At times, I think that we have possibly read the Bible too many times because we miss what it can say. It seems to me that we frequently will read quickly over a passage and will determine in our minds that it has a particular meaning that is different from what it is actually saying. Here is one like that for me today:
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:31-35
Jesus draws a line with regard to his family, saying that he is not necessarily tied to his family by blood and he will not be dissuaded from his work just because the rest of his natural family thinks that he should be doing something different.
No, instead, Jesus is going to be about the work that God has given him to do, and those that are his mother and his brothers and sisters will be determined by those that are doing God’s will.
The part that struck me today was Jesus saying, “Whoever does God’s will…” as he referred to his family members. I think that, for me, I had it in my mind that Jesus was talking about those who weren’t sinning. I suppose if I were to rewrite what Jesus said with what I had in my mind, it would be something like: My mother, brothers, and sisters are those that are here with me, not sinning.
But of course, that is not at all what Jesus said. He said that his family are those that are doing God’s will. But do we know God’s will? Do we understand what God’s goal and mission is, what he has been doing and is still working toward to bring to completion?
If we do know what God is doing, and we want to be considered part of Jesus’s family, shouldn’t we also be doing these things? It seems that it is only in this way that we can be considered part of Jesus’s family. Otherwise, we can be left outside calling to Jesus, but he won’t respond.
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We have written a course on how we can know God’s will and how we can find the purpose for our life within God’s purpose and plan. You can see that here: