Who is Jesus' Mother and Brethren

Introduction: God's Thoughts Are Not Our Thoughts

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, October 14th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 Now may I strongly encourage you, if you have a Bible of your own with you, to turn with me to the third chapter of Mark's Gospel. For those of you visiting with us, it is not that we believe that Mark's Gospel is the only worthy part of Scripture. It just so happens that in the providence of God, in our reading through consecutively in the New Testament, we are presently reading in Mark, and in that same providence, I am preaching through the book of Mark. And our reading this morning in Mark's Gospel, with reference to the exposition, begins at verse 31 and concludes at the end of the chapter.

0:57 Mark chapter 3, beginning with verse 31.

1:03 And there it is. And there come his mother and his brothers, and standing without, they sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude was sitting about him. And they say unto him, Behold, your mother and your brothers without seek for you.

1:22 And he answered them and said, Who is my mother and my brothers? And looking round on them that sat round about him, he said, Behold, my mother and my brothers. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother and sister and mother. Let us pray that God, the Holy Spirit, will help us to understand this amazing portion of the Word of God.

1:59 Our Father, as we have sung together a portion of the 119th Psalm, we have confessed, we confess that your Word is the Son of Perfection. And we believe that every word you have spoken is true. And we pray that as we come to that authoritative, infallible Word this morning, that the same Spirit who indicted that Word would now be our teacher, that we may understand its truth and feel the pressure of that truth upon our own thinking, upon our own faith, upon our own faith. Upon our own feeling, and upon, above all else, our own wills. Meet us then, O God, we plead, in the study of the Scriptures. Amen.

2:58 No doubt there are many of you familiar with the declaration of the prophet Isaiah in the 55th chapter of his prophecy, in which he declares in the name of Jehovah, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways. My ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And surely one cannot read his Bible with any degree of understanding without constantly being made aware of this truth.

3:37 God's thoughts are not our thoughts. And the passage before us that forms the basis, of our meditation this morning, is another pointed reminder of this truth. In it, our Lord Jesus Christ says some amazing things concerning the nature of our relationship to Him, and of His relationship to us. Some of those things are nothing short of astounding.

4:09 Things which indeed cause us to cry out in awe and adoration, surely, Lord, Your thoughts are not our thoughts, and Your ways are not our ways. They are higher than ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth. So as we come to this passage, may it be in the spirit of humble dependence upon God, the Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to lay hold of the wonderful things unfolded in this portion of the Word. Now, if we are to understand and feel the weight of this passage, we must note carefully what is told us, first of all, concerning the general circumstances of this incident. As you have been reminded again and again in our study of the Gospel of Mark, we must look for clues in the immediate or more remote context, or in parallel passages in the other Gospel records, as to the precise setting, in which any given incident took place. And so, for a few minutes, consider with me the general circumstances of the incident recorded in verses 31 to 35. While we have no grounds to believe that any of the Gospel records

General Circumstances of the Incident

5:34 is a strict chronological account of all of the events and sayings of our Lord, we can, by a kind of sanctified puzzle, we can, by a kind of sanctified puzzle, putting together, get a general drift, many times, of the precise historical situation in which our Lord speaks, or is recorded as having done a certain thing. Now, here are the important factors that constitute the general circumstances of this incident. After the calling of the Twelve, and in all likelihood delivering what we call the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5, to 7, we read in Mark 19b that Jesus entered into a house. And then the two incidents that we have previously studied, with reference to his relatives who think he is having a nervous breakdown, and his enemies who think he is possessed by the devil and does his works in the power of the devil, those incidents apparently also occurred in the house, and the incident before that, and the incident before that, and the incident before that, and the incident before us, has much in it that seems to indicate that our Lord is still within the house, with a group of people sitting around him, because the term, mother and brothers are without,

7:00 is used several times in the passage. Now, add to this the clear teaching of Matthew 13, 1, the parallel passage that immediately after this incident, Matthew tells us in chapter 13, 1, Matthew tells us in chapter 13, 1, Matthew tells us in chapter 13, 1, and verse 1 of his gospel, on that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea side. And if you look right up in the last paragraph of Matthew 12, you will see this very same incident recorded by Matthew. So the first thing that we need to note about the circumstances in which this incident took place is that they took place in a house, with a multitude sitting about him. Verse 32 of Mark 3, a multitude was sitting about him. Furthermore, verse 34 tells us that looking round on them that sat round about him, a better translation would be that sat around him in a circle. So Mark is describing with the detail of one who was an eyewitness, namely Peter, and related this to Mark, that the crowd was in the house, seated probably on the floor, oriental style, cross-legged, or in the squatting position, as you'll see in some oriental and eastern countries even now.

