October
15, 2003
MY
BROTHER, SISTER AND MOTHER
"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 3:34, 35, NKJV).
While
Jesus was teaching the people, His disciples brought the message
that His mother and His brothers were outside and desired
to see Him. Jesus knew what was in their hearts and what they
had come for. He answered the ones that relayed the message
that His mother and brothers were seeking Him by 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
3:33-35).
All who
receive Christ by faith are united to Him by a tie closer
than that of human kinship. They become one with Him as He
is one with the Father. They become adopted into the family
of God. As a believer and doer of His words, His mother was
more closely related to Him than through her natural relationship.
His half brothers would receive no benefit from their connection
with Him unless they too believed on Him as the Messiah and
their personal Saviour.
Those
who accept Christ as their Saviour are not left as orphans,
to bear the trials of life alone. He receives them as members
of His family. He bids us to call His Father our Father. We
are His brothers and sisters, dear to the heart of God, bound
to Him by the most tender and abiding ties. He has an exceeding
tenderness toward all mankind.
What
accounts for the great love He has toward us? We cannot understand
it, but we can know it is true in our own experience. If we
do hold precious the relationship of kinship to Him, with
what compassion and tenderness should we regard all those
who He has adopted as His brothers and sisters? Should we
not be quick to recognize the claims of our divine relationship?
Adopted into the family of God, should we not honor our Father
and our brothers and sisters in Christ? What a new perspective
that places on all our relationships.
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