Luke 8:19-21 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. (20) And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. (21) And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
If we were to take a poll, who would you say is the most important person in the world to you? I would have to say the most important person in my life is my lovely wife. A very close second would be my daughter. Next would be my parents and then my brothers and sisters along with some of my closet friends. In our text today, Jesus wasn’t exactly polled about this, but he gave us his opinion anyway.
We know Jesus was out preaching and his mother and brothers came to see him. There was such a large crowd gathered that his family could not easily get to talk to Jesus. Instead, they got a message into him via a messenger, informing him that they were outside and wanted to see him. Here is his response.
Luke 8:21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
In this response, Jesus is not saying that family is not important. On the contrary. Throughout the Bible, we are told that family is very important. In fact, there are commands in place that directs us to take proper care of our family. It is our responsibility. So what is he trying to convey?
Jesus was here on earth for a spiritual purpose and used earthly things to convey spiritual messages. Here he uses his physical family to teach this all important lesson: That following God, hearing his word and following it is the MOST important thing we can do! God, and obedience to him must be our number one priority! His spiritual family was a higher priority than his physical family. In saying this, he began to define who fit into the spiritual family: those that do the will of God!
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
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