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His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him. A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.”
He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and mother.”
His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him.
A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.”
He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?”
Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, “Behold, my mother and my brothers!
For whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, and mother.”
Then came his mother and his brethren and stode with out and sent vnto him and called him.
And the people sate aboute hym and sayde vnto him: beholde thy mother and thy brethren seke for the with out.
And he answered them sayinge: who is my mother and my brethren?
And he loked rounde about on his disciples which sate in compasse about hym and sayde: beholde my mother and my brethren.
For who soever doeth the will of God he is my brother my syster and mother.
Then came his brethren and mother, and stoode without, and sent vnto him, and called him.
And the people sate about him, and they said vnto him, Beholde, thy mother, and thy brethren seeke for thee without.
But hee answered them, saying, Who is my mother and my brethren?
And hee looked rounde about on them, which sate in compasse about him, and saide, Beholde my mother and my brethren.
For whosoeuer doeth the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv31, 34 Under this name Brother, the Hebrews understand all that…
Under this name Brother, the Hebrews understand all that are of the same stock and kindred.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv31–33 31 There came then his brethren and his mother,…
31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
Ver. 31. Then came his brethren] Here the Evangelist returneth to the history he had begun to set forth Mar 3:21.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v31 See Poole on "Mat 12:46", and following verses to…
See Poole on "Mat 12:46", and following verses to Mat 12:50.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v31 Observe here, 1. The truth and verity of Christ’s…
Observe here, 1. The truth and verity of Christ’s human nature; he had affinity and consanguinity with men, persons near in blood to him by the mother’s side, called here his brethren; that is, his kinsmen.
Observe, 2. That the mother of Christ, though she was a blessed and holy woman, yet she was not free from sin, but failures and infirmities are found with her. It was a fault to interrupt our Saviour unreasonably at this time, when he was preaching to the people. The like we see in her at other times, Luk 2:48, and Joh 2:3. No saint here on earth ever was in a state of sinless perfection.--Blessed be God, we are hastening to such a state.
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Observe, 3. That Christ did not neglect his holy mother, or disregard his poor kindred and relations, but only showed that he preferred his Father’s work and business before their company and acquaintance at this time.
Observe, 4. How exceedingly dear obedient Christians are to Jesus Christ; he prefers his spiritual kindred before his natural. Alliance by faith is more valued by our Saviour than alliance by blood. To bear Christ in the heart, is a greater honour than to bear him in the womb. Blessed be God, this great and gracious privilege is not denied us even now. Although we cannot see Christ, yet love him we may. His bodily presence cannot be enjoyed by us, but his spiritual presence is not denied us. Though Christ be not ours in house, in arms, in affinity, inconsanguinity; yet in heart, in faith, in love, in service, he is, or may be ours. Verily, spiritual regeneration bringeth men into a more honourable relation to Christ than natural generation ever did.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v31 Here is, 1. The disrespect which Christ's kindred, according…
Here is, 1. The disrespect which Christ's kindred, according to the flesh, showed to him, when he was preaching (and they knew very well that he was then in his element); they not only stood without, having no desire to come in, and hear him, but they sent in a message to call him out to them (Mar 3:31, Mar 3:32), as if he must leave his work, to hearken to their impertinences; it is probable that they had no business with him, only sent for him on purpose to oblige him to break off, lest he should kill himself. He knew how far his strength would go, and preferred the salvation of souls before his own life, and soon after made it to appear with a witness; it was therefore an idle thing for them, under pretence of his sparing himself, to interrupt him; and it was worse, if really they had business with him, when they knew he preferred his business, as a Saviour, so much before any other business.
2. The respect which Christ showed to his spiritual kindred upon this occasion. Now, as at other times, he put a comparative neglect upon his mother, which seemed purposely designed to obviate the prevent the extravagant respect which men in aftertimes would be apt to pay her. Our respect ought to be guided and governed by Christ's; now the virgin Mary, or Christ's mother, is not equalled with, but postponed to, ordinary believers, on whom Christ here puts a superlative honour. He looked upon those that at about him, and pronounced those of them that not only heard, but did, the will of God, to be to him as his brother, and sister, and mother; as much esteemed, loved, and cared for, as his nearest relations, Mar 3:33-35. This is a good reason why we should honour those that fear the Lord, and choose them for our people; why we should be not hearers of the word only, but doers of the work, that we may share with the saints in this honour, Surely it is good to be akin to those who are thus nearly allied to Christ, and to have fellowship with those that have fellowship with Christ; and woe to those that hate and persecute Christ's kindred, that are his bone and his flesh, every one resembling the children of a king (see Jdg 8:18, Jdg 8:19); for he will with jealously plead their cause, and avenge their blood.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv31–32 And he looked round about on them which sat…
And he looked round about on them which sat about him,.... To find out his disciples among them, and point them out particularly, by stretching forth his hand towards them: and said,
behold my mother and my brethren: not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; his mother, because, in regeneration, he was formed in them; his brethren, because, by adoption, his God was their God, his Father their Father; See Gill on Mat 12:49.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv31, 34 Then come his brethren and his mother - Having…
Then come his brethren and his mother - Having at length made their way through the crowd, so as to come to the door. His brethren are here named first, as being first and most earnest in the design of taking him: for neither did these of his brethren believe on him. They sent to him, calling him - They sent one into the house, who called him aloud, by name. Matt. xii, 46; Luke viii, 19.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv31, 33 Verse 31. His brethren and his mother] Or rather,…
Verse 31. His brethren and his mother] Or rather, his mother and his brethren. This is the arrangement of the best and most ancient MSS.; and this clause, και αἱ αδελφαι σου, and thy sisters, Mr 3:32, should be ADDED, on the authority of ADEFGMSUV, fifty-five others, some editions, the margin of the later Syriac, Slavonic, Gothic, and all the Itala except four. Griesbach has received this reading into the text.
Calling him.] This clause is wanting in one copy of the Itala. The Codex Alexandrinus has ζητουντες αυτον, seeking him.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v31 Mar 3:31-35. There came then his brethren and his…
Mar 3:31-35. There came then his brethren and his mother — Having at length made their way through the crowd, so as to come to the door. His brethren are here named first, as being first and most earnest in the design of taking him; for neither did these of his brethren believe on him. They sent to him, calling him — They sent one into the house, who called him aloud by name. Looking round on them who sat about him — With the utmost sweetness: he said, Behold my mother and my brethren — In this preference of his true disciples even to the Virgin Mary, considered merely as his mother after the flesh, he not only shows his high and tender affection for them, but seems designedly to guard against those excessive and idolatrous honours which he foresaw would, in after ages, be paid to her. See the notes on Mat 12:46-50.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v31 See the notes at Mat 12:46-50.
See the notes at Mat 12:46-50.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv32–34 The brethren of our Lord were not the children…
The brethren of our Lord were not the children of the blessed Virgin: nor were they the sons of St. Joseph by a former wife, as some pretend; but in the Scripture language, and in this place, we understand by brethren the relatives of Mary and Joseph. (Ven. Bede)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv31–32 § 45. — JESUS’ MOTHER AND BRETHREN; WHO HIS…
§ 45. — JESUS’ MOTHER AND BRETHREN; WHO HIS RELATIVES, Mar_3:31-35.
(See notes on Mat_12:38-45.)