8:27 And in this tightly packed circular configuration, the Lord Jesus was in the midst speaking to the people. Now Luke 8 and verse 19, the parallel passage in Luke's gospel, tells us that his mother and brother, and brothers, could not come at him for the crowd. Now in order to help you picture precisely what the situation was, for it's vital in feeling the weight of the passage, try to imagine that last night, the deacons came in the wee hours of the morning, unannounced and for some strange reason, took all of these chairs, stacked them up, took them out and put them downstairs, or maybe put them out in the parking lot. And when we came in this morning, all we had, was a little turned over soda box, right smack in the middle of this auditorium. And I was standing there as you began to come in and I said, now everyone please as you sit this morning, sit in circular fashion and make sure that everyone's hip or knee, touches the hip or knee of the person next to it. So as you began to come in, there'd be a circle immediately around my little turned over soda box. And then another circle, concentric circles until you were packed right out to the walls.

9:43 And even a few people sitting packed right out to the doors. And then I began to speak to you or pastor Nichols in that situation, stood up and began to lead the worship. Now that's the picture. The Lord is in a house.

9:55 His disciples in circular fashion are seated all around him and packed so close together that there's no avenue for escape. Now the local fire marshal would have been very upset. Had he been in that meeting, no lanes for quick escape, no lanes for emergency exit, but that's the precise picture. Do you see it?

10:16 Can you imagine it in your mind's eye as the story unfolds? All right. Having looked at the circumstances now in the second place, let's consider the major details of the incident, the circumstances of the incident. We have them, I hope clearly before our minds.

The Approach of Jesus' Relatives: Identity, Activity, and Intention

10:34 Now, secondly, the major details of the incident. First of all, note in verses 31 and 22, the approach, the approach of his relatives, the approach of his relatives. And there come his mother and his brothers, and standing without, they sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude was sitting about him and they say unto him, behold, your mother and your brothers without seek for you.

11:07 Now as we consider the approach of the relatives, notice firstly, their identity. Who were these relatives that approached the Lord Jesus on this given day? When he was in the house, people packed around him in concentric circles, teaching and preaching the word of God. Well, they are simply described as his mother and his brothers.

11:35 We see it in verse 32. Behold your mother and your brothers seek for you. He uses the terminology. In verse 33, who is my mother and my brothers.

11:47 Verse 34, behold my mother and my brothers. And then he adds in verse 35, the word sister, whoever should do the will of God, the same is my mother, brother, sister and mother. Now, if there had never been any strange notions and practices with respect to the Virgin Mary, no one would ever put any other meaning upon these words than their plain and obvious sense. The identity of these relatives is very simple.

12:24 It was his mother, that is, the woman in whose womb the second person of the Godhead was formed by the conception of the Holy Spirit. It was the woman at whose breast he nursed as an infant. It was the woman in whose home he grew up, who put band-aids on his knees when he scraped them on the macadam in the driveway, who tousled his hair as he began to grow up, and marveled at the mystery of human growth. It was his mother, a woman with all of the faculties and capacities of an ordinary godly woman, with all of the throbbing impulses of a highly cultivated maternal heart and instinct. And standing with the mother were these men who shared the same womb as the incarnate God, his brothers. What makes a man brother to another in the strict, plain, literal sense is that they share the same womb. They share the same womb.

13:37 They may never share the same house. They may never share the same destiny. But if they share the same womb, they are brothers.

13:48 And if the word here does not mean those who share the same womb, there is no word in the Greek language to describe a brother as we use the term a brother. Now, the Greek language does have a word for cousins. It's found in the book of Luke. It does have a word for distant relatives.

14:12 We found it up in verse 21. And when his friends, when those near to him, we might even translate it, his near of kin. It's a flexible word. But when the word brother is used, it is nowhere used in the New Testament to describe anything other than the relationship established by a shared womb or to describe a brother as a brother.

14:39 To describe a spiritual relationship or to describe a relationship of common, shared humanity. But it is never used as a synonym or a substitute for a first cousin or a second cousin. The Greek language has words for those relationships. So, we see the major detail begins with the approach of his relatives and their ideas.

15:09 Identity is clear. His mother and his brothers, later on named in chapter 6 in verse 3. Those very brothers are named and then the sisters are simply mentioned. Now, under their approach, we've looked at their identity.

