Mar 3:32-35 | KingComments | STEP | After the complete rejection by the religious leaders, the Lord is going to distinguish between the natural ties He has with Israel and a remnant with whom He connects Himself. The reason for this is the arrival of His mother and His brothers who want Him to come to them. Although His relatives are not hostile, they are “outside”. They are not under His blessing influence; they are not with Him in the house. There is another company around Him. While He is in the house with a crowd around Him, His relatives let Him know they are looking for Him. Because of their natural ties with Him, they think they have a certain right to Him. He has to be there for them first, and He has to leave the crowd for what it is. The Lord answers with the question: “Who are My mother and My brothers?” With this question He does not set aside the natural family ties. He has set them as the Creator Himself and woe to the human being who doesn’t acknowledge them. But natural family ties should not rule over the connections between the members of the spiritual family, the family of God. At the same time we must handle this principle with caution. There have been believers who have neglected their natural ties for the sake of so-called spiritual activities. That, of course, is not what the Lord means to say. He acknowledges those who listen to His words as His family. As He says so, He looks about at those who were sitting around Him, to have personal contact with each and every one of them, as it were. With this statement He also indicates the breach between Him and the people from whom He was born as Man and for whom He came. He sets the old relationships aside and now establishes new ones. The basis for the new relationships is to do the will of God. He executes that will perfectly. Only those who are connected with Him through His work on the cross also do God’s will. By giving Himself for them, He has made them His brethren ( ; ).

‏ Mark 3:32-35

The True Family of the Lord

After the complete rejection by the religious leaders, the Lord is going to distinguish between the natural ties He has with Israel and a remnant with whom He connects Himself. The reason for this is the arrival of His mother and His brothers who want Him to come to them. Although His relatives are not hostile, they are “outside”. They are not under His blessing influence; they are not with Him in the house. There is another company around Him.

While He is in the house with a crowd around Him, His relatives let Him know they are looking for Him. Because of their natural ties with Him, they think they have a certain right to Him. He has to be there for them first, and He has to leave the crowd for what it is.

The Lord answers with the question: “Who are My mother and My brothers?” With this question He does not set aside the natural family ties. He has set them as the Creator Himself and woe to the human being who doesn’t acknowledge them. But natural family ties should not rule over the connections between the members of the spiritual family, the family of God. At the same time we must handle this principle with caution. There have been believers who have neglected their natural ties for the sake of so-called spiritual activities. That, of course, is not what the Lord means to say.

He acknowledges those who listen to His words as His family. As He says so, He looks about at those who were sitting around Him, to have personal contact with each and every one of them, as it were. With this statement He also indicates the breach between Him and the people from whom He was born as Man and for whom He came. He sets the old relationships aside and now establishes new ones. The basis for the new relationships is to do the will of God. He executes that will perfectly. Only those who are connected with Him through His work on the cross also do God’s will. By giving Himself for them, He has made them His brethren (Jn 20:17; Heb 2:11).