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31. There came then his brethren and his mother — Fulfilling the purpose they expressed in Mar_3:21. But when they arrived from Nazareth they found him so surrounded as to be unable to get access to him. That the brothers of Jesus disbelieved in him was clearly a fact. But there is no proof that his mother ever doubted his miraculous conception or his divinity. At the first miracle in Cana of Galilee, her faith is impatient for the demonstration of his power, which she truly expected.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv31–34 31–35. His Mother and His Brethren come to Him
31–35. His Mother and His Brethren come to Him
31. his brethren] Their names, James, Joses, Simon, Judas, are given in Mat_13:55 and Mar_6:3. Some understand them to have been His literal “brethren,” others think they were the sons of Cleophas and Mary, the sister and namesake of the Virgin.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv31, 32, 34 (31-35) There came then his brethren and his mother.—See…
(31-35) There came then his brethren and his mother.—See Notes on Mat_12:46-50.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv31, 34, 35 Vers. 31-33. Our Lord"s brethren and his mother had…
Vers. 31-33. Our Lord"s brethren and his mother had now arrived (see ver. 21) to look after him. He was in the house teaching; but the crowd was so great that they could not approach him. The multitude filled not only the room, but the courtyard and all the approaches. St. Luke (Luk_8:19) says," they could not come at him for the crowd." His brethren here spoken of were in all probability his cousins, the sons of Mary, the wife of Alphaeus or Clopas. But two of these, already chosen to be apostles, were most likely with him in the room, and of the number of those towards whom he stretched out his hand and said, "Behold, my mother and my brethren!" whilst Mary and the others had come (Mary, perhaps, induced by the others in the hope that the sight of his mother might the more move him) for the purpose of bringing him back to the quiet of Nazareth. We cannot suppose that the Virgin Mary came with any other feeling than that of a mother"s anxiety in behalf of her Son. She may have thought that he was in danger, exposed to the fickle temper of a large multitude, who might at any moment have their passions stirred against him by his enemies, the scribes and Pharisees; and so she was willingly persuaded to come and use her influence with him to induce him to escape from what appeared evidently to be a position of some danger. If so, this explains our Lord"s behavior on this occasion. The multitude was sitting about him, and he was teaching them; and then a message was brought to him from his mother and his brethren who were without, perhaps in the courtyard, perhaps beyond in the open street, calling for him. The interruption was untimely, not to say unseemly. And so he says, not without a little tone of severity in his words, Who is my mother and my brethren? Our Lord did not speak thus as denying his human relationship; as though he was not "very man," but a mere "phantom," as some early heretics taught; and still less as though he was ashamed of his earthly relationships; but partly perhaps because the messengers too boldly and inconsiderately interrupted him while he was teaching; and chiefly that he might show that his heavenly Father"s business was more to him than the affection of his earthly mother, greatly as he valued it; and thus he preferred the spiritual relationship, in which there is neither male nor female, bond nor free, but all stand alike to Christ in the relationship of brother, sister, and mother. It is remarkable, and yet the reason for the omission is obvious, that our Lord does not mention" father" in this spiritual category.
Vers. 31-35. Kindred of Christ.
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The feeling with regard to Christ had, by this time, become extremely strong. On the one hand, the people generally were deeply interested in his teaching, were eager spectators of his mighty works, and in many cases were much attached to himself. Hence the crowd which thronged the house where Jesus was engaged in teaching a crowd so dense that none from the outside could approach the Master. On the other hand, the opposition to the Prophet of Nazareth was growing and spreading among the scribes and Pharisees, some of whom from Jerusalem were now usually among the audience, anxiously on the watch for any utterance which they might use to the disadvantage of the bold and fearless Teacher. In these circumstances, the concern of the relatives of Jesus was natural enough. They saw that his labours were so arduous and protracted that he was in danger of exhaustion through weariness. And they feared that the attitude he was taking towards the hypocritical Pharisees was imperilling his liberty and safety. They accordingly professed to believe in his madness, and sought to lay hold on him. Hence the interruption recorded in this passage, which gave rise to this memorable and precious declaration of his spiritual affinity and kindred to all whose life is one of obedience to the Father.
I THE FACT OF SPIRITUAL KINDRED BETWEEN CHRIST AND HIS PEOPLE. Earthly relationships were admitted and honored by Jesus. Yet spiritual kindred was set above them. Under the gospel dispensation there are revealed emphatically the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of Christ. We are the children of God. Jesus, in his glory, is not ashamed to call us brethren.
II THE PROOF OF SPIRITUAL KINDRED WITH CHRIST. Who are they whom Jesus commends and admits to his fellowship and confidence? They who do his Father"s will. Upon such he looks with approval.
1. His requirement is not intellectual or sentimental merely, but practical. Belief and feeling are necessary, but not sufficient. We are made to act, and in our life to carry out the Divine commands. Jesus asks the devotion of the heart, expressed in the service of the active nature. We are saved by grace, and works are the proofs of faith. Obedience proceeds from hearty confidence and sincere love. Indeed, the Lord himself has told us that this is the work of God, that we "believe on him whom he hath sent." And Christians are those who prove the sincerity of their love by a practical consecration.
2. It is the privilege of the Christian voluntarily to obey a personal, Divine will. He sees the Lawgiver behind the law. His life is not mere conformity to regulation to some such abstract standard as "the fitness of things." It is subjection to a Being whose will enjoins a course of virtue and piety. Religion Has too often, like law, like society, summoned men to do the will of man of fallible, fickle man. Christ calls us all away from this endeavor to a far nobler and better aim summons us to do the will, not of man, but of God! This is a standard with which no fault can be found, no dissatisfaction can be felt.
3. Jesus looks for, not a mechanical, but a spiritual, obedience. The description of the Christian life is, doing the will of God from the heart.
4. Christ requires not servile but filial obedience. We know from personal experience the difference between doing the will of a master or a ruler and doing the will of a father. It is to this latter kind of obedience that we are called. It is much to believe in the personality and authority of God, but it is more to live under the sense of his fatherhood; for this involves his interest in us, his care for us, his love toward us; and all these are obviously considerations which make duty both delightful and easy. The motive is not merely moral, it becomes religious. The Christian acts as a child who brings before his mind, as a ruling consideration, "my Father"s will.
5. Christ desires not occasional or fitful acts of obedience, but habitual service. One act is good, both in itself and also as making a second act easier. Obedience becomes a second nature, a law recognized and accepted; and perseverance is the one proof of true principle.
III THE PRIVILEGE OF SPIRITUAL KINDRED ASSURED BY CHRIST. Men boast of eminent ancestors, distinguished connections, powerful kinsmen; but such boast is usually foolish and vain; whereas it is in the power of the humblest Christian to glory in the Lord. The friendship of Jesus surpasses that of the greatest and the best of human friends. It is closer and more delightful, it is more honorable and more certain and enduring than the intimacy of human kindred.
1. Participation in Christ"s character. There is a family likeness; the Divine features are reproduced.
2. Enjoyment of the tender affection of Christ.
3. Intimate and confidential intercourse with Christ. These two are closely associated. This spiritual relationship involves a peculiar interest, each in the other. So far from indifference, there is mutual regard and concern. The honor of Christ is very near the Christian"s heart, and Christ engraves his people "upon the palms of his hands." There is a special tenderness in these mutual regards, very different from the ceremonial or official respect attaching to some relations. "Ye are my friends," says the Saviour. Hymns and devotional books have sometimes exaggerated this side of piety; yet with many probably the danger lies on the other side. As there is a specially confidential tone in the intercourse of the several members of a family, so is there something like this in the fellowship of the Redeemer and his redeemed ones. "All things that I have heard of the Father," says he, "I have made known unto you;" and, on the other side, the follower of the Lord Jesus pours all his intimate thoughts and wishes into the ear of his heavenly Friend and Brother.
IV THE OBLIGATIONS OF SPIRITUAL KINDRED. Of these may be mentioned:
1. Reverent regard for his honor.
2. Self-denying devotion to his cause.
3. Recognition of his brethren as ours.
PRACTICAL CONCLUSION. Observe the liberality of the language of Jesus, the wide invitation virtually given in his declaration: Whosoever," etc. This is not limited to the learned or the great; it is open to us all.
Vers. 31-35. The mother and the brethren of Jesus.
The annoyance and hindrance of a moment are turned to eternal gain to the cause of truth.
I FAMILY INFLUENCES MAY INJURE SPIRITUAL USEFULNESS. They are powerful either way. They operate subtly and constantly. A tendency to narrowness in the family tie, which requires to be checked. Much of this influence which is adverse to Christian life is unconsciously so. Yet the intensest forms of hatred to truth and goodness are exhibited within the family relation. Hence the necessity for clear forcible realization of the distinction between lower and higher obligations. The child of God will have recourse to constant prayer for help and guidance, and for the conversion of relatives.
II THERE ARE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THE NATURAL MUST YIELD TO THE SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP. This is so whenever they conflict, or when, both being of Divine obligation, the later is manifestly more immediately impressed upon the conscience, and more evidently calculated for the good of men and the glory of God.
III THE NEAREST AND ONLY PERMANENT RELATION TO CHRIST IS SPIRITUAL NATURAL.
1. An invitation to all.
2. An encouragement and inspiration to real di sciples.
3. A forecast of the communion of saints. M.
Vers. 31-35. Kinship to Jesus.
