From the desk of Pastor Ben
The Importance of Relationship – Part 1
Stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”     (Matthew 12:49-50)
When Jesus’ family came looking for Him (Matthew 12:46-47), it gave Him the perfect opportunity to illustrate the necessity of a personal, saving relationship with Him. During our Lord’s earthly ministry, no evidence clearly revealed that any member of His family, other than His mother, Mary, trusted in Him as Savior and Messiah. His brothers did not believe (John 7:5) — although they did later (Acts 1:14) — and perhaps even Mary, despite divine revelations to her in Luke 1:26-2:38, had not embraced Jesus as her Lord.
Scripture does not tell us precisely why Christ’s earthly family members sought Him (Mark 3:31-32; Luke 8:19-20), but likely, they were very concerned about His safety and even joined friends from Nazareth in fearing that He had “lost His senses” (Mark 3:21). The people probably already had passed rumor’s along of the Pharisees plan to kill Jesus. So, His family, likely, wanted to convince Him to discontinue His ministry and get Him to go into hiding until the trouble passed.
Some public teachers would have been greatly upset if their families did as Jesus’ family did, but our Lord was not upset. He loved His family (John 19:26-27) and understood their concerns; but He used this occasion to declare a more transcendent truth: all genuine disciples were His spiritual family. So, Jesus was not renouncing His physical family; He was just teaching that anyone who believes can become an intimate member of His divine family, and that ultimately, only God’s family matters.
Ask Yourself:
In what ways are your ties with brothers and sisters in Christ more intense and meaningful than even the ties of natural family relationships? How has God knit you together through shared experience and belief to form un-breakable bonds of unity, togetherness, and joy?