From His Family To Yours

Find yourself in this passage.  You are here!

Matthew 12: ⁴⁶While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. ⁴⁷Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. ⁴⁸But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? ⁴⁹And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! ⁵⁰For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

“From our family to yours” is a holiday slogan for the time frame from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  This text shows that and is a real encouragement to us.  We see a side of Jesus we often overlook.  We consider him as God’s Son sent to earth as if those 33 years he spent here were spent in a vacuum.  John the Baptist isolated himself when he was old enough.  He went into the wilderness as the prophet of God, and people came to him.  Jesus was the opposite.  He was born in a stable through the womb of a virgin girl named Mary.  She was betrothed, and then married a man named Joseph.  Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost.  He left his divine family in heaven and came to earth, a movement from his family to ours.  He took a human body like ours.  When he was born, he opened his eyes and looked for the first time as a human being into the eyes of his mother and his guardian earthly father.

Jesus had a relatively normal upbringing.  He grew up in Nazareth with his parents and was subject unto them.  Joseph and Mary proceeded with their life as husband and wife.  She bore more children.  The family went to synagogue each week.  They had chores.  We find the names of some of his siblings in Matthew 13.  Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? When you read about the first council of the church in the book of Acts you see James as part of that.  It is his brother James.  He also wrote the book of James.  His brother Jude wrote the book before Revelation.  They were the family of the Lord.

Here Jesus is in Capernaum and has been away from home for a while.  He’s been helping people and meeting their needs.  The hungry were fed.  The sick were healed.  He calmed storms.  He cast out demons.  For a timeless eternity he had sat at the right hand of his Father in heaven.  Now he had to pray just like we do.  We were so separated from God that it was impossible to get together with him on our own.  That’s why God had to bridge the gap.  Jesus had to become a member of the family of man, particularly, the family of Joseph.

Jesus is in a home teaching.  It is so crowded that his family who has come to see him can’t get in.  A message is sent to Jesus that his family is there.  He used them as an illustration to teach this great truth to us.  He always had time for his family.  He was 100% a family member.  He willingly became part of a human family and took on with it normal life responsibilities.  He asked who is my mother? and who are my brethren? Then he pointed to the disciples and the crowd and said behold my mother and my brethren^. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother. If we do the will of the Father, we become part of his family.  Christianity is God from his family to ours.  When Jesus became part of Joseph and Mary’s home, he became part of everyone.  We have a Savior, the Son of the heavenly Father who became part of us to suffer and create a way for us to be saved. Being saved makes us part of the family of God.

Jesus left Nazareth with tears in his eyes.  He knew he would die, but he knew the only way to save them was to leave.  If there is anything to be thankful for, it is that we have a Savior who was willing to leave his heavenly family and then his earthly family so that he could reconcile us to God.

When you sit down at the Thanksgiving meal, you have a Savior at the table straight from his family to yours!