PONDERING... Does Jesus Hate Families? (Mark 3:20-21, 31-35)

Does Jesus Hate Families? (PM Lesson Outline)

GIST: Nope. He just loves them the right way (pointing them to His truth--their need). So should we.

SCRIPTURE: Mark 3:20-21, 31-35

20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

31 And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

1. General Question for Context: What does the Bible teach about family? This is a very quick overview. The point? The Bible values family.

• Husbands and Wives
• Ephesians 5:21-33 (Quotes Genesis 2:23-24)
• Kids
• Psalm 127:3-5
• Ephesians 6:1-4 (Quotes Exodus 20:12)
• Deuteronomy 6:4-7

And that last verse is key, but the Bible does not value family more than God.

2. What does Jesus’ family say in this passage?

• Liar. They don’t believe Him. And if we don’t see that explicitly here, check out John 7:3-5.
• Lunatic. They think He’s crazy, “out of His mind” (Mark 4:21).

3. How does Jesus respond?

• LORD. People tell Him the family is outside, and He responds with “who is my family?” This is not a temporary case of amnesia. He’s making a statement. The relationship that matters most is not biological; it is spiritual. It’s eternal. Let’s just hit a really hard passage to bring this home. Luke 14:26 says if we don’t hate our family we’re not worthy of Him. Matthew 10:34-39 helps further explain this by emphasizing this hate is in comparison to the love we have for Christ. We should love Jesus so much that our love for our families seems like hatred by degree. This is hard, but necessary. We also see here that He came to bring division. This might be hard for us to understand in our world where persecution is mild, but read this passage in a Muslim country where accepting Christ can cost you your life, and this will make more sense.

TAKEAWAYS

1. Family is important, but family is not God.

Love them enough to make this distinction. Family cannot take priority over Christ. Love them enough to bring them to Him; point them to their primary need...which is also your primary need...which is Him...not each other. Here are two dangers in our culture today when it comes to family (there are more, but here are two biggies).

Danger 1) Completely rejecting God’s design for family and rejecting its significance. That is both terrifying and terrible. God designed the family unit on purpose. It’s so precious.

Danger 2) As much as we see this first danger taking a more center stage in the news, there is a deep love for family in this country. Watch any movie. You’ll be hard pressed not to see “loyalty to those closest to you” as a theme. This isn’t a bad thing in itself. However, it often leads to the of worship a good thing. It’s like the serpent from the Children’s sermon last week. God designed family for us, but it should point us to Him. He is the focus. He is the most important thing. You love them? Point them to Jesus.

Let me just pause for a second to admit this is hard for me. I love my family, and I should. This isn’t a comfortable truth, and it’s easy to just write off as a “Yeah, I believe that in theory, but in practice--nothing is more important to me than family.” Does this mean you should just never spend any time with your family and just live at the church? No. It means loving your family should be all wrapped up in loving God. You cannot never love them the way you should until you love Him with everything you have.

2. Family is hard to witness to, but necessary.

Even Jesus’ family didn’t believe Him. In fact, they thought He was crazy. Don’t lose heart when yours reacts the same way (Psalm 69:8-9). And don’t stop telling them. Jesus didn’t turn a blind eye to his family.  Read James 1:1 and Jude 1:1. These were Jesus’ brothers (Mary and Joseph’s biological kids). He loved them enough to change their lives. Which is really the key point here-->

3. Those who follow Jesus are His true family.

Let’s not miss this blessing. 1 John 3:1a “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” Your family might not be that great actually. Be encouraged. If you are saved by Jesus, you belong to His family. Amen. Love your family enough to show them their need to be part of His family.