I FIRST THAT WHICH IS NATURAL, AFTERWARDS THAT WHICH IS SPIRITUAL. This is one order. Our spiritual being is built up on a natural basis. Slowly the bud of the higher being unfolds from the plant of earthly root. Through the home to the Church; by the love of mother and brother and sister, to the love of God and of all.
II FIRST THE SPIRITUAL, AFTERWARDS THE NATURAL. This is the order in another way. The end of our being is in the spiritual; this is its dignity, its reflection of the Divine. It claims the first thought, other things being equal. When friends stand in the way of duty, between us and the light of truth, we must be true to the higher self. It may seem a stern rule, until we find that every low affection we renounced for the higher is given hack to us bathed in a new glory. J.
Vers. 31-35. Parallel passages: Mat_12:46-50 Luk_8:19-21. The real relationship.
I NO SLIGHT INTENDED. The crowd that sat around prevented his relatives reaching him; they therefore sent a message, to which his reply cannot with any propriety be twisted into an expression of contempt. His obedience to his parents in the humble home at Nazareth during the years of youth, and his tender solicitude for his apparently widowed mother when, as he hung on the cross, he commended her to the care of the beloved disciple, preclude the possibility of such a meaning.
II HEAVENLY KINSHIP. He looked round in a circle; this expression of the look, like that of the sitting posture of the multitude, implies the report of an eye-witness. Looking round about him and directly into the face of every faithful follower sitting there, he announced a higher and holier relationship than that formed by an earthly tie; he acquainted them with the existence of kinship near and dear as that which unites the nearest and dearest of human kindred. The Church is Christ"s family, and to every true member of that family he is bound by the tenderest bonds of love. What a privilege to be thus closely united to and tenderly loved by Christ!
III CONDITION OF THIS RELATIONSHIP. It is not the possession of varied knowledge of God"s will and works and ways, though that is important; nor is it the possession of faith, though that is the root; nor is it the acceptance of Christ in the exercise of faith, though that is indispensable to salvation; but it is a more practical condition, and one more easily known and more readily discernible; it is doing the will of God.
IV THE MEASURE OF ENDEARMENT BELONGING TO THIS KINSHIP. The Saviour makes his natural affections the measure of his spiritual friendship. When we are enjoined to love our neighbor as ourselves, it does not mean that we should love ourselves less, but our neighbor more; so here, he does not love his mother and brothers and sisters less, but his true disciples more. The poorest and meanest as well as the richest may attain to this honor and share this love. We may obtain in this way a name better than that of sons and daughters; we may be honored with that new, best name of love. "Behold th" amazing gift of love The Father hath bestow"d On us, the sinful sons of men, To call us some of God. J.J.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v31 There came then His brethren and His mother.
Mar_3:31-35
There came then His brethren and His mother.
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Spiritual kinship with Christ
See the honour and dignity of good Christians that believe in Christ. There is a most near union between Christ and them, even as near as between natural parents and children, or between those that are of nearest kindred by natural birth: therefore He accounts them as His spiritual kindred, as dear nod near to Him as His mother and brethren. And what an honour is this, to be of the spiritual kindred of Christ Himself, to be called and accounted His brother or His sister. If it be an honour to be of the blood-royal, or of the kindred of some noble personage, how much more honourable to be the brother or sister of Christ Jesus! Let all believers think of this dignity vouchsafed to them; and let it comfort them (as well it may) against all the contempt they meet with in the world. The grace of faith engrafts the believer into the stock of Christ, and brings him within His pedigree, making him to be of most near kindred with Him in a spiritual manner: it makes Christ and the believer as near to each other as natural parents and children; yea, as husband and wife, for it marries them together, whence it is that Christ is said to be the Husband of the true Church. Let this move us to labour for true faith in Christ. If we had been born and lived about the time when He was upon earth, would we not have been glad to be in the number of His natural brethren and sisters? How much more desirous should we be to be His brethren and sisters by faith? Never rest till thou know thyself a believer in Christ, and one of His kindred spiritually engrafted into Him; without this thou art miserable, though thou hast kinship by natural blood with all the princes and great men in the world. (G. Petter.)
The result of relationship with Jesus
The tenderest human ties were used by the Son of God as an illustration of our Divine relationship. To be Christs disciple is to belong to His family. Home, with its deep-rooted sympathies and precious endearments, is to picture our union with the Lord. Religion is as personal in its affections as in its duties. Holiness may seem to the undeveloped saint an almost fearful thing, hard to imagine, impossible to realize. But to live with Jesus and love Him is very real and very glorious. The believer finds a hand to clasp, a face to gaze upon, an ear for whispered confidences. How strange and beautiful the words must have sounded. It is as if a prince had taken by the hand a rude and ignorant slave, and drawn him into the dignity and affection of the royal household. (C. M. Southgate.)
Doing the will of God
One of the household words of the kingdom of God. It emphatically teaches that there are but two divisions of mankind-those who do the will of God, and those who disobey that will; and that not even the closest blood relationships (much less the possession of national, or church, or religious privileges) can in the slightest degree affect the distinctness and permanence of the line between these divisions. Of all relationships, spiritual ones are the closest; and there is but one permanent relationship to God, which is conformity to His will. (M. F. Sadler.)
Spiritual relationship
A poor, but pious, woman called upon two wealthy and refined young ladies, who, regardless of her poverty, received her with Christian affection, and sat down in the drawing room to converse with her upon religious subjects. While thus employed, a dashing youth by chance entered, and appeared astonished to see his sisters thus engaged. One of them instantly started up and exclaimed, Brother, dont be surprised; this is a kings daughter, though she has not yet got her fine clothing.
Divine relationships
Let us look at this subject in one or two of its important bearings upon some of the relative positions of life.
I. As regards our ties of natural relationship one to another. There is a bond stronger even than the strongest bond of nature. We may not say that Christ, as Divine, had an independence of natural affections. Yet these considerations are not to diminish the duty and affection which are to fasten relations together; no book invests our home relationship with such sweetness and power as the Bible. Yet there is a bond stronger. It is of the very last importance that the ties which fasten us together in blood and kindred should be exceedingly and paramountly strong. What parent does not feel it with his child? What husband does not feel it to his wife? Or what brother and sister do not feel it one to another? See, then, the immense necessity that the spiritual and the natural attachment run in one. Otherwise, there will be a want of sympathy. Otherwise, look at your position, worldly parents, if you have a pious child; or you, worldly children, if you have pious parents; or worldly brothers and sisters, if you have pious ones. With all you love, there is an influence at work in this world-and it may spring up any moment in your family-which may clash with the natural affections and the human obligations. And remember (it is almost awful to say it), remember, it has in it the elements of an infinite separation forever and ever. Do I say, that if your child is religious he will love you less? God forbid. But this I say, that if a worldly parent has a religious child, that child may be, and indeed sometimes must be, placed in the most difficult and perplexing of all possible relationships-a relationship of which the result may be most disastrous to peace. On the other hand, what and if the tide of grace rolls into the current of nature? What and if the omnipotence of a heavenly love wrap round and bind the human attachment? What and if relations are one in the unity of the mystical body of Christ? What and if we have our natural fathers spiritual fathers, and our natural children spiritual children, and our natural brothers and sisters brothers and sisters in Christ? How exceedingly, how eternally happy the bond! Now then, brethren, if it be so, what an argument there is here! Never voluntarily form any connection which is not in the Lord! And what an argument is here for continual, earnest prayer, and efforts for the conversion and salvation of those who are nearest and dearest to us. For then are they fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, children indeed when the one Christ in all hearts makes one body and one soul; and the ray from heaven meeting the ray from earth, they blend together, till they glow into a perfect flame of light and love. But there is another relative duty which necessarily grows out of these words.
