My Mother, Sisters and 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.' " (1)

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." (2)

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.

1. Mark 3:34, 35.
2. Mark 3:33-35.