“Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35 NIV
As Jesus concluded His encounter with the teachers of the Law, His family arrived. Assuming He needed to be restrained for His own safety, they sent word to Jesus, calling Him. They had most likely travelled the forty kilometres from Nazareth to Jerusalem to rescue Him from Himself. Perhaps they thought they could take Him back home to Nazareth and restore His common sense. Jesus had called twelve men to Himself to send them on His behalf. The family of Jesus sent someone to call Jesus away from what He was supposed to be doing. Jesus was spending time with those called from the outside to be on the inside, and now His family was on the outside calling Him to leave those on the inside! The disciples, we can be sure, were watching closely. The disciples had left all to follow Jesus. We know that, at least in the case of James and John, they had left their father and the family fishing business to follow Him. They responded to the radical call of Jesus to become insiders. Their response would radically affect their relationships. Jesus makes this clear in the scene before us. Jesus used this scene to drive home an important point: the priority of relationships in His kingdom. The disciples, of course, needed to understand this lesson. After all, most, if not all the disciples were from this region and so the familial ties would have been strong. But Jesus helped them to gain a new perspective and priority of family relationships: relationship with Jesus and with those who follow Him. If the first remains first, and the second remains second, all is well.
PRAYER THOUGHT
Lord, give us an openness to meet fellow disciples as family.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Lord Jesus, through the ministry of Your Holy Spirit, give us an openness to meet disciples as family and to commit to working toward Your will here on earth. AMEN
INTERNATIONAL BIBLE READING ASSOCIATION (IBRA)
John 15:8-11
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