II. And now, God is gathering such a family around Him, and all the feelings and affections which He has planted in these hearts of ours, even the fondest, are only the dim types and shadows of that higher life, when before admiring hosts He shall say, Behold My mother and My brethren. But who are they who are so very dear to Christ? Now mark everywhere Christs jealousy for the Fathers glory, Whosoever shall do the will of My Father. That is the road to the heart of Christ-do Gods will. The determining question is, What is the will of God? Am I doing it? (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The different phases of the love of Christ
And so it is, my brethren. The love of Christ is represented to us in the text as comprising within itself all those affections which endear our homes to us, and which, being all derived from His fulness, are parted in a fragmentary state among the various relationships of human life. Consider the manifoldness of aspect under which this love is represented to us. Christ Himself is represented to us under manifold aspects-each aspect suitable and satisfying to some want of the human mind. There are four portraitures of Christ-four gospels; and why? Because the subject to be apprehended is infinitely grand, and the minds capabilities of apprehension limited. It is with the mind as with the eye. If an object be real and substantial, the eye does not take it in, in its integrity, by viewing it on one side only. Thus it is with a house or other building. You survey it from a point at which only one side is turned towards you. It presents certain features, a certain arrangement of buttress and arch, doorway and window. This, however, is but a superficial acquaintance with it. Go round, and view another side. You discover there fresh designs of architectural beauty, or fresh adaptations to the convenience of the inmates. And now a third side. It is in shade and frowns-leaving altogether an impression on the mind, totally different from that upon whose white marble the sunlight was sparkling. When you have seen the fourth side, you have seen all: your impression is complete-it is made up of various elements, but all combine to form one whole. Now the mind resembles the eye. It can only become acquainted with objects-especially with large and comprehensive objects-piecemeal. It cannot gain the whole truth from one survey, without planting itself at different standing points. Even so it will help us to realize the love of Christ, if we consider one by one its various elements, those bright lines which enter into its composition.
I. What is the distinguishing trait of a brothers love. The idea is not congeniality of tastes in every respect, but active support in all the struggles and difficulties of life. This, then, is the first phase of the love which is in Christ-the love of active support.
II. The same is My sister. A love remarkable for its tenderness and delicacy-different from that entertained towards a brother. This, then, is the second phase of the love which is in Christ-the being sensitive to the feelings of the person loved.
III. The same is My mother. The love entertained for a sister and mother have the one element in common. But superadded is a feeling of reverence, honour, and gratitude (1Ki_2:19). Them that honour me I will honour (1Sa_2:30). That God and Christ will honour sinful man confers great dignity. Such, then, are the several ingredients of the love of Christ towards all those who come under the terms here specified. Nay, all love and affection, existing among men, in whatever quarter and under whatever circumstances, may be said to be comprised in His love, into be a mere emanation from the fulness of love which is in Him. Again I recur to my image of the light. Light is one thing, though comprising in itself several hues. All the fair hues of nature inhere in the light-so that where there is no light, there is no colour. Wherever the light travels, it disparts its colours to natural objects-to one after this manner, to another after that-the emerald green to the leaves-to the flowers violet, and yellow, and crimson. And in the same manner all love is in Christ, and is from Him, as its Fountainhead and Centre, disparted among the various relations of human life. A ray from His light struggles forth in the care of the father, in the tenderness of the mother, in the active support of the brother or friend, in the sisters refined sympathy-nay, in the affectionate homage of the son. And this whole love, in all its manifold elements, is brought to converge, with unshorn beams, upon that thrice happy man or boy, who does the will of God. (E. F. Goulburn, D. C. L.)
The kinsmen of Christ
I. Christ determines the claims of earthly relationship when compared with the claims of God and duty.
1. His mother and brethren presumed on their relationship.
2. The multitude concurred.
3. Christ practically declared the superior claims of duty-or of God, to those of earthly relations. Relations and duty often clash. But for this decision, how much difficulty, etc. How much support has it given.
II. The weakness of the ties of nature, when compared with those ties to which the gospel gives existence.
1. Christ asked who His mother and brethren were, i.e., who stood to Him in nearest relation?
2. He answered the question-His disciples. The one temporary, the other eternal.
3. Their comparative strength has been tried.
4. How beautiful when united!
III. The honourable position of believers-the kinsmen of Christ.
1. He has entered the human family.
2. He has introduced them into the Divine family.
3. As a kinsman He redeemed the inheritance which was lost.
4. He is not ashamed, in heaven, to call them brethren.
5. They take rank from Him, not He from them.
IV. The character of Christs kinsmen.
1. It is in respect of the moral nature that man is born again.
2. The Divine nature, which through regeneration is imparted, is holiness.
3. Hence the family likeness, i.e., holiness. (Expository Discourses.)
Relationship to Christ
I. Its importance. It is an everlasting relationship.
1. It delivers us from what is earthly and vain. It is only by the formation of a higher kinsmanship that we can be severed from the drag of the carnal.
2. It connects with salvation and eternal life. It is the grafting into the living stem of the vine.
3. It connects us with honour and glory. All that our kinsman has becomes ours.
II. Its formation (Joh_1:12). This is the first point at which we commence doing the will of God.
III. Its manifestation. A life of service, of doing the Fathers will.
1. Are our hearts doing the Fathers will?
2. Are our intellects doing the Fathers will?
3. Are our purposes doing the Fathers will?
4. Is our life doing the Fathers will?
5. Is our family doing the Fathers will?
6. Is our business life doing the Fathers will? Thus let us test our relationship to Christ. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The test of relationship:-If you go out into the woods in the summer, you may see, high up on some tree, a branch with dry twigs and withered leaves. It seems to be a part of the tree. Yet when you look closer, you find it has been broken away, and now it is only a piece of dead wood encumbering a living tree. The test of relationship with the tree is life-fruit-bearing. That is also the test of relationship with Christ. The power which binds the iron to the magnet is unseen, but real; the iron so bound becomes itself a magnet: the power that binds believers to Christ and makes them members of Him, is as real, though also unseen..
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v31 CHAPTER 3:31-35 (Mar_3:31-35)
CHAPTER 3:31-35 (Mar_3:31-35)
THE FRIENDS OF JESUS
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"And there come His mother and His brethren; and, standing without, they sent unto Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting about Him; and they say unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee. And He answereth them, and saith, Who is My mother and My brethren? And looking round on them which sat round about Him He saith, Behold My mother and My brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother." Mar_3:31-35 (R.V.)
WE have lately read that the relatives of Jesus, hearing of His self-sacrificing devotion, sought to lay hold on Him, because they said, He is beside Himself. Their concern would not be lightened upon hearing of His rupture with the chiefs of their religion and their nation. And so it was, that while a multitude hung upon His lips, some unsympathizing critic, or perhaps some hostile scribe, interrupted Him with their message. They desired to speak with Him, possibly with rude intentions, while in any case, to grant their wish might easily have led to a painful altercation, offending weak disciples, and furnishing a scandal to His eager foes.
Their interference must have caused the Lord a bitter pang. It was sad that they were not among His hearers, but worse that they should seek to mar His work. To Jesus, endowed with every innocent human instinct, worn with labor and aware of gathering perils, they were an offense of the same kind as Peter made himself when he became the mouthpiece of the tempter. For their own sakes, whose faith He was yet to win, it was needful to be very firm. Moreover, He was soon to make it a law of the kingdom that men should be ready for His sake to leave brethren, or sisters, or mother, and in so doing should receive back all these a hundredfold in the present time (Mar_10:29-30). To this law it was now His own duty to conform. Yet it was impossible for Jesus to be harsh and stern to a group of relatives with His mother in the midst of them; and it would be a hard problem for the finest dramatic genius to reconcile the conflicting claims of the emergency, fidelity to God and the cause, a striking rebuke to the officious interference of His kinsfolk, and a full and affectionate recognition of the relationship which could not make Him swerve. How shall He "leave" His mother and His brethren, and yet not deny His heart? How shall He be strong without being harsh?
Jesus reconciles all the conditions of the problem, as pointing to His attentive hearers, He pronounces these to be His true relatives, but yet finds no warmer term to express what He feels for them than the dear names of mother, sisters, brethren.
Observers whose souls were not warmed as He spoke, may have supposed that it was cold indifference to the calls of nature which allowed His mother and brethren to stand without. In truth, it was not that He denied the claims of the flesh, but that He was sensitive to other, subtler, profounder claims of the spirit and spiritual kinship. He would not carelessly wound a mother's or a brother's heart, but the life Divine had also its fellowships and its affinities, and still less could He throw these aside. No cold sense of duty detains Him with His congregation while affection seeks Him in the vestibule; no, it is a burning love, the love of a brother or even of a son, binds Him to His people.
Happy are they who are in such a case. And Jesus gives us a ready means of knowing whether we are among those whom He so wonderfully condescends to love. "Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven." Feelings may ebb, and self-confidence may be shaken, but obedience depends not upon excitement, and may be rendered by a breaking heart.