15:27 But now notice, secondly, their activity.

15:31 And three things are said about them. Three verbal forms. And there come his mother and his brothers and, standing with us, without, they sent unto him, calling him. And then verse 32 says, Behold, your mother and your brothers without are seeking for you.

15:57 And Luke tells us they could not come at him for the crowd. So, their activity is very simple. As they find the precise location of the house where Jesus is gathered, with all, all the crowds sitting around him in concentric circles, they come to that house and probably as they approach the door, the crowd was pressured and spilling out, even through the doorway, and they have an intention of getting to Jesus. And they're not able to do so.

16:28 They could not get to him because of the crowd, Luke says. So, what do they do? Well, if we compare Matthew 12, Luke 8, and Mark 3, they probably did something like this. Rather than blurt out from the farthest circle of those close to him, Jesus, your brothers are here.

16:53 I, Mary, your mother, am here. Apparently, they had more sense of a general sensitivity to the sanctity of what Jesus was doing, namely, teaching and preaching the needy to engage in that kind of blurting out. Now, some did not. You remember in the Gospel of Luke, it says a certain woman cried out of the crowd, Blessed is the womb!

17:12 Blessed is the womb! Blessed is the womb! Blessed is the womb! Bearty of the breast that gave thee suck!

17:15 I call her the prototype of loud women in the charismatic movement.

17:20 No sensitivity to the context. She just felt blessed, and she blurted it out.

17:26 And she seems to be. It identifies her as a woman who cried out, Blessed is the womb that bearty of the breast that gave thee suck! And Jesus turned that apparent praise away and said, Yea, blessed rather are they who hear the word of God and who keep it. But be that as it may, Mary did not indulge in this.

17:43 for the text tells us here that it was the multitude who conveyed the message to Jesus behold your mother and your brothers without seek for you, verse 32 and they, that is the multitude sitting about him they say behold your brethren and your mother are seeking for you however in Matthew's gospel we read something that adds a little different slant we read in Matthew 12 and verse 47 and one said unto him behold your mother and your brethren stand without seeking to speak to you but he answered and said unto him that told him who is my mother and who are my brethren well did the crowd tell him or did an individual well it doesn't have to be either or use your imagination probably something like this happened Mary and the brothers starred at that outer fringe of the circle the few people by the doorway I am Mary these are my sons we wish to speak to Jesus the other member of the family would you try to get word to him that his mother and his brothers are outside of the house and we desperately desire to speak to him we desperately desire to have a word with him will you try to get word to him and so those on the outer circle

19:12 turn, two or three of them will hear it and they pass the word on and they say Mary and her sons are out here and they want to speak to Jesus her son and his brothers want to speak to him and the word by a rippling effect not only presses toward the inner part of the circle but no doubt expanded as it went if I lean over and say something in a half whisper to one of the men in the front row usually the two people next to him can hear it now if all three of them say to a person there then by multiplication before long it becomes almost identical a general word and then probably as the circle got closer and there was a general sense of disruption and everyone leaning over and whispering this word so that it became a matter that any sensitive person could see of general consciousness an individual closer to the Lord Jesus either spoke out sought for recognition raised a hand wiggled an ear whatever was proper custom in that day and then conveyed to Jesus the message that began in the outer circle your mother and your brothers are seeking for you so there is no contradiction it just underscores the wonderful independence of each gospel writer if this was some kind of a ruse surely they would have got together and made sure that all their little details agreed so no one would ever have anything to pick up on and carp about and say oh this can't be the word of God look at the contradictions

20:38 rather than undermine our confidence in the Bible things like this should strengthen it that each one is speaking and writing according to that tradition that came down from the various sources of the eyewitnesses and so the activity of this approaching group of the relatives is to get the word to Jesus that they desire to see him and to speak with him so under the approach of his relatives we've established their identity secondly their activity but now thirdly their intention their intention all we read in the text in Mark's gospel is that they were seeking for him their intention was to get to the Lord Jesus or to have the Lord Jesus come to them Matthew says that they were desirous of speaking to him but nowhere do we read in Matthew, Mark or Luke what their precise intention was and we have to deduce it and there's a strong inference given to us when we remember the setting a short while before remember we studied verses 20 and 21 that when the multitudes came together he was so busy in giving himself in self-giving love

