Then his mother and brothers arrived, and standing
outside they sent word to him and called him.
A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him,
"Behold, our mother and your brothers are outside
looking for you." Answering them, he said,
"Who are my mother and my brothers?"
Looking around at those who were sitting around him
he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!
For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother
and sister and mother.
Mark 3.31-35
* Question: What if Jesus had gotten up and gone outside to his mother and brothers? What would that have communicated?
* Jesus is both relativizing family and re-drawing the boundaries of family obligation.
* Jesus seems to be defining the "doing the will of God" around himself. Sitting and listening to Jesus was doing the will of God.
* Four times: "mother and brothers"
-Then Jesus mentions "sisters"
-Jesus had men and women sitting around him
For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified
are all from one Father, for which reason he is not
ashamed to call them brethren.
Hebrews 2.11
* Jesus is my brother and he is not ashamed to call me "brother."
-This seems to intimate and yet it is the Word of God! The roles are not reversible. He is the sanctifier and I am the recipient of this grace--the sanctified. Jesus is the author of salvation. He tastes death for me (Hebrews 2.9)* Also, it is not just about me--there are others gathered around Jesus whom he calls brothers and sisters. Jesus redraws the family lines and he is much more inclusive than I am.