It is important to observe that this saying declares that obedience does not earn kinship; but only proves it, as the fruit proves the tree. Kinship must go before acceptable service; none can do the will of the Father who is not already the kinsman of Jesus, for He says, Whosoever shall (hereafter) do the will of My Father, the same is (already) My brother and sister and mother. There are men who would fain reverse the process, and do God's will in order to merit the brotherhood of Jesus. They would drill themselves and win battles for Him, in order to be enrolled among His soldiers. They would accept the gospel invitation as soon as they refute the gospel warnings that without Him they can do nothing, and that they need the creation of a new heart and the renewal of a right spirit within them. But when homage was offered to Jesus as a Divine teacher and no more, He rejoined, Teaching is not what is required: holiness does not result from mere enlightenment: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Because the new birth is the condition of all spiritual power and energy, it follows that if any man shall henceforth do God's will, he must already be of the family of Christ.
Men may avoid evil through self-respect, from early training and restraints of conscience, from temporal prudence or dread of the future. And this is virtuous only as the paying of a fire-insurance is so. But secondary motives will never lift any man so high as to satisfy this sublime standard, the doing of the will of the Father. That can only be attained, like all true and glorious service in every cause, by the heart, by enthusiasm, by love. And Jesus was bound to all who loved His Father by as strong a cord as united His perfect heart with brother and sister and mother.
But as there is no true obedience without relationship, so is there no true relationship unfollowed by obedience. Christ was not content to say, Whoso doeth God's will is My kinsman: He asked, Who is My kinsman? and gave this as an exhaustive reply. He has none other. Every sheep in His fold hears His voice and follows Him. We may feel keen emotions as we listen to passionate declamations, or kneel in an excited prayer-meeting, or bear our part in an imposing ritual; we may be moved to tears by thinking of the dupes of whatever heterodoxy we most condemn; tender and soft emotions may be stirred in our bosom by the story of the perfect life and Divine death of Jesus; and yet we may be as far from a renewed heart as was that ancient tyrant from genuine compassion, who wept over the brevity of the lives of the soldiers whom he sent into a wanton war.
Mere feeling is not life. It moves truly; but only as a balloon moves, rising by virtue of its emptiness, driven about by every blast that veers, and sinking when its inflation is at an end. But mark the living creature poised on widespread wings; it has a will, an intention, and an initiative, and as long as its life is healthy and unenslaved, it moves at its own good pleasure. How shall I know whether or not I am a true kinsman of the Lord? By seeing whether I advance, whether I work, whether I have real and practical zeal and love, or whether I have grown cold, and make more allowance for the flesh than I used to do, and expect less from the spirit. Obedience does not produce grace. But it proves it, for we can no more bear fruit except we abide in Christ, than the branch that does not abide in the vine.
Lastly, we observe the individual love, the personal affection of Christ for each of His people. There is a love for masses of men and philanthropic causes, which does not much observe the men who compose the masses, and upon whom the causes depend. Thus, one may love his country, and rejoice when her flag advances, without much care for any soldier who has been shot down, or has won promotion. And so we think of Africa or India, without really feeling much about the individual Egyptian or Hindu. Who can discriminate and feel for each one of the multitudes included in such a word as Want, or Sickness, or Heathenism? And judging by our own frailty, we are led to think that Christ's love can mean but little beyond this. As a statesman who loves the nation may be said, in some vague way, to love and care for me, so people think of Christ as loving and pitying us because we are items in the race He loves. But He has eyes and a heart, not only for all, but for each one. Looking down the shadowy vista of the generations, every sigh, every broken heart, every blasphemy, is a separate pang to His all-embracing heart. "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee," lonely, unconscious, undistinguished drop in the tide of life, one leaf among the myriads which rustle and fall in the vast forest of existence. St. Paul speaks truly of Christ "Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." He shall bring every secret sin to judgment, and shall we so far wrong Him as to think His justice more searching, more penetrating, more individualizing than his love, His memory than His heart? It is not so. The love He offers adapts itself to every age and sex: it distinguishes brother from sister, and sister again from mother. It is mindful of "the least of these My brethren." But it names no Father except One.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v31 31. Then came his brethren and his mother. See…
31. Then came his brethren and his mother. See notes on Matt. 12:46–50. Compare Luke 8:19. The natural inference is that the “brethren” were the sons of Mary and the half-brothers of Jesus. No other idea would ever have been maintained had it not been that the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary arose some centuries after the apostles.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v31 Mar_3:31. His brethren.—The word means nothing more than His…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar_3:31. His brethren.—The word means nothing more than His “nearest male relatives.” Probably either the sons of Joseph by a previous marriage, or of the Mary mentioned in Mar_15:40. It is inconceivable that our Lord should have assigned His mother to the care of John, if she was the mother of four other sons.
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MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mar_3:31-35
(PARALLELS: Mat_12:46-50; Luk_8:19-21.)
Kinship to Christ.—Notwithstanding the organized opposition of the religious leaders, crowds continue to surround Christ, eagerly listening to His gracious words. But His friends and relatives, already convinced that “He is beside Himself” (Mar_3:21), now induce His mother to accompany them into His presence. The reason must have been, observes Calvin, “either that they were anxious about Him, or that they were desirous of instruction; for it is not without some good reason that they endeavour to approach Him, and it is not probable that those who accompanied the Holy Mother were unbelievers. The warmth of natural affection may have carried them beyond the bounds of propriety; but I have no doubt that they were led by pious zeal to seek His society.” One would fain believe that this estimate of their conduct is the true one, rather than the harsher judgment of Chrysostom, that the Blessed Virgin wanted to make a public display of her maternal authority. But, whatever the motive may have been, whether wholly innocent or partly blameworthy, Christ seizes the opportunity to set forth eternal truths of far-reaching import.
I. A sad fact.—“So far from blood relations being, as a matter of course, helpers and promoters of spiritual duty or lofty sacrifice in the home of which they are inmates, the history of all times goes to prove the very contrary; in the persecutions endured for the faith’s sake the daughter has risen against her mother, and the father against his son, and the house has been divided against itself; and the sword (not of the Spirit) has invaded it. We may have to choose between Christ and some one who, after the flesh, is as dear to us as our own soul. Which shall we go with? (Mat_10:37.) A call to the mission field, or the preference of a quiet Christian life to a career of splendour and fashion, or a profession which implies the reproach of Christ rather than the riches of Egypt, has often disturbed families and parted kinsfolk” (Bishop Thorold).
II. A great principle.—Christ here declares most emphatically, that obedience, not privilege, constitutes true kinship to Him—that the spiritual fellowship which He came from heaven to establish, and which all may equally participate in, is a far higher and more precious thing than any mere earthly tie. So far, however, from in any way depreciating the natural relationships of brother, sister, mother, He adds to them fresh dignity and interest, by adopting them as fit terms for the description of His closest union and communion with believers. “It was not that He denied the claims of the flesh, but that He was sensitive to other, subtler, profounder claims of the spirit and spiritual kinship. He would not carelessly wound a mother’s or a brother’s heart, but the life Divine had also its fellowships and affinities, and still less could He throw these aside” (Dean Chadwick). As Bengel puts it: He contemns not the mother, but He places the Father first.
III. An abiding law.—“There is no tie so close, so holy, so blessed, so exquisitely tender, as that which joins one regenerate soul to another in the mystical body of Christ. The joy of the common salvation, the inheritance of the faith once delivered to the saints, the fellowship in the gospel, the inexplicable experience of the love which passeth knowledge, the hope laid up in heaven, the sympathy and zeal and ardour for the honour of the Saviour—these constitute an unity closer, surer, fonder, deeper, than the dearest earthly tie which human souls can know” (Bishop Thorold). The tender bonds of family affection can find stability nowhere but in Christ, the “Elder Brother,” who is the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father, from whom every family both in heaven and earth is named.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar_3:31. The family visit.—We place this visit of the mother and brethren of Jesus immediately after His return to Capernaum, and we attribute it to Pharisaic opposition, which either filled those relatives of Jesus with fear for His safety, or made them sincerely concerned about His proceedings. Only if it meant some kind of interference with His mission, whether prompted by fear or affection, would Jesus have so disowned their relationship.—A. Edersheim, D.D.
Christ’s outside kindred.—They were without—that is, not in the inner circle of the crowd standing by Him and with Him, but on the outside of the crowd, loving Him, but wanting to get Him away from His present surroundings. They no doubt thought Him unwisely carried away with enthusiasm, and that He was spoiling or hurting His cause as well as imperilling His life. Jesus has many outside kindred—those who admire Him, and appreciate to some extent His sublime teaching on ethical points; but they do not understand Him as the world’s Saviour; especially they do not understand the significance of His death and His relations to all men irrespective of persons, and the nature of that new kingdom of men and women “born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, … but of God.”—G. F. Pentecost, D.D.
