For some, following Jesus will put them at odds with their families and traditions. In some cultures, the family may hold a funeral for you, consider you dead to them, and for some, even have the right to take your life for converting to Christianity.
Jesus is put in this position. His family thinks He has gone mad, and they have come to retrieve Him and to talk some sense into Him.
Let’s see how Jesus responds.
Mark 3:31-3531 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Yes, even Mary was part of the social pressure to move Jesus away from what God had asked Him to do.
Jesus’ response: “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Spiritual family. I am thankful for my family of birth, and I have significantly benefited from their love and friendship. Thankfully, I was not put in a situation where I had to choose God over them, but only in small ways. I have been blessed to have many, many spiritual brothers, sisters, and mothers. The depth of which I am eternally grateful.
Jesus did reunite with His family, but He did not stop following God.
He made hard decisions about what was of the greatest importance in life, and that was doing the will of God.
Many reading this today may well be stuck in the challenge of wanting to learn and know more about God and who Jesus is, but the cost and the risk in your social world, be it friends or family, seem too great.
I would say to you that even Jesus faced this pressure and chose God over all of it. His family then were those too who said I will do what God wants, and seek to do His will.
If you’re facing challenges in exploring faith due to family or social pressures, consider Jesus’ example. Those who seek to do God’s will become part of a new, spiritual family.
