Written by Stefan Johnsson
The Word
19 Then His mother and brothers came to Him, but they could not meet with Him because of the crowd. 20 He was told, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see You.”
21 But He replied to them, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”
Luke 8:19-21 (HCSB)
46 He was still speaking to the crowds when suddenly His mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to Him. 47 Someone told Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.”
48 But He replied to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 12:46-50
5 (For not even His brothers believed in Him.)
-John 7:5
21 “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will even rise up against their parents and have them put to death. 22 You will be hated by everyone because of My name. But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.
-Matthew 10:21-22
Reflection
As we read through Luke chapter 4, we discussed how Jesus was rejected by the people at His home town of Nazareth. The people who knew Jesus and His father as He grew up with them, could not see beyond Jesus’ earthly family to understand who He truly was as the Son of God. John explains in his gospel that not even Jesus’ brothers believed who He was at the beginning of His ministry.
There are many of us who can resonate to this even today. Those who are closest to you have a hard time believing all that you have accomplished in life or the changes that God has done in your life. They only see you as the kid they grew up with, and not as someone who is an expert in their respective field or have become spiritually mature.
So when Jesus’ family came to take Him away from the crowd, their motives were set on keeping Him safe, and not truly understanding His mission. It is surprising that even Mary, Jesus’ mother, fully comprehended what Jesus came to do.
Jesus told the crowd that, even though we have an earthly family that we should not neglect, our true family is the spiritual one. We are bonded by the Holy Spirit, which is stronger than blood. For Jesus knew that there will come a time – esp. for His disciples and other Jewish believers – that they would be forsaking their own families in order to follow Jesus. Even to this day, in certain places around the world, people are put to death just for believing in Jesus and are betrayed by their very own family.
Application
As we are studying through the Gospel of Luke, there have been some themes which have become evident to me. It is how much we need a spiritual community of believers to surround us. Very often it is easy to neglect our spiritual family or not try to work on them because life gets busy. Living in the U.S. can also make this more difficult to nurture a community compared to other countries. Though, no matter what our circumstances are, there is always a family or person in our church community who needs help and the encouragement of others.
So the question is, how can you help to build your church community and to restore broken relationships?
Prayer
Father in heaven, thank You for my spiritual family. Help me to foster these relationships and to build a stronger community of believers who can care for each other. I am thankful for the people who You have brought into my life and to help me grow as a believer in Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
City Life Starter 
Leave a Reply