Weigh the calls.—This was a call to give up His work. We must be careful to weigh the calls that come to us. Even the calls of kindly consideration may need to be resisted.
Mar_3:33-35. Lessons.—
1. The power of interfering with others in such a way as to do good is a very rare possession.
2. Sometimes it is our duty to take a course that grieves dear friends. In such cases aim at doing as Jesus did—blending perfect gentleness with perfect firmness.
3. Nearness to Christ is a matter not of race, or place, or time, but of heart.
4. Let all seek this essential grace that was the root grace of Christ’s character—and live daily, hourly, doing the will of our Father in heaven.—R. Glover.
The false and the true family of Jesus.—
1. The one would watch over Him and His cause; the other will be watched over by Him.
2. The one would lead Him; the other will be led by Him.
3. The one would save Him; the other will be saved by Him.
4. The one would restrain and bring Him into danger; the other will be restrained and bound by His Word and Spirit.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
Mar_3:34. The Church’s relationship to Christ.—Christ here speaks of the relationship which the Church on earth can hold to Him.
1. It can be, as it were, a “mother” to Him—can, as that highly favoured and blessed among women, bear Him, again and again, to a perishing world which needs Him,—can, I say, be as she was, but is not, because lofty purity and lowly submission to God’s will are lacking.
2. Or the Church can be as those “brothers” were—those who tenderly cared for Him—those who misunderstood Him, and would fain protect Him from Himself—those who at length learned to believe in Him, and to suffer with Him, and to stand witness before kings for His sake: thus can the Church be, when it gets the brotherly heart, and thinks more of Christ than of self.
3. Notice that Christ did not say, when He spoke of the relationship man can hold to Him, “Behold My Father.” That is a position no man by himself, nor all men put together, can hold to Him. For the father’s position (and half the world’s evils, domestic, political, and religious, have arisen from forgetfulness of this) is the originating and governing position. The true son only then lives when he does the will of his father. And the Christ, who saves, admits no man’s right to stand in this governing, regulative position to Him.—J. W. Owen.
Mar_3:35. Christ’s spiritual kindred.—Wonderful words!
1. Think of it, busy toiler, far away, perhaps, from the home of your youth; a young man here in this city, it may be, with few friends. Here is an assurance of the Saviour’s brotherly kindness.
2. Or you may be a daughter trying to lift a mother’s burden or a father’s care. No matter how poor or needy, if you are doing God’s will, Christ calls you His sister.
3. You may be a wearied, perplexed mother, with many little ones, and disheartened with the work and burden of home, where the bitter and sweet mingle. Jesus calls you “Mother,” and makes Himself your “Son”!—E. P. Parker, D.D.
The gospel of the family of God.—We have had the gospel of the kingdom of God, and glad tidings it has been indeed; but have we not here something even better? It is much to be permitted to hail the Son of God as our King: is it not better still to be encouraged to hail Him as a Brother, to know that all that is sweetest and tenderest in the dear words “brother,” “sister,” “mother,” can be imported into our relation to Him? How it endears the heavenly relationship, and hallows the earthly!—J. M. Gibson, D.D.
The family of love and service.—All those who have been impelled by a higher inspiration, and those who, subjugated by God’s call, have dedicated their whole life to His service, will understand without difficulty these words of Jesus. Every strong conviction ends by taking possession of us; it overcomes and absorbs us, and tears us ruthlessly from everything else; it becomes our sole object, and outside it nothing seems to touch us: those who do not understand it are strangers to us; those who attack it are our enemies; those who love and serve it with us are our true, our only family.—Father Didon.
All to each.—He does not say that one of us is to Him as a “brother,” and another is to Him as a “sister,” and another is to Him as a “mother,” according to the several features of our different characters; but the man who “does the will of God,” the same occupies, at one and the same time, all those endearing relationships. He stands in the confidence of the “brother,” in the fondness of the “sister,” and in all the holy and respectful attachment even of a “mother.”—Jas. Vaughan.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Mar_3:35. The test of relationship is life.—If you go out into the woods in summer, you may see, high up on some tree, a branch with dry twigs and withered leaves. It seems to be a part of the tree. Yet, when you look closer, you find it has been broken away, and now it is only a piece of dead wood encumbering a living tree. The test of relationship with the tree is life—fruit-bearing. That is also the test of relationship with Christ. The power which binds the iron to the magnet is unseen, but real; the iron so bound becomes itself a magnet: the power that binds believers to Christ, and makes them members of Him, is as real, though also unseen.
All love in Christ.—Light is one thing, though comprising in itself several hues. All the fair hues of nature inhere in the light—so that where there is no light, there is no colour. Wherever the light travels, it disparts its colours to natural objects—to one after this manner, to another after that—the emerald green to the leaves—to the flowers violet, and yellow, and crimson. And in the same manner all love is in Christ, and is from Him, as its Fountain-head and Centre, disparted among the various relations of human life. A ray from His light struggles forth in the care of the father, in the tenderness of the mother, in the active support of the brother or friend, in the sister’s refined sympathy—nay, in the affectionate homage of the son. And this whole love, in all its manifold elements, is brought to converge, with unshorn beams, upon that thrice happy man or boy who does the will of God.—Dean Goulbourn.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v31 Mat 12:46-50; Mar 3:31-35; & Luk 8:19; Luk 8:21;…
CONSANGUINITY OF THE HOLY GHOST
Mat 12:46-50; Mar 3:31-35; & Luk 8:19; Luk 8:21; Luk 11:27-28. “And it came to pass while He was speaking these things, a certain woman, lifting up her voice from the crowd, said to Him, Blessed is the womb having born Thee, and the breast which Thou didst suck. And He said, Truly, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” This is simply the gushing ejaculation of a woman in the crowd, so carried away with admiration of His mighty works and wonderful preaching that she is electrified with the conception of the glorious honor appertaining to the woman who enjoyed the privilege and the blessing of motherhood, thus giving the world such a Son. Matthew: “And He, speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers are standing without, seeking to speak to Him. And responding, He said to the one having spoken to Him, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? Reaching forth His hand toward His disciples [Mark says they were all sitting down around Him in a circle], said, Behold, My mother and My brothers. For whosoever may do the will of My Father who is in the heavens, the same is My brother, My sister, and My mother.” Luke says, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it.” His reputed father, Joseph, is not mentioned here in connection with the family, neither have we a single word in reference to him since Jesus accompanied them to the temple when He was twelve years old. There is not doubt but he died during the ensuing eighteen years. We hear of Jesus having sisters living in Nazareth; doubtless married. Questions arise in reference to these brothers of Jesus — four in number, James, Judas, Simon, and Joses — the Roman Catholics, conservatively to their Mariolatry, claiming that they were the sons of Joseph by a former marriage; and the Protestants, certainly with more plausibility, that they were the uterine brothers of Jesus, and of course younger than Himself, as we have not an intimation that Joseph had a former marriage, and especially from the fact that we always find them in company with Mary, which looks much like she was their mother. Jesus then being thirty-two years old, if they were children of Joseph by a former marriage, it would put them up considerably in bachelorhood, and not seem very plausible that they would have been giving a stepmother so much attention. There is no doubt but they, thinking that He was wearing Himself out, wanted to prevail on Him to relax labor, and go home with them, and take a good rest, which was incompatible with the urgency of His important ministry. We see here, His natural relatives go into eclipse when contrasted with the spiritual. So we all find, as we become more spiritual, our physical consanguinity sinks into deeper eclipse; not that we love our natural relatives less, but the consanguinity of the Holy Ghost is so much sweeter and richer than that of this world, that we find our affections absorbed and literally captured by the saints of God, admiring and appreciating them in proportion to their approximation to that Perfect Man, the fairest among ten thousand and altogether lovely.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv31, 35
Mark
THE MISTAKES OF CHRIST’S FOES AND FRIENDS
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CHRIST’S KINDRED
Mar 3:31 - Mar 3:35.
