Family: Mark 3:33-35
Family is those who have a parent in common. Family can be blood related. Family can be made through adoption. Family can be tight. Family can be loose. Family comes in all shapes and sizes.
When the crowds tell Jesus that His mother and brothers are outside, Jesus gives what must have seemed like an incredulous response. He first asks them rhetorically who His mother and brothers are. Then, He answers His own question by looking around and saying that His mother and brothers are those who are seated here.
This had to have confused many people. After all, some of these people traveled a significant distance to see Him. Surely, they were not related through any close ancestry. This would be even more true among the Hebrew people who make a point to trace their ancestry all the way back to one of the twelve sons of Jacob (or Israel, depending on which name you prefer for the man). Most of the people surrounding Jesus were likely not even from the same tribe as Him. Claiming the people around Him as family would have seemed quite strange indeed.
Notice, however, that Jesus left out one of the designations of lineage. It is possible that He might have been parroting the statement made by the people indicating that Jesus’ mother and brothers were outside. It is also possible that Jesus is using this opportunity to make a point. The people around Him are His family because they all have the same spiritual father. The people around Him are at varying levels of searching for God and relationship with Him. Thus, the people around Him are Jesus’ family because everyone in the room has the same Father.
This definition of family has always inspired me. When I meet someone who has relationship with my Father, then I meet a spiritual brother and spiritual sister. Because they are my spiritual siblings under the same Father, I love them. Granted, some of them are easier to like than others – just as I am sure some people find it easier to like me than other people do. Since God is love, and God is my Father, regardless of how easy it is to like another person I must love them.
From the spiritual point of view, I belong to the biggest family ever. So do you, if you share the same spiritual Father as I do. All who are in Christ are family to one another by adoption – grafted into the family of God. Even more crazy to believe is that Jesus, who was completely sinless and died for my sake, is my spiritual brother. You, me, and everyone in the world who has God as our Father also has Jesus as their brother. After all, family is those who have a parent in common.
