Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother

 

 And they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, ""By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:  "How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house.

"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."  

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

 

- Mark 3:19b-35 

 

Yesterday we read that, after a confrontation with the Pharisees, Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea.  And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, and from Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.  So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him.  For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.  And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, "You are the Son of God."  But He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.  And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted.  And they came to Him.  Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:  Simon, to whom He gave the name Peter; James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder"; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.  And they went into a house. 

 

  And they went into a house.  Then the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.  But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, "He is out of His mind."  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebub," and, ""By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons."  So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables:  "How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.  And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end.  No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man.  And then he will plunder his house."  My study Bible explains that Beelzebub, or Baal, was a god worshiped by the Philistines (2 Kings 1:2-16).  There were many names for Baal as particular places and individual sites of worship were dedicated to the god.  In this case, Beelzebub is a name used to ridicule the god, meaning prince of the "dung heap" or lord of "the flies."  Here the scribes call this god the ruler of the demons.  Jesus evokes a scenario in which the demons fight the demons, asking, "How can Satan cast out Satan?" to show the impossibility of their accusation.  My study Bible says that this illustrates the irrational pride and envy of the Pharisees in their opposition to Jesus.  

"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation" -- because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."  My study Bible tells us that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means a blasphemy against the divine activity of the Spirit, blasphemy against pure goodness.  A sin against the Son of Man is more easily forgiven because the Jews did not know much about Christ, a note reads.  But blasphemy against the Spirit, whose divine activity was known from the Old Testament, will not be forgiven because it comes from a willful hardness of heart and a refusal to accept the mercy of God.  Additionally, in patristic literature it's clear that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not an "unforgivable sin"; nor does Jesus ever call it "unforgivable."  According to St. John Chrysostom, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would be forgivable if a person were to repent of it.  This declaration is made by Christ knowing that those who blaspheme the Spirit are calling pure, divine goodness "evil," and are beyond repentance by their own choice.  

Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him.  And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You."  But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?"  And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."  My study Bible says that Christ's relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission.  He points us to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of God.

Jesus says that His family (My brother and My sister and mother) is whoever does the will of God.  When we stop to consider God's will, we must think about the Scripture that tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8).  If we know that God is love, then we understand that God's will is love.  We read in the Scriptures all about God's will, God's commands, and the stories of those who have been obedient to God throughout the spiritual history we know from the Bible.  We read the Scriptures and seek as best we can to follow that will.  But nonetheless, we must understand overall that God's will is love, and can be nothing but love, for this is how we know God. When we think of a family, we have to ask ourselves, what do we want between family members, for a true relationship, but love?  Many consider that family relations are defined by bloodlines, or DNA matches.  We can formally define family relationship also through marriage, and ties to different clans through marriage.  Many families have their own codes of behavior or patterns passed down from generation to generation, either in traditions or other types of behaviors.  This is also dependent upon historical circumstances that have shaped a family's life, and cultural traditions from different places around the world.  But we should stop to consider if by flesh alone -- or even tradition or inheritance alone -- we have love.  Flesh, it seems to me, can go one way or the other.  But to follow the will of God, what does that take?  We can learn from loving examples, but ultimately Christ asks us to look to God.  For mother, brother, sister, and earthly father all may fail in some aspect or another.  But if we want a true family relationship, what else do we want but love?  All of us should understand this command of Christ.  In the context of today's reading, it may seem rather shocking that Jesus says what He says to His family, especially to His mother who cherished all the things prophesied about her Son right from the beginning, and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19).  But love is always a command, for love is what truly makes a family, and love is what we want in all of our relationships.  This love that we understand from God is true righteousness.  Let us not forget that Jesus has left us with a new command, to "love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34-35).  For if we endeavor to love, and set ourselves to love by the example He has shown, we will be modeling the relationships we want, both in blood family, and in our churches, and with our "brothers" and "sisters" and "mothers" everywhere.  One might want to ask, what is a family without this love?