We learn from an earlier part of this chapter, and from it only, the significance of this visit of Christ’s brethren and mother. It was prompted by the belief that ‘He was beside Himself,’ and they meant to lay hands on Him, possibly with a kindly wish to save Him from a worse fate, but certainly to stop His activity. We do not know whether Mary consented, in her mistaken maternal affection, to the scheme, or whether she was brought unwillingly to give a colour to it, and influence our Lord. The sinister purpose of the visit betrays itself in the fact that the brethren did not present themselves before Christ, but sent a messenger; although they could as easily have had access to His presence as their messenger could. Apparently they wished to get Him by Himself, so as to avoid the necessity of using force against the force that His disciples would be likely to put forth. Jesus knew their purpose, though they thought it was hidden deep in the recesses of their breasts. And that falls in with a great many other incidents which indicate His superhuman knowledge of ‘the thoughts and intents of the heart.’
But, however that may be, our Lord here, with a singular mixture of dignity, tenderness, and decisiveness, puts aside the insidious snare without shaming its contrivers, and turns from the kinsmen, with whom He had no real bond, to draw closer to Himself, and pour out His love over, those who do the will of His Father in heaven. His words go very deep; let us try to gather some, at any rate, of the surface lessons which they suggest.
I. First, then, the true token of blood relationship to Jesus Christ is obedience to God.
‘Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.’ Now I must not be betrayed into a digression from my main purpose by dwelling upon what yet is worthy of notice-viz., the consciousness, on the part of Jesus Christ, which here is evidently implied, that the doing of the will of God was the very inmost secret of His own being. He was conscious, only and always, of delighting to do the will of God. When, therefore, He found that delight in others, there He recognised a bond of union between Him and them.
We must carefully observe that these great words of our Lord are not intended to describe the means by which men become His kinsfolk, but the tokens that they are such. He is not saying-as superficial readers sometimes run away with the notion that He is saying-’If a man will, apart from Me, do the will of God, then he will become My true kinsman,’ but He is saying, ‘If you are My kinsman, you will do the will of God, and if you do it, you will show that you are related to Myself.’ In other words, He is not speaking about the means of originating this relationship, but about the signs of its reality. And, therefore, the words of my text need, for their full understanding, and for placing them in due relation to all the rest of Christ’s teaching, to be laid side by side with other words of His, such as these:-’Apart from Me ye can do nothing.’ For the deepest truth in regard to relationship to Jesus Christ and obedience is this, that the way by which men are made able to do the will of God is by receiving into themselves the very life-blood of Jesus Christ. The relationship must precede the obedience, and the obedience is the sign, because it is the sequel, of the relationship.
But far deeper down than mere affinity lies the true bond between us and Christ, and the true means of performing the commandments of God. There must be a passing over into us of His own life-spirit. By His inhabiting our hearts, and moulding our wills, and being the life of our lives and the soul of our souls, are we made able to do the commandments of the Lord. And so, seeing that actual union with Jesus Christ, and the reception into ourselves of His life, is the precedent condition of all true obedience, then the more familiar form of presenting the bond between Him and us, which runs through the New Testament, falls into its proper place, and the faith, which is the condition of receiving the life of Christ into our hearts, is at once the affinity which makes us His kindred, and the means by which we appropriate to ourselves the power of obedient submission and conformity to the will of God. ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.’
So, then, my text does not in the slightest degree contradict or interfere with the great teaching that the one way by which we become Christ’s brethren is by trusting in Him. For the text and the doctrine that faith unites us to Him take up the process at different stages: the one pointing to the means of origination, the other to the tokens of reality. Faith is the root, obedience is the flower and the fruit. He that doeth the will of God, does it, not in order that he may become, but because he already is, possessor of a blood-relationship to Jesus Christ.
Then, notice, again, with what emphatic decisiveness our Lord here takes simple, practical obedience in daily life, in little and in great things, as the manifestation of being akin to Himself. Orthodoxy is all very well; religious experiences, inward emotions, sweet, precious, secret feelings and sentiments cannot be over-estimated. External forms, whether of the more simple or of the more ornate and sensuous kind, may be helps for the religious life; and are so in view of the weaknesses that are always associated with it. But all these, a true creed, a belief in the creed, the joyous and deep and secret emotions that follow thereupon, and the participation in outward services which may help to these, all these are but scaffolding: the building is character and conduct conformed to the will of God.
Evangelical preachers, and those who in the main hold that faith, are often charged with putting too little stress on practical homely righteousness. I would that the charge had less substance in it. But let me lay it upon your consciences, dear brethren, now, that no amount of right credence, no amount of trust, nor of love and hope and joy will avail to witness kindred to Christ. It must be the daily life, in its efforts after conformity to the known will of God, in great things and in small things, that attests the family resemblance. If Christ’s blood be in our veins, if ‘the law of the spirit of life’ in Him is the law of the spirit of our lives, then these lives will run parallel with His, in some visible measure, and we, too, shall be able to say, ‘Lo! I come. I delight to do Thy will; and Thy law is within my heart.’ Obedience is the test of relationship to Jesus.
Then, still further, note how, though we must emphatically dismiss the mistake that we make our selves Christ’s brethren and friends by independent efforts after keeping the commandments, it is true that, in the measure in which we do thus bend our wills to God’s will, whether in the way of action or of endurance, we realise more blessedly and strongly the tie that binds us to the Lord, and as a matter of fact do receive, in the measure of our obedience, sweet tokens of union with Him, and of love in His heart to us. No man will fully feel living contact with Jesus Christ if between Christ and him there is a film of conscious and voluntary disobedience to the will of God. The smallest crumb that can come in between two polished plates will prevent their adherence. A trivial sin will slip your hand out of Christ’s hand; and though His love will still come and linger about you, until the sin is put out it cannot enter in.
‘It can but listen at the gate,
And hear the household jar within.’
‘He that doeth the will of God, the same is’-and feels himself to be-’My brother, and sister, and mother.’
II. This relationship includes all others.
That is a very singular form of expression which our Lord employs. ‘Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.’ We should have expected, seeing that He was speaking about three different relationships, that He would have used the plural verb, and said, ‘The same are My brother, and sister, and mother.’ And I do not think that it is pedantic grammatical accuracy to point out this remarkable form of speech, and even to venture to draw a conclusion from it-viz., that what our Lord meant was, not that if there were three people, of different sexes, and of different ages, all doing the will of God, one of these sweet names of relationship would apply to A, another to B, and the other to C; but that to each who does the will of God, all the sweetnesses that are hived in all the names, and in any other analogous ones that can be uttered, belong. Of course the selection here of relationships specified has reference to the composition of that group outside the circle. But there is a great deal more than that in it. Whether you accept the grammatical remark that I have made or no, we shall, at least, I suppose, all agree in this, that, in fact, the bond of kindred that unites a trusting obedient soul with Jesus Christ does in itself include whatsoever of sweetness, of power, of protection, of clinging trust, and of any other blessed emotion that makes a shadow of Eden still upon earth, has ever been attached to human bonds.
Remember how many of these, Christ, and His servants for Him, have laid their hands upon, and claimed to be His. ‘Thy Maker is thy husband’; ‘He that hath the Bride is the bridegroom’; ‘Go tell My brethren’; ‘I have not called you servants, but friends.’ And if there be any other sweet names, they belong to Him, and in His one pure, all-sufficient love they are all enclosed. Fragmentary preciousnesses are strewed about us. There is ‘one pearl of great price.’ Many fragrances come from the flowers that grow on the dunghill of the world, but they are all gathered in Him whose name is ‘as ointment poured forth,’ filling the house with its fragrance.
For Christ is to us all that all separated lovers and friends can be. And whatsoever our poor hearts may need most, of human affection and sympathy, and may see least possibility of finding now, among the incompletenesses and limitations of earth, that Jesus Christ is waiting to be. All solitary souls and mourning hearts may turn themselves to, and rest themselves on, these great words. And as they look at the empty places in their circle, in their homes, and feel the ache of the empty places in their hearts, they may hear His voice saying, ‘Behold My mother and My brethren.’ He comes to us all in the character that we need most. Just as the great ocean, when it flows in amongst the land, takes the shape imposed upon it by the containing banks of the loch, so Christ pours Himself into our hearts, and there assumes the form that the outline of their emptiness tells we need most. To many, in all generations, who have been weeping over departed joys, He says again, though with a different application, turning not away from but to Himself mourning eyes and hearts, ‘Woman, behold thy Son’-not on the cross nor in the grave, but on the throne-’Son, behold Thy mother.’
