Jesus' Mother's Day
Read Mark 3:20-35.
For as long as I can remember, there have always been conversations in Christian circles about "family values." That has morphed into constant conversation today about what a "family" looks like and what "values" they should have, but the conversation has remained constant and steady, even in the face of a culture where those words have changing definitions. We claim to base our family values on Jesus and his values—but do we really? Mark gives us a startling picture of Jesus and his value of family in this passage.
Jesus is busy teaching, and as he is drawing a crowd, the ones who are in power currently want to find something wrong with him so that people stop following him. They accuse him of having an "impure spirit" and of being possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. Now, a lot of times, we can ignore comments from people we don't know that well and who don't know what we're really about. But when the comments come from people we know well, people we love, maybe people we grew up with—those comments tend to sting a bit more, hurt a little deeper. And that's what happens here. Jesus' mother and brothers begin to believe that Jesus is out of his mind.
And so they go to "take charge" of him. The word there literally means they went to subdue him, to conquer him, to make him obey. Family relations were and are very important in Jewish families. The mother is a strong personality who has charge of training the children early on. There is a strong bond that develops, therefore, between the children and the mother, and no doubt, Mary went to see Jesus expecting him to obey, to come home, to stop this crazy preaching and listen to some common sense. Isn't it a bit amazing that Mary, of all people, knew who he was and yet even she was concerned about the way he was going about fulfilling his mission?
Jesus will not be subdued, deterred, or have his direction changed. He is focused, razor-focused, on proclaiming the kingdom. As with many such passages in Mark, we don't even know exactly what he was preaching here but it's important enough that he can't be interrupted—even for family. In fact, he goes out of his way it seems to downplay the biological family connection by stressing that his real family are those who do the will of God.
Family values? Jesus seems to have a different set of values here, one that values loyalty to his kingdom above loyalty to any biological relationship. That's not to say Jesus doesn't think families are important; quite the contrary. On the cross, he makes sure his mother is taken care of in the days to come (John 19:25-27). It's just that the values of the kingdom are not what we assume they are. They don't just mirror what we think is important. Jesus' priorities are not just a blessing of our priorities. He actually calls us into a new way of living, a different and new kingdom, a place where the things we think are so just aren't. It's an upside-down kingdom, where the last are first and the poor are rich...and where the ones who do the will of God become our real, eternal family.
For as long as I can remember, there have always been conversations in Christian circles about "family values." That has morphed into constant conversation today about what a "family" looks like and what "values" they should have, but the conversation has remained constant and steady, even in the face of a culture where those words have changing definitions. We claim to base our family values on Jesus and his values—but do we really? Mark gives us a startling picture of Jesus and his value of family in this passage.
Jesus is busy teaching, and as he is drawing a crowd, the ones who are in power currently want to find something wrong with him so that people stop following him. They accuse him of having an "impure spirit" and of being possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. Now, a lot of times, we can ignore comments from people we don't know that well and who don't know what we're really about. But when the comments come from people we know well, people we love, maybe people we grew up with—those comments tend to sting a bit more, hurt a little deeper. And that's what happens here. Jesus' mother and brothers begin to believe that Jesus is out of his mind.
And so they go to "take charge" of him. The word there literally means they went to subdue him, to conquer him, to make him obey. Family relations were and are very important in Jewish families. The mother is a strong personality who has charge of training the children early on. There is a strong bond that develops, therefore, between the children and the mother, and no doubt, Mary went to see Jesus expecting him to obey, to come home, to stop this crazy preaching and listen to some common sense. Isn't it a bit amazing that Mary, of all people, knew who he was and yet even she was concerned about the way he was going about fulfilling his mission?
Jesus will not be subdued, deterred, or have his direction changed. He is focused, razor-focused, on proclaiming the kingdom. As with many such passages in Mark, we don't even know exactly what he was preaching here but it's important enough that he can't be interrupted—even for family. In fact, he goes out of his way it seems to downplay the biological family connection by stressing that his real family are those who do the will of God.
Family values? Jesus seems to have a different set of values here, one that values loyalty to his kingdom above loyalty to any biological relationship. That's not to say Jesus doesn't think families are important; quite the contrary. On the cross, he makes sure his mother is taken care of in the days to come (John 19:25-27). It's just that the values of the kingdom are not what we assume they are. They don't just mirror what we think is important. Jesus' priorities are not just a blessing of our priorities. He actually calls us into a new way of living, a different and new kingdom, a place where the things we think are so just aren't. It's an upside-down kingdom, where the last are first and the poor are rich...and where the ones who do the will of God become our real, eternal family.
It's so nice to know that we have a bigger family than our biological ones.
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