22:07 and service to the multitudes he didn't have time to eat and his near of kin friends or perhaps more distant relatives verse 21 went out to lay hold on him for they said he's gone crazy when they found him allowing his normal patterns of eating and rest to be upset they could put only one meaning upon it the man has lost his mental equilibrium he's beside himself let's lay hold of him and take him to a place of forced rest now a condition perceived to be so drastic would not be kept the private information of those relatives and close friends and probably it had worked its way back to Nazareth and meanwhile the horrible accusation that he was demon possessed had worked its way to Nazareth or wherever Mary now dwelt with the other members of the household and in all likelihood the intention of this approach of Mary and the brothers was to try to get him out of the house and to try to reason with the Lord Jesus from two perspectives perhaps they half believed that the pressure of his ministry was endangering his well-being they would not believe he was possessed of a demon not the accusation of his enemies but some of the interpretation of the friends and not so near relatives so on the one hand in all likelihood they came on a mission

23:36 of protection desiring that those relatives should be protected from the evil of the evil of the evil he would not believe that the Lord Jesus should come with them for a time of retreat from the awful pressures of his ministry and on the other hand it may have been a matter of self-indication they wanted to take him away from people who would accuse him of being in league with the devil and may have desired not only to protect his name and reputation from such a horrible accusation but the family name that they shared in common well so much then for the ab charms much then for the approach of his relatives, but the second major detail in the incident is the response of our Lord. And this, of course, brings us to the heart of the message. The response of our Lord has three parts, a question, an action, and a declaration. Look at it. And he, verse 33, answered them and said, their inquiry comes to him, their

The Response of Our Lord: Question, Action, Declaration

24:41 desire is expressed, your mother and your brothers without are seeking for you. Now the response of our Lord is, first of all, couched in a question. He answered them and said, who is my mother and my brothers? Now can you imagine the electrifying effect this would have had upon that crowd? Try to get the picture. Jesus is standing in the midst, opening up something. In the wisdom dimension of the message of the kingdom of God, all of a sudden there begins to be this ripple of murmuring. The information that mother and brothers are seeking him begins to destroy his eye contact, begins to destroy that unbroken electric communication between speaker and hearer. And the Lord Jesus is conscious that something's going on, that minds are being distracted and eyes and ears are being distracted as this information is working its way down. And as it becomes, as it works, as it becomes, as it becomes, as

25:41 it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes, as it becomes. And so he told them, again, what was Jesus saying? The people were a common area of mental concern. And then at the point that the individual rises up and says, your mother and your brothers are seeking you, now it becomes a matter of universal concern. What did Jesus do? Well, he didn't say, wait a minute, I'm only at point two in my sermon. I've got three points. This is distracting. Forget the question. Let me finish my sermon, then we'll move on to those issues. No, he did what any wise preacher will do. If there's an unavoidable distraction of the minds of your hearers, rather than trying to distract others, give them an unODD-able distraction of the minds of your hearers rather than trying to distract rather than try to rebuke it, seize it as an opportunity to teach truth. If all of a sudden there was a thunderclap out of the clear blue sky and we were all distracted, I'd use the occasion to say, you hear that thunderclap that came suddenly and unexpectedly?

26:26 That's the way Jesus is going to come back again. Are you ready?

26:31 You see, He did what any wise preacher will do. If circumstances beyond your control have turned the mind to something that can be seized as a springboard to teach truth, well, go where the minds are. So now that all the minds are taken up, what will Jesus do? This woman who surely has unusual claims with reference to Him, His mother, the one whose womb bore Him, whose breasts sustained Him in His infancy, whose hands nurtured and cared for Him, surely He will respond to a request of His mother and His brothers, those who shared a common home and a common table and a common domestic life.

27:10 Surely, if He's been indifferent, to the friends who tried to lay hold of Him and absconded with Him, surely, surely He'll respond to them. And what does Jesus do? He plays stupid. Your mother and your brothers are seeking you.

27:26 As though He would clearly understand who His mother and His brothers were. And the Lord Jesus, may I say it reverently, played stupid. He said, who is my mother? Who are my brothers?

27:40 What is the identity of these relatives whom you're talking about? Who are my brothers? Who are my brothers? Who are my brothers?

27:44 Who are my brothers? Who are my brothers? Who are my brothers? Who are my brothers?

27:44 You say, my mother and my brothers are seeking for me? Who is my mother? And who are my brothers? Now, you see what that question did?

27:57 It immediately took the minds that had been directed to the issue of mother and brothers, and now, with the mind being directed there, it focused that mind, stunned the mind, with the question that now prepared them for a profound utterance. And then, following the question, Jesus performed an action before He spoke. Look at verse 34a. And, looking round on them that sat about Him in a circle, He said, He looked, and then He said.