III. Lastly, this relationship requires always the subordination, and sometimes the sacrifice, of the lower ones.
We have to think of Christ here as Himself putting away the lower claims, in order more fully to yield Himself to the higher. It was because it would have been impossible for Him to do the will of His Father if He had yielded to the purposes of His brethren and His mother, that He steeled His heart and made solemn His tone in refusing to go with them.
That group that had come for Him suggests to us the ways in which earthly ties may limit heavenly obedience. In regard to them the situation was complicated, because Jesus Christ was their kinsman according to the flesh, and their Messiah, according to the spirit. But in them their earthly love, and familiarity with Him, hid from them His higher glory; and in them He found impediments to His true consecration, and would-be thwarters of His highest work. And, in like manner, all our earthly relationships may become means of obscuring to us the transcendent brightness and greatness of Jesus Christ as our Saviour And, in like manner as to Him these, His brethren, became ‘stumbling blocks’ that He had decisively to put behind Him, so in regard to us ‘a man’s foes may be those of his own household’; and not least his foes when they are most his idols, his comforts, and his sweetnesses. If our earthly loves and relationships obscure to us the face of Christ; if we find enough in them for our hearts, and go not beyond them for our true love; if they make us negligent of duty; if they bind us to the present; if they make us careless of that loftier affection which alone can satisfy us; if they clog our steps in the divine life, then they are our foes. They need to be always subordinated, and, so subordinated, they are more precious than when they are placed mistakenly foremost. They are better second than first. They are full of sweetness when our hearts know a sweetness surpassing theirs; they are robbed of their possible power to harm when they are rigidly held in inferiority to the one absolute and supreme love. There need be no collision-there will be no collision-if the second is second and the first is first. But sometimes beggars get upon horseback, and the crew mutinies and would displace the commander, and then there is nothing for it but sacrifice. ‘If thy hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee.’ ‘I communed not with flesh and blood,’ and we must not, if ever they conflict with our supreme devotion to Jesus Christ.
These other things and relationships are precious to us, but He is priceless. They are shadows, but He is the substance. They are brooks by the way; He is the boundless, bottomless ocean of delights and loves. Shall we not always subordinate-and sometimes, if needful, sacrifice-the less to the greater? If we do, we shall get the less back, greatened by its surrender. ‘He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me’ commands the sacrifice. ‘There is no man that hath left brethren or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, for My sake and the Gospel’s, but he shall receive a hundredfold now, in this time’ promises the reward.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v31 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [L. Teaching As…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [L. Teaching As to Mother and Brethren].
L. CHRIST'S TEACHING AS TO HIS MOTHER AND BRETHREN. (Galilee, same day as the last lesson.) aMATT. XII. 46-50; bMARK III. 31-35; cLUKE VIII. 19-21.
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a46 While he yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without seeking to speak to him. [Jesus was in a house, probably at Capernaum-- Mar_3:19, Mat_13:1.] c19 and there came bcome cto him his mother and bhis brethren; cand they could not come at him for the crowd. aand, standing without, they sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude was sitting about him [We learn at Mar_3:21, that they came to lay hold of him because they thought that he was beside himself. It was for this reason that they came in a body, for their numbers would enable them to control him. Jesus had four brethren ( Mat_13:55). Finding him teaching with the crowd about him, they passed the word in to him that they wished to see him outside. To attempt to lay hold of him in the midst of his disciples would have been rashly inexpedient. The fact that they came with Mary establishes the strong presumption that they were the children of Mary and Joseph, and hence the literal brethren of the Lord. In thus seeking to take Jesus away from his enemies Mary yielded to a natural maternal impulse which even the revelations accorded to her did not quiet. The brethren, too, acted naturally, for they were unbelieving-- Joh_7:5.] a47 And one said bthey say unto him, c20 And it was told him, aBehold, thy mother and thy brethren bseek for thee. cstand without, desiring to see thee. aseeking to speak to thee. [310] [This message was at once an interruption and an interference. It assumed that their business with him was more urgent than his business with the people. It merited our Lord's rebuke, even if it had not behind it the even greater presumption of an attempt to lay hold on him.] 48 But he answered { b33 And he answereth aand said unto him that told him, band saith, cand said unto them, aWho is my mother? and who are my brethren? b34 And looking round on them that sat round about him, ahe stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, bsaith, aBehold, my mother and my brethren! cMy mother and my brethren are these that hear the word of God and do it. b35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, amy Father who in heaven, he bthe same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. [In this answer Jesus shows that he brooks no interference on the score of earthly relationships, and explodes the idea of his subserviency to his mother. To all who call on the "Mother of God," as Mary is blasphemously styled, Jesus answers, as he did to the Jews, "Who is my mother?" Jesus was then in the full course of his ministry as Messiah, and as such he recognized only spiritual relationships. By doing the will of God we become his spiritual children, and thus we become related to Christ. Jesus admits three human relationships--"brother, sister, mother"--but omits the paternal relationship, since he had no Father, save God. It is remarkable that in the only two instances in which Mary figures in the ministry of Jesus prior to his crucifixion, she stands forth reproved by him. This fact not only rebukes those who worship her, but especially corrects the doctrine of her immaculate conception.] [311]
[FFG 310-311]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v31 The true relatives of the Lord:
The true relatives of the Lord:
v. 31. There came then His brethren and His mother, and, standing without, sent unto Him, calling Him.
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v. 32. And the multitude sat about Him, and they said unto Him, Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren without seek for Thee.
v. 33. And He answered them, saying, Who is My mother, or My brethren?
v. 34. And He looked round about on them which sat about Him, and said, Behold My mother and My brethren!
v. 35. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is My brother, and My sister, and mother.
Jesus had barely finished His discourse directed to the Pharisees, when there came an interruption. We were told that His kinsmen had gotten ready to save Him against the probable loss of His reason, v. 21. They had, in the meantime, reached the house where Jesus was sitting with His disciples, the people, and the scribes. They sent a message to Him, calling Him. They believed that the demands of relationship superseded all other considerations. They had made up their mind to take Him away for a while. The message was gradually transmitted to the Lord while He was still sitting there in the midst of His hearers, for the people sat round about Him, willing enough, for once, to listen to His preaching. But when Jesus received the message, telling that His mother and His brothers (stepbrothers, half-brothers, or cousins) were anxiously looking for Him and wanted Him outside, He gave a characteristic answer. Slowly letting His gaze travel round about in the circle, where His twelve disciples were sitting in the first row, and many others that had learned to believe on Him as near as possible, He called these men (and women) His mother and His brethren, His true relatives. Not that Christ intended to disparage the claims of relationship. He Himself was a model in the obedience and respect toward His mother, Luk 2:51-52; Joh 19:27. But He wanted no unwarranted interference with His work and office. He desired to repudiate, first of all, the assumption as though He were not quite master of Himself and His actions. And He wanted them to understand, now and always, that the claims of earthly relationship did not dare to interfere with the business in hand, that of carrying out His ministry for the salvation of mankind. Under certain circumstances, it may happen even now, does happen, in fact, very frequently, that a man’s enemies are those of his own household, chapter 7:11-13; Mat 10:36. But the will of God may require that the relationship of blood, even the nearest and dearest relationship be denied in fulfilling His will. It may often take a great deal of spiritual knowledge and prudence, and at other times it may require an extraordinary amount of courage and determination, but the will of God in the government and work of His Church must be the paramount issue in all instances. There can be no divided allegiance in this case, Pro 23:26; Mat 10:37.
Summary.Jesus heals the man with a withered hand, performs miracles by the seaside, calls the twelve apostles, gives a discourse on the casting out of devils, and teaches wherein true relationship with Him consists.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 33 Then his mother and his brothers came
Then his mother and his brothers came
"Then Jesus' mother and brothers came"
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They sent for him, summoning him
"They sent someone inside to tell him that they were outside and to have him come out to them"
are looking for you
"are asking for you"
translationWords
brother
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv31, 33, 35 3:31-35 Mark resumes from 3:20-21. • Your mother and…
3:31-35 Mark resumes from 3:20-21. • Your mother and your brothers: Jesus’ brothers are commonly understood to have been children born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus’ birth (see also 6:3; Matt 1:25; 12:46; John 19:26-27); some interpreters instead believe that they were either Joseph’s children by an earlier marriage or Jesus’ cousins, due to the Roman Catholic belief that Mary was perpetually a virgin.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.