4) Those who do the will of God

(click the arrow to listen)

Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting round him, and they told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.’
‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked.
Then he looked at those seated in a circle round him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’
(Mark 3:31-35)

Jesus said many things which devastated his hearers in his early ministry. He was teaching them a view of the Kingdom of God which He Himself was fulfilling. Until then His Jewish hearers had viewed the Kingdom of God as the Kingdom of Israel in the Promised Land. They were the sole inheritors of that Kingdom. They did reach out to a few non-Jews to join them by way of circumcision:

‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are. (Matthew 23:15)

In fact, the Kingdom of God was not limited to the Jews or to the land of Israel. A limited view was so fixed in Jewish minds that even after the resurrection of Jesus they still asked about it:

Then they gathered round him and asked him, ‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ (Acts 1:6-8)

They really were in the dark until the Holy Spirit revealed the full extent of what Jesus had taught about the Kingdom of God.

change

As the Kingdom was viewed by his listeners as a Jewish kingdom, he needed to open their hearts to God’s greater plan. Family lineage was of utmost importance to Jews. Large passages of the bible are devoted to family genealogies (that of Jesus is the first thing recorded in Matthew’s Gospel). These lists were not just reflections of pride in one’s ancestry, but were also a record of the people who made up the Kingdom according to Jewish understanding. So, when Jesus made his comments, he was challenging their thinking:

“Whoever does God’s will, is my brother and sister and mother.”

An important consideration when reading how God works throughout the bible is to bear in mind that revelation is gradual. Human society has mostly been conservative in nature in that it preserves what works and is suspicious of anything new. For thousands of years there was little social change in the ways societies were run. In the West, the 19^th and 20^th centuries were marked by fast social change which many found hard to adapt to. This was the outcome of technological advance.

Perhaps the 20^th century was especially marked by rapid social change brought about by political force. The communist revolutions demonstrated how unsettling it is to introduce rapid social change based on new ideologies. For instance, the Soviet Union abolished marriage after the 1917 revolution. However, by 1936 after being overwhelmed by social problems and street children, marriage had to be reintroduced: change has to be managed rather than imposed.

purpose

This principle of conservation is also written into the creation. Changes in the universe only happen over millions of years. The earth’s climate changes only slowly over thousands of years. Some of the weather catastrophes we occasionally see, show us how delicately balanced our climate is, and how difficult life would be if changes were sudden and unpredictable. In fact, our bodies too have conservation written into them. When our DNA divides as our cells multiply, there is a mechanism to ensure that mistakes in copying our genes are corrected.

This principle of conserving is seen in how God works. It has led many people to question the morality of the bible. For instance, people ask, why didn’t Jesus abolish patriarchal social structures and liberate women, or agitate for the emancipation of slaves? Why did Paul encourage conservative social behaviour in the new church as it grew? The answer is that healthy change has to be introduced at a pace which people can accept. Communist overthrows of the 20^th century led to millions of deaths. The instant abolition of slavery in Roman times would have led to social chaos too.

Returning to what Jesus said, he was seeding the idea that the Kingdom of God comprised a brand-new people. No longer were they people of natural genealogy but people of obedience to God’s will. On that basis, Jesus had a very liberal view of the place of women for the times he lived in:

The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means. (Luke 8:1-3)

His disciples were of both sexes. The women played a vital part in all he did.

outsiders

It’s easy to miss the way he gently introduced the idea that non-Jews (Gentiles) were also entitled to be part of this new Kingdom. In this famous incident, it can be overlooked that Jesus was in a Gentile land where they reared pigs. He crossed over to the Decapolis and delivered a man from his demonic possession and behaviour. It seems cruel for Jesus not to allow him to join his disciples when he asked. But the man was a Gentile and this would have proved too much of a stumbling-block for His ministry to the Jews:

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ So, the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. (Mark 5:18-20)

However, the incident did open the hearts of his disciples to the fact that God was at work in those Gentiles who would obey the will of God.

A similar incident occurred in another Gentile region, this time involving a woman:

A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, ‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.’
Jesus did not answer a word. So, his disciples came to him and urged him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.’
He replied, ‘It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.’
‘Yes, it is, Lord,’ she said. ‘Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.’
Then Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.’ And her daughter was healed at that moment. (Matthew 15:22-28)

Jesus appears insufferably rude to this brave woman. There is much to learn from her love, courage and faith. But the incident reinforces the fact that Jesus was sent primarily to preach repentance to the Jewish people (John 1:11). His ministry to a few Gentile people was limited, yet would have made a massive impact on the disciples. They were having their eyes opened to the truth that those obedient to God’s will, were people who showed obedient faith rather than possessed the correct genealogy. These were the inheritors of God’s Kingdom.

battle

Another fact in this change of allegiance from family roots to the people of faith, was the spiritual warfare of the Kingdom. We shall look at other teachings of Jesus regarding family, but here He teaches that the Kingdom of God would be disruptive:

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn:
‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household’. Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.' (Matthew 10:34-37)

This was not Jesus deliberately trying to break up families; it was a consequence of the clash of kingdoms: those who do the will of God are resisted by those who will not.

The Kingdom uncovers the matters of the heart. Submitting to Jesus as Lord is the ultimate in obedience. There are inevitably those who will refuse to grant Jesus, lordship over them. They wish to be free to follow their own choices. This will result in a clash of allegiances. It will prove especially divisive in family life, especially the close-knit patriarchal families of the 1^st century. Jesus was quoting from the Old Testament (Micah 7:6). As His ministry proceeded and He reveals more of who He is, he states that loving him takes priority over family bonds.

Clearly, this was a hard thing for His hearers to accept. It still applies today because the warfare of the clash of spiritual Kingdoms has not abated. It needs to be said that what Jesus was teaching here was illustrative and not legislative. There are family members who will welcome obedience to God’s will. There are those who may be hostile to begin with but come to see the light. This happened with Jesus’s own family:

Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. No one who wants to become a public figure, acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.’ For even his own brothers did not believe in him. (John 7:3-5)

We know that at least two of these brothers, James and Jude, became important leaders in the church after his resurrection. Jesus was teaching about family division from experience.

enlarge

It should be said that prioritising love for Jesus and doing God’s will does not involve rejecting family. Jesus’s words have been used by religious cults to create singular allegiance to their religious group. Jesus employed many extreme metaphors to make his point: “pluck out your eye”, “cut off the hand”, “a millstone hung round his neck”! He knew that the people listening to him were intelligent enough to appreciate that he was using strong metaphor for emphasis, and not being literal in his meaning. Consequently, treating others as his family did not equate to rejecting one’s own. Clearly, in some families, all members will be doing the will of God and there is no conflict.

Jesus did not abolish the 5^th commandment:

Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you (Deuteronomy 5:16)

Paul was adamant that we have a responsibility to family to show care:

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. (1 Timothy 5:4)

If we are to ‘love your enemies’ (Matthew 5:44) we should certainly love our families. Jesus is alerting us to the spiritual conflicts which come when we do the will of God.

Returning to our first scripture, this is a hard saying because it challenges our securities. To the listening Jews it was a challenge to their preconceptions about who exactly were the people of God, and what exactly constituted the Kingdom of God. To Christians who read it, there is the challenge of discovering a family outside of the relationships in which they grew up. It does not remove family love and necessary commitments; but it does bring the challenge of learning to love a wider family. Indeed, Paul had to exhort the Corinthians to do that very thing:

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts also. (2 Corinthians 6:11-13)