28:37 Or, He looked, and while looking, said. Matthew adds another beautiful stroke to the picture. It says that He lifted up His hand towards them or upon them. Matthew 12 and verse 49.

28:56 And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples and said, Now the air is crackling.

29:05 He says, by way of question, Who is my mother and my brothers? And then, remember, they're sitting in a complete circle around Him. He looks all around them. What in the world is He doing?

29:24 Same word used earlier when He looked round about them, being grieved and angered for the hardness of their heart. The Greek word means to look round about. And if they're sitting in the circle, to look upon them, Jesus made a complete 360-degree turn with His eyes upon His people. He looked round about them.

29:46 That was His action. He looked. Matthew says, As He looked, He stretched out His hand. Now they're really ready for an utterance.

29:56 And now it comes, His declaration. The question followed by the action. Now the declaration. And it has two parts.

30:04 A command and an explanation. Look at it. And looking round on them that sat round about Him in a circle, He said, Now here's His declaration. The first part is a command.

30:17 Behold! Look! Pay attention! Pay attention to my mother and my brothers.

30:29 His command is, With His eye upon those who are sitting at His feet, and His hand stretched out in their direction, behold, consider, see! Here is my mother, and here are my brothers. You say to me that those who stand in the closest relationship to me are without seeking me? No!

30:58 They are within, sitting at my feet. You see the beautiful play that the Lord Jesus does with the words? Your mother, your brothers, are without seeking you. Who is my mother?

31:16 Who are my brothers? Makes the complete circle, raises His hand, and says, Behold, my mother. And my brothers. Look at them!

31:28 It's an imperative! Don't strain your neck to look out to the outer fringes of the circle and through the door to get a glimpse at my mother Mary and my brothers, whose names are given in chapter 6 and verse 3. Look here where my eyes now rest. Look here where my hand is stretched out.

31:48 Behold, my mother and my brothers. That's the command. Now He gives. The interpretation or an explanation.

31:59 Verse 35. Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same. More literally, this one is my brother and sister and mother. You see, lest there be any misunderstanding, having captured the ears with the question, captured their eyes with that eloquence of a look, and with that powerful gesture, of the upraised hand, having riveted the minds by His command, now He explains.

32:35 Whoever he may be among you who is doing the will of God, the same, this very one, regardless of social status, class, background, this one is my brother, my sister, and my mother. Luke says, Those who hear the word of God, and do it, they are my brother, sister, and mother. And Jesus adds, whoever, I'm sorry, Matthew adds, whoever does the will of my Father, the same is my brother and sister and mother. That's His explanation.

33:20 In what sense are these my mother, my brothers, and my sisters? In this sense, that they stand in a spiritual, spiritual relationship to me, that is of greater importance, and has more claim over me, than the maternal relationship of Mary, and the fraternal relationship of my brothers. You think to move me, to cease my teaching, and to turn aside, and respond to the request of those without, because you've identified them, as my mother and my brothers. You assume, if anyone will have claims upon me, mother and brothers will.

34:05 He says, No, you've misunderstood my relationship to these. Here is my true mother. Here is my true brotherhood. Here is my true sisterhood.

Primary Message: The Nature of Christ's True Family

34:18 Those who do the will of God. Now, those are the facts of the incident. We looked at the circumstances, the facts. Now, what is the message of this whole incident?

34:30 Well, there's a primary message, and then there's a secondary message. The primary message is so plain. It's one of those times when, as a preacher, you feel you're almost insulting your hearers by underscoring it. The message is clear, isn't it?

34:44 If you've been at least half awake for half the sermon, and I hope you've been at least that much, surely you've got the message. And the central, crucial message stands out in bold relief, and it is this. Those whom Christ regards as His true people, bound to Him in bonds of spiritual life, are those who hear and do the will of God as revealed in the Word of God. Bringing together the language of Matthew 12 and Luke 8 and Mark 3, whosoever shall do the will of God, Luke says, those who hear the Word of God and do it, the name is my brother and sister and mother. Now this is both blessedly inclusive and soberingly exclusive. Jesus does not make any other factor a descriptive element in what constitutes His true family. Whoever He be, from whatever background, whatever ancestral relationships there may be,

36:00 Whoever does the will of God, he that hears and keeps the word, I am prepared to own him as my brother, to own her as my sister, to own her as my mother. I identify myself with the humblest member of my kingdom, everyone who's come under the scepter of my grace, having seen himself in such a way as I've described him in the Sermon on the Mount, utterly unable to save himself, poor in spirit, prepared to acknowledge that he has nothing, can do nothing, and bring nothing to commend himself to God, who has looked away from himself and looked to me and to me alone, for life and for righteousness, bound to me in cords of faith and love, which always issue in obedience. This person is my brother, my sister, my mother. Oh, the blessed inclusiveness, with no regard to the artificial distinctions and barriers that men raise up among themselves. Yes.

