thought:

The crowd comes to tell Jesus.  I find this interesting.  The crowd doesn’t typically come and tell Jesus when anyone else is trying to see Him, but they do tell Him when His family shows up.  Furthermore, He is the Son of God.  It isn’t like Jesus wouldn’t know that they are there.  I find it interesting because it shows the natural order of things.  Human beings automatically assume that one’s biological family is of significant if not utmost importance to a person.  The crowd assumes that when Jesus’ family shows up that they are the most important people and Jesus would naturally want to see them.

Do you think that most people are inclined to see their family as most important in their life?  Is this necessarily wrong?  Is this necessarily right?

Third Thought:

Jesus gives us an incredible reaction to the crowd.  Jesus says, “These people are my mother and brothers.  The people around me, who follow me, who listen to my teaching, who are actively doing the will of God – these are my family.”  That is really an incredible position.  Jesus teaches us that while biological family may be important, spiritual family is important.  When we become part of God’s family, that takes precedence.  What is important is that my loyalties are to God and the people who obey Him, not my loyalty to a biological family.

Where does your loyalty rest?  Do you see the people of God as your family?  Why can this be a hard position to hold?

Passage for Tomorrow: Luke 8:22-25