Family (Mark 3:20-35)

The Springtime of her youth had past and when the winter winds had come she simply lowered her head and blanketed herself against the cold. She didn’t know when the chill had penetrated her heart. She couldn’t remember when her dreams had died. Life was hard and in order to survive she had to put away childish dreams and work with calloused hands. She didn’t realize that in the process her heart had become callous as well.

Life is hard when you’re poor. Dreams die like buds that never flower. You learn like everyone around you to lower your head when the yoke is placed on your neck. But there was something different about their older brother. He seemed to walk in the warmth of full light but all they could feel was the cold of being in his shadow.

Word had reached them in Nazareth. “Have you heard what Jesus is doing!” The one thing that flourishes in a small town is gossip. The gossip was entertaining and at least it gave the small town a momentary break from the drudgery of life. But Mary was alarmed. There was even a rumor that scribes were coming from Jerusalem who believed her son to be possessed by Beelzebul. So she gathered the family and they set out to restrain him. They believed that Jesus was out of His mind and and wanted to get to Him and bring Him back to Nazareth. Bring Him down to earth.

The family had heard about His following, they knew that they would need to draw Him away from those who believed Jesus to be a prophet if they were to save Him from Himself. When they arrived it was as if they had found a hive of bees and He was in the center. They sent word for Him to come to them. But He didn’t come out. Instead they heard the message, “Who are My mother and My brothers?...Whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”(Mark 3:33-35) With theses words Jesus opened the door to His family and invited many in.

They could not save Him from Himself or from those who had purposed to distory Him, But no one took His life. Jesus willingly gave Himself to be a ransom for many. Mary was there watching as the soldiers pierced her son’s side. She was wet with the water and blood that flowed from His side. Her heart was pierced with grief. But this isn’t the last place we see Mary in the Scripture. In the book of Acts after Jesus had ascended into heaven, listed with those who were continually united in prayer are “Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.”(Acts 1:14) So you see they became His mother and bothers in the truest sense.