37:15 Jesus owns as his spiritual family, whoever does the will of God, that one, regardless of any other distinctions, is part of my family, but it's exclusive as well. For you see, whatever else you may have, if your heart has not been brought subject to God by grace, has not been bound to Jesus Christ in cords of faith and love, which produce a life of careful obedience, whatever else you may have, a profession of the Christian faith, a head full of knowledge, an ancestry that is impeccable for its Christian standing, confession, and conduct. God does not own you as part of his family. God has no grandchildren.

38:12 God has no grandchildren.

38:17 And if you sit here this morning and you do not fit the description of, one who does the will of God, one whose heart is disposed to receive the word and to keep it, Jesus does not own you. You may name his name, and you may say you are his, but the issue in the day of judgment is not going to be whether you confess him, but he says that there are certain ones that he will confess before the Father, and you won't be one of them unless you do the will of God. Now, a word of faith. A word of caution is in order.

38:57 Jesus did not say, Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same shall become by his doing, my brother, sister, and mother. He's not telling us the way into life and salvation. We don't get into his family by doing.

39:14 We come into his family by grace. The self-emptying, flesh-withering graces of repentance and faith, in which we repent not only of our sins and our rebellions, but even of what the Bible calls our dead works, the good things we've done, by which we seek to commend ourselves to God. God says our righteousnesses are as polluted rags in his sight. So the text, if you'll notice, does not say, Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same will become by his doing.

39:48 No, no. He is not telling us the way into life. He is telling us the marks of those who have entered into life by faith, in himself. Remember what his message was according to Mark 1.

40:01 The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Well, he didn't come along with a new message now and say, No, if you want to enter the kingdom, start doing the will of God, and when you've done enough, then I'll open the door. No, no.

40:13 The first thing we do is to acknowledge we can do nothing to commend ourselves to God. That we come empty. We come naked. We come as beggars to receive all.

40:26 But now, let me ask you, when all is said and done, do you hear and do you keep the word of God? That's a pretty simple question, isn't it? Do you hear and do you keep the word of God? If you do, not perfectly, but purposefully, not in an occasional fit under the pressure of a gnawing conscience, but out of a principle of obedience because God's given you a new heart, and put his law within you, and you can say, I delight to do thy will, oh my God, thy laws within my heart.

Secondary Application 1: Exposing Roman Catholic Fallacies Regarding Mary

41:05 My friend, if you can say, that is my true state before God, Jesus then owns you as part of his family. That's the central, the primary message of the passage, and it is plain as the language of the text. But very briefly, there are several strands of secondary application that I cannot pass over. Without feeling that I would be irresponsible as a preacher, and the secondary message of the passage is this, number one, it exposes the fallacy of the teaching, the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding Mary.

41:47 Now, please, if you're here as a Roman Catholic, don't figuratively stuff your ears and say, uh-oh, up till now, I seem to be a pretty responsible preacher, but he's just one of those old Catholic haters. Please, please, I beg you, I plead with you, I entreat you, don't tune me out. Listen, just hear me for a moment. I'm not knocking your church as a Catholic hater.

42:15 All I'm trying to do is to get you to hear the message of Scripture. Now, listen, give me a hearing, will you, for just a few moments on this point. I say this passage exposes the fallacy of the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church regarding Mary, and I want you to see, that if they can be wrong on that teaching, maybe they're wrong on a lot of other of their dogmas. I read from the confraternity edition of the New Testament that has the official approval, all the proper prelates.

42:49 Used to be the Douay-Ring's version. This is a modern translation, and all the footnotes are approved by the proper authorities. Listen to the footnote on this passage from the confraternity edition of the New Testament. Verse 31, Brethren, that is, relatives of Jesus, not blood brothers.

43:08 This wider use of the term was common among the Jews. Jesus does not disclaim the bonds of physical relationship, but he seizes the opportunity to give a lesson on the greater dignity of spiritual relationship, etc. Now, we're supposed to believe on the authority of a footnote that brethren does not mean blood brothers. No authority is cited, no text in the New Testament is cited, just an approved footnote by those who are the official teachers of the infallible church.

