A Study In Luke - Day 25

DAY 25 - Luke 8:19-21
 
19 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they couldn’t get to him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you.”
21 Jesus replied, “My mother and my brothers are all those who hear God’s word and obey it.”

Wherever Jesus went, there were those disciples who followed him. Many had given up everything in order to follow him each and every day. His family, however, did not. They came and saw him on occasion and checked in on him. When they got there this time, they found that his popularity had grown and they couldn’t even get close enough to see him.
Someone saw they were there and let Jesus know. His answer sounds almost insensitive. He lets them know that his family are those who listen to God’s word and obey those words.

Does this mean that his family was not listening to the word of God? Perhaps. We don’t have much information on them, but we do know that they were not close disciples of Jesus. And let’s face it, it would be hard to be a disciple of your older brother or your son. That is just easy to understand.
 
Jesus felt like he had a responsibility to those who were following him as he spoke the words of God into their lives. His new “family” are those who understand what he is saying and align their lives to it.

Perhaps this is part of the cost of discipleship. His family did not partake in the ways that so many others did. That is not to say they didn’t believe, but they were not disciples in the same way that others were.
 
Of course, these words of Jesus shock us, and almost turn us off to him. But Jesus was here to do something specific, something so important that everything else in life would have to be secondary to it. Even his family needed to take a back seat to the work that God had given him.

Some of us may come from families who don’t believe. You may be the only one who can give them the word of God. However, you may also have to align your life a bit differently than they understand. Church and community may become more important to you as you grow and mature in Jesus.
 
That is not to say your family is unimportant; of course, it is. We are not Jesus, and we don’t have to forsake our families except in certain circumstances. But we can find a new family and home in Jesus and his people. It is my hope that the Crosswalk Churches will be those homes that are full of love, grace and belonging.

1. Have you ever had to make a decision your family didn’t understand? 
2. Do you think Jesus was being mean to them? 
3. How hard do you think they must have taken this interchange?