Reflective Bible Study

Following up what we focused on in our last episode, we discover in our passage for this episode that Jesus’ mother and brothers arrive. If we were to take this passage and event by itself, we would not have any context for why Jesus’ mother and brothers were there. However, as our passage in the last episode pointed out, the purpose of Jesus’ family’s trip was to stop Jesus from doing what He had been called to do.

Let’s read what happened when they showed up, and discover some things we can learn from Jesus’ response. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will read from the New International Version. Starting in verse 31, Mark tells us:

³¹ 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.”

In the entire gospel record, this event stands out in my mind as one of the most offensive things Jesus does. In three short verses, Jesus basically disowns His own family while emphasizing a bigger point about families in general. However, while we might be quick to point blame onto Jesus for how He reacts in this situation, He is not the only one at fault.

The way Jesus’ mother and brothers handle this situation is equally as bad. While Jesus’ family could have waited for an opportunity to go inside, or pushed their way through the crowds into the home, they send a message to Jesus instead. The implication in the message is that Jesus must stop what He is doing and step outside to talk to them.

While there is nothing in the message that is relayed to Jesus that indicates Jesus’ mother and brothers think He is crazy or that He needs to stop, we learn that from the context of this passage, specifically in the opening verses of our last episode’s passage.

In these few verses, we see Jesus’ family challenging Jesus to stop, and Jesus responding by redefining the idea of family in a way that excludes them.

However, I don’t see Jesus actually disowning His family. Instead, Jesus disowned what they were there doing. Instead of focusing on listening and learning, which would have been God’s will in this situation, we see Jesus’ family step outside of God’s will and try to get Jesus to stop.

How do we know that listening to Jesus is part of God’s will? From what Jesus implies in the last two verses in this passage. Verses 34 and 35 describe the scene: “Then he [Jesus] looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Jesus draws attention to those seated in the circle around Him, and then He calls these men and women His mother and His brothers. Jesus then identifies the characteristic we must have to be called a brother, a sister, or a mother, and this characteristic is that we are doing God’s will. This means that those seated in the circle are doing what God wanted them to do because Jesus calls them His mother and His brothers, and Jesus’ family is made up of people doing God’s will.

This leads us to a huge truth: Doing God’s will places us within God’s family!

When we step outside of God’s will for our lives, we also step outside of God’s family. While it is never pleasant to think that our presence in God’s family is a matter of obedience, living within God’s will has at its definition a level of obedience. God’s will is not up for debate and God’s will for us is not something that changes.

In this passage, Jesus elevates but also simplifies what it means to be a part of God’s family. If you think doing God’s will is hard, you may be right, but according to this passage, doing God’s will is about as simple as you can think of. All those people in this passage did to be included in Jesus’ family and be identified as doing God’s will was simply sitting and listening to Jesus. I cannot think of a simpler way to be praised for being within God’s will.

While we don’t have Jesus physically speaking into our ears today like He did with those people in the first century, the next best option we have is reading the Bible, and in the context of this passage, we could say reading the gospels, that include Jesus’ own words. We could take this a step further and listen to an audio recording of the Bible to actually hear God’s word. With the technology available today, we can listen to the Bible in ways that would not have been dreamed of hundreds of years ago.

However, in this passage, we also see a challenge. In this passage, we see a subtle warning that our families might be a source of distraction. This passage subtly implies that Satan was working through Jesus’ mother and brothers to try to get Jesus to step outside of God’s will. If the Pharisees and religious leaders weren’t able to stop Jesus, Satan may have reasoned that Jesus’ own family might derail Him.

I am not going to step out and claim that in your case, Satan is distracting you from God’s will directly through your family. More often than not, life is more complex than this. Instead, knowing this is a possibility for us to face, especially since Jesus faced it Himself, we should find time that we can spend focusing on God and on Jesus when our families are not around or doing something that will distract us.

I will be the first to say that dedicating time to spend with God is much easier to say than it is to do. However, I also know that a strong relationship with God needs time spent with Him, and that means we must prioritize time with God. We have already seen in Mark’s gospel that Jesus focused on spending time with God. In our own lives, we must make spending time with God a priority because everything else in our life will try to steal time away from this incredibly significant habit.

As we come to the end of this podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to prioritize spending time with Him. Know that almost everything imaginable will try to steal time out of your life that you could spend with God, but believe that the time you spend with God will be rewarded in ways you cannot even begin to imagine. A strong relationship with God today leads into eternal life when Jesus returns. While there is more to the gospel than just this truth, the gospel message doesn’t mean much without this important detail.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue intentionally praying and studying the Bible for yourself to continue growing your personal relationship with God stronger. While pastors, speakers, authors, or even a podcaster can give you great things to think about, don’t neglect your time with God in favor of listening to other people. If you focus more on what others think and believe you will never be able to grow into the faith and knowledge that God has called you into. Instead, grow a personal relationship with God and let other people’s thoughts and ideas strengthen and encourage what you have already begun.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As we continue moving further into John’s gospel, John the author turns His attention back onto John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner in ministry. In this short event, John the Baptist says some amazing things about his ministry pointing people to Jesus, and he gives a profound summary statement regarding eternal life that is worth paying attention to.

Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 3, and we will be reading from the New Century Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 23, John tells us in his gospel that:

²³ John [the Baptist] was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were going there to be baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put into prison.)

²⁵ Some of John’s followers had an argument with a Jew about religious washing. ²⁶ So they came to John and said, “Teacher, remember the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you spoke about so much? He is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷ John answered, “A man can get only what God gives him. ²⁸ You yourselves heard me say, ‘I am not the Christ, but I am the one sent to prepare the way for him.’ ²⁹ The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. But the friend who helps the bridegroom stands by and listens to him. He is thrilled that he gets to hear the bridegroom’s voice. In the same way, I am really happy. ³⁰ He must become greater, and I must become less important.

³¹ “The One who comes from above is greater than all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about things on the earth. But the One who comes from heaven is greater than all. ³² He tells what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he says. ³³ Whoever accepts what he says has proven that God is true. ³⁴ The One whom God sent speaks the words of God, because God gives him the Spirit fully. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything. ³⁶ Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the Son will never have life. God’s anger stays on them.”

In this passage, as we read it together, a couple of ideas jumped out of these verses at me.

First, the way John the Baptist opens his reply about Jesus taking his followers is amazing. The way John the Baptist frames his ministry in relation to Jesus’ ministry is powerful. John knows that his ministry is entirely preparing people for Jesus, and when Jesus steps into the public eye, John wants people to pay more attention to Jesus than to him. In the first portion of his reply, John says: “A man can get only what God gives him. You yourselves heard me say, ‘I am not the Christ, but I am the one sent to prepare the way for him.’ … He must become greater, and I must become less important.” (verses 27-28, 30)

This is powerful in my mind because it tells me John knew His ministry and influence would shrink as Jesus’ ministry and influence grew. John understood His role as forerunner for Jesus, and he humbly accepts that his time in the spotlight would fade as Jesus becomes more famous. It is also interesting to note that we read about a brief period of time when Jesus and John the Baptist were both baptizing people, and that this happened prior to John the Baptist being thrown into jail.

Part of me wonders if God let John be thrown in jail to symbolize or simply mark the end of John’s ministry in an attempt to help push John’s followers over to Jesus. From how John describes his ministry, John is clear that he is not the Messiah, or the Christ, but that he was sent to point people to the Messiah. Even while not saying it directly in this passage, John focuses attention onto the detail that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, who God had sent into the world.

However, in the second portion of John’s response, another idea jumped off the page at me. In verse 36, John tells all his followers, “Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the Son will never have life. God’s anger stays on them.” This is a powerful statement. We discover that belief in Jesus brings eternal life, but lack of obedience forfeits eternal life.

Some might be quick to say that their preferred Bible translation does not say the word “obey”. Instead, their translation says something along the lines of: “he who does not believe the Son shall not see life”.

However, before our discussion dives into a debate about translations, the original Greek word in the first portion of this passage is different from the Greek word that is given later. The first word in our passage that is translated as “believe” has a similar but different meaning than the second word, which our passage translated as “obey”.

The first word, which is translated as “believe”, means “to be persuaded of” or “to place confidence in” which we could say is similar to trust. Trusting Jesus leads to having eternal life!

However, the second word, which our passage translated as “do not obey” has a slightly different meaning. While belief is part of its definition, it means not being persuaded, and there is a strong emphasis on the lack of belief leading to a lack of obedience. In my mind, this idea might be similar to apathy. If we are apathetic towards Jesus, and we don’t let the truth of the gospel affect our lives in visible ways, then we will never have life, much less eternal life.

Apathy towards Jesus is probably the worst thing we can do. If we say we believe Jesus, but we are apathetic towards Him, we will forfeit our salvation. Obeying Jesus does not give us eternal life, because when we obey Jesus, the focus can easily turn off of Jesus and onto how well we are obeying Him. Our salvation is not based on anything we can do or have done. We are only saved because of what Jesus accomplished for us.

When we accept Jesus’ gift and we let Him into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we begin the process of life transformation, or as some religious people describe it: “sanctification”. When we actively move towards Jesus, we are also moving away from sin and away from disobedience. It is our change in direction that prompts us to be saved because we are trusting and believing in Jesus! We are saved when our focus and the direction of our lives is towards Jesus. We lose our salvation when we are apathetic towards Jesus or we outright reject Him.

John the Baptist understood this amazing truth before Jesus had fully stepped into the public spotlight, and his declaration about Jesus, regardless of how popular or unpopular it is, forms the foundation for Jesus’ ministry, Jesus’ life, and Jesus’ death on behalf of you and me!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and intentionally place your hope, faith, trust, and belief in Jesus and in what Jesus accomplished for us during His time here on earth. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, we are offered a gift we do not deserve and a gift we cannot earn, and it is up to us whether we will accept this gift, even if it is unpopular, or be apathetic towards both the gift and the Gift-Giver.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and discover who Jesus is, who God is, and why this matters to us living over 2,000 years after these events happened. Through the pages of the Bible, discover God’s story and let God’s story define your story as we move forward towards eternity!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be apathetic towards where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!