43:42 My dear Roman Catholic friend, listen to me. Listen to me. There's not a shred of evidence for the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. It would turn that noble woman into a witch, as Professor Murray said.

43:56 For there's every indication that after the birth of her firstborn, she continued to live with Joseph as a husband, and the scripture says in Matthew 1 that he knew her not, that is, he didn't know her. He did not enter into sexual intimacy with her until she brought forth her firstborn, and had she continued after the days of her official Jewish purification to remain at distance from Joseph in the sexual bond, she would have not been a noble and blessed woman, but a witch. For the scripture says the wife hath not power over her body, but the husband let the wife render to the husband her due. And I say it with all solemnity, she was as holy when she gave herself to Joseph in the intimacy of their marital relations as when she gave her womb to the Holy Spirit to be the recipient of divine conception. And if you have any problem with that, you've got a problem with the biblical view of the sanctity of the sexual relationship. One can see on the face of the passage that Mary could not be a perpetual virgin, and have the Lord Jesus have brothers, and furthermore, it strikes at the doctrine of the exaltation of Mary to the level of a co-mediatrix, which is official dogma.

45:23 If Mary had any place in the redemption that Jesus was preaching that was in Himself when word went out, your mother and your brothers are without seeking you, He would have welcomed her into the midst and said, behold my mother, who with me will mediate redemption. He did no such thing. While not demeaning the sacred relationship of a son to a mother, He said there's something even more sacred than the blood bond between Himself and Mary. And that's the spiritual bond of every humble disciple who got attached directly to Him without Mary and the saints in between.

46:05 The very seeking configuration of that group loudly proclaims the Gospel. Do you see it? They were seated in a circle around Him, and when He lifted up His eyes, who was between? No crucifix, no Mary, no saint.

46:21 He lifted up His hands, symbolizing in living relationship directly with Him, they become His mother, His brothers, and His sisters. Oh, my dear Catholic friend, that's the Gospel. That's the Gospel. You don't need Saint Francis, and Saint Mary, and Saint Bonaventure, and all the other saints.

Secondary Application 2: Consolation for Weak Disciples

46:46 All you need is Him who is the fruit of Mary's womb by supernatural conception, who lived the perfect life that you and I should have lived, and who died upon a cross, and even in the midst of that death honored the fifth commandment, and saw to it that His mother would be properly cared for after His departure. But He never once suggested that she should receive anything other than the respect due to a noble woman who sought to do the will of God as a redeemed sinner. The other secondary application in the passage that seems to stand so clearly on the surface is this passage not only exposes the fallacy of the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church about Mary, it extends strong consolation to the weakest and most feeble of the true disciples of Jesus. Remember who that crowd was when He looked round about and said, here's my mother, here's my brethren, here are my sisters. Who was in that bunch? One who a year later, in an hour of weakness, was going to go back to his old sailor's language and curse and swear with utterance that he didn't even know Jesus.

48:01 Who in a moment of weakness was going to deny Him. All the disciples would flee. You read the subsequent chapters and we'll see how the Lord Jesus at times had a holy frustration with their ignorance and dullness, their slowness of heart. Oh, faithless generation, how long shall I bear with you?

48:20 But in all of that, He never once disowned them. Hallelujah. He never disowned them. He said, these are my brothers with all their warts and moles and kinks and quirks.

48:30 These are my sisters with all their wrinkles and spots and blemishes. These are my mothers. Behold them. Look upon them.

48:38 I'm not ashamed to be identified with this bunch. I tell you, if anything makes the heart rejoice, it's to know that Jesus is not ashamed to be in the midst today. Two or three gathered in my name, I'm there. Dear ones, He's in the midst.

48:56 And we're gathered not around this pulpit, but we're gathered around Him. And oh, what consolation to know that spiritually He looks round about us today and His hands are stretched out upon us. That's the last physical posture. In which the disciples saw Him as He went up into heaven, Luke says, His hands were stretched out upon them and He blessed them.

49:20 You ever try to hold your hands up for five minutes like this? He's held them up for two millennia upon His people, conferring blessing. Child of God, what are you going around like half the world's on your back for? Whatever your problems may be, that's how Christ regards you.

49:39 Can you drink in the sweetness of it? Can you say, yes, I've got this problem and this sin and this quirk? But my Savior says to all who will listen, Behold, lift up your eyes and see. Here's my mother.

49:54 Here's my brothers. Here's my sisters. What a word of consolation. And then finally, this third word of application.

