Matthew 12:48-50 48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Just about everything about some people is radical. I read about a young man in Germany who had his ears removed so that he would look more like a skeleton. You did read that correctly! He had his ears surgically removed. Let’s not talk about the doctor who performed this.
People these days want to redefine just about everything. But they aren’t the first to redefine things. Some great people in history have done this, and there are disastrous consequences recorded in the books of history.
But sometimes, every once in a LONG while, someone defines things and the results are a positive thing. Instead of being destructive, they end up moving humanity closer to its original purpose. And that is what we read in our text today.
Our text in Matthew recounts Jesus’ response to his earthly family showing up at one of His speaking events unannounced and unexpected. We read from the other gospels that they came because they were concerned about what He was saying and the direction of His ministry. I guess they too had problems with some of the radical things Jesus was saying.
You see, even Jesus’ family thinks he has gone mad. Now you thought your family was unhealthy! They gather and come to pull Him out of the spotlight. Maybe they want to have a good talk to Him, get Him to change His mind about who He was. Even His mother, despite the angelic messages, doubt Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t really address His family and their beliefs about Him. Instead, Jesus takes the opportunity to move His agenda forward. He wants to create a new humanity, one without the previous barriers and pitfalls. We could use this kind of redefinition right now in our world, couldn’t we!
Jesus’ message isn’t a new one. It is the same message that rang out throughout the Old Testament. The LORD initiated a new family through the covenants He made. He kept trying to start over, but unfortunately He still had to use the same broken humanity.
That is where Jesus steps in. He wants to make this new humanity, this new family. He does this by eliminating the one thing that caused the Old Testament covenants to fail. Jesus eliminates sin’s power by conquering it on the Cross.
Now that is good news! When we do the will of the Father, starting with accepting the work Jesus did on the cross on our behalf, then we can live a new kind of life. The old has gone, the new has come. We put off and we put on.
So who is in your family?
The Arnold Journey 