Christ Encounter #5: Jesus and Family (Mark 3:20ff)

20 One time Jesus entered a house, and the crowds began to gather again. Soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat. 21 When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away. “He’s out of his mind,” they said. 22 But the teachers of religious law who had arrived from Jerusalem said, “He’s possessed by Satan, the prince of demons. That’s where he gets the power to cast out demons.” 31 …Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. 32 There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” 33 Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers.” 34 Then he looked at those around him and said,“Look, these are my mother and brothers. 35 Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:20-21, 31-35)

I. INITIAL QUESTIONS & OBSERVATIONS

1. What does Jesus’ family think he is out of his mind?  Is this a compliment?  What about the religious leaders?  Why do they think he has a demon?  Is this a compliment?

2. Why do we learn about Jesus’ family in this text?  Why does it not mention Jesus’ father?

3. Why did they stand outside and send someone to tell him to come out?  Why didn’t they just go themselves?

4. What point is Jesus making by his question: “Who is my mother?  Who are my brothers?”

5. What do we know about Jewish family values in the time of Jesus?

6. Is Jesus being disrespectful to his mother and brothers here?  Is Jesus being anti-family here?

7. What is the main point Jesus is trying to make in this encounter?

II. EXEGESIS & INTERPRETATION

Many may be surprised when they come upon this often overlooked Christ Encounter that our Savior and Lord, Jesus himself, was labeled a loony, considered “out of his mind” by his own mother and brothers, and mistaken for a demon-possessed nutcase.  I have never heard this passage emphasized on an episode of Focus on the Family and youth pastors are probably wise to just avoid this teaching of Jesus — lest parents draw the wrong conclusion that we are somehow downplaying the significance of family.

We can be “good Christians”, read our Bibles, go to church on Sundays and say a prayer before our meals without letting our faith challenge our core allegiances in life.  But if we want to move beyond safe, comfortable, domesticated “churchianity” and become a true, sold-out, radical Jesus followers, then we need to wrestle with “allegiance-passages” like this.

You can profess to be a Jesus-follower with your lips but your true allegiances are revealed by the way you live and order your life. For example, if you claim God as your provider but lose faith when you lose your job, then Money or financial stability may be your true God.  If you claim Jesus is your Lord but trust your own insight in making all the big decisions of life without prayer or God, then you may be the true Lord of your life.  If you claim Jesus as your as your King and call yourself a citizen of the Kingdom of God but invest most of your time and energy debating the worldly politics of the American Right and Left then your primary allegiance may in fact be to the American flag rather than the Kingdom of Christ.  Religious people talk politely of private beliefs, while Kingdom-centered Jesus followers talk of new allegiances.

So, we at last come to Jesus’ encounter with his well-intentioned, but misguided mother and brothers.