Secondary Application 3: Prioritizing God's Will Over Relatives' Pressure

50:02 It's a secondary application, but it's there. Here the Lord Jesus is our perfect example, teaches us how to react from the pressure of our nearest relatives, who would divert us from the will of God. How are we to react from the well-meant pressure of our dearest and nearest relatives who would turn us aside from the will of God? No doubt Mary's motives were noble.

50:32 The motives of His brothers, it's hard to fit the pieces together. John tells us earlier in the ministry of Jesus, they did not yet believe on Him and they actually taunted Him. They said, hey, we've heard some stuff about you. You've been a hotshot miracle worker.

50:45 Why don't you go show your stuff to the big shots in Jerusalem? Remember in John 7? They taunted. Did they come to faith between then and now?

50:52 This is subsequent in the history. I don't know. But surely Mary's motive was pure. Mary's motive was pure, for she was in the Old Testament sense a true believer.

51:05 She had not yet come to the blessing of the outpoured Spirit that would come in the upper room where she, as a part of the 120, would come into full-blown new covenant salvation and all the privileges. But she was a saved woman. My soul rejoices, she said, in the Magnificat, in God my Savior. So her motives, we know, were pure.

51:26 There's a question mark over the brothers. But whatever the motives from not so pure motives of the brothers, from the pure motives of Mary, they're seeking you. But the will of the Father was that He should be in the midst of His own teaching them. What did He do with that pressure?

51:41 He graciously resisted it. He didn't demean them, but He demonstrated that the will of His Father took precedence over the wishes of His mother and His brothers. What does it mean when He says, if any man come after Me, let him hate father, mother, brother, sister? He's told us in this passage exactly what it means.

52:05 It means wherever the will of the dearest relatives runs counter to the expressed will of God in Scripture, no human tie must rival our simple obedience to Jesus Christ, for that's the mark of our spiritual attachment to Him. Some of you have that which borders on an idolatrous attachment to son, daughter, mother, father, husband, wife. You have, in a sense, got to come to the place where the dearest human ties all become faceless people when the will of God is clearly revealed in the Word of God.

52:57 ...any price to do His will, even if it runs counter to our closest relatives.

53:10 That says a lot to some of you, doesn't it? Those unconverted relatives, they're begging you to spend your Lord's days at parties. They don't care about the Lord's day. Begging you to spend your holidays in sinful reverie and drunkenness.

53:27 They don't understand when you graciously excuse yourself and when you say, look, let's plan the parties on some other day other than the Lord's day. My friend, don't think you'll win them by compromising. You'll prove to them that you're bound to someone whom they cannot see in ties that are deeper and more permanent and strong than even those ties of blood and of earthly relationship. Well, I'm sure there's much more in the passage that I haven't yet seen, but that seems to me evident.

Conclusion and Prayer: Rejoicing in Spiritual Kinship

54:01 May we take to heart the message of the passage. May we leave rejoicing this morning. If we are such as hear the word of God and do it, we should leave with hearts full of joy that our Savior owns us as His own intimate relatives brought into His family by His infinite grace. Let us pray.

54:31 Our Father, we marvel at the expansiveness of Your grace. That You would make us servants is in itself a great grace. That You would make us self more than we can ever conceive. But that You should make us Your sons and daughters, constitute Your own beloved Son, the elder brother in the family.

54:58 How we marvel. And we thank You that Your word tells us that when the purposes of Your grace are consummated, He shall be the firstborn, the chief one among many brethren, and we shall be conformed to His likeness. And we shall be forever to sin again. Hallelujah.

55:20 What a Savior. We bless You and we praise You this morning. And Father, for any who sit here, who have sought to find peace and rest in the saints and in Mary and in an infallible church, may the words spoken this day drive them from those delusions to seek rest not in an infallible church, but in an infallible Savior. And in an infallible book, which reveals Your mind and Your will.

55:52 We pray for any of Your children whose hearts are heavy, who have somehow been unable to reach out and lay hold of the wonder and glory of their position as members of Your family. Oh, by the Holy Spirit, Father, we pray enable them to rejoice in their posture of adopted sons and daughters in Your family. We pray our God for any who are dabbling with compromise because of the pressure, albeit sincere and well-meant, of loved ones and relatives. May the pattern of our Lord Jesus become our pattern.

56:31 And may we, by His grace, walk as He walked. Write, then, Your word upon every heart. And to Your name be praise and honor and glory through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us, and owns us as His. Amen.