Week 33: Day 4
Today is Gemma’s final look at the book of Mark 3 - check out her thoughts!
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
"Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
Then he 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.”
Intro: Hi, my name’s Gemma Milligan and it’s great to welcome you to Orbit - a short daily reflection from the team behind Satellites, which aims to help you put God at the centre of your life. Each weekday we reflect on a bit of the Bible, pray, and give you a practical challenge to help you live out your faith.
Bible: Today’s reading comes from Mark 3:31-35:
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.”
Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Thought: I bet there have been moments when you have wanted to disown your family. My mum has a habit of spontaneously singing whenever anyone says something that is remotely similar to a song lyric, and when I was a teenager me and my sister were mortified whenever she did so. I find it funny now, but back then I wanted the ground to swallow me up whenever she did this in public, and so I would have happily disowned her at the time. Now, you might not have anyone in your family who does this, but I bet there have been moments when they have embarrassed you or have said or done something that has made you want to pretend they don’t exist.
And when we read this passage, it can seem that this is what Jesus is doing, and quite rudely too. But actually, he is doing what Jesus does quite regularly, and saying something that appears a bit controversial in order to help us get the point he is making. He is saying that when we choose to follow him, our family becomes much bigger than our mum, dad, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, and cousins. We join a worldwide family of Christians, and so we should treat them with as much love and care as we would a close family member.
The family of God is a very special thing, and having Christian brothers and sisters in different churches and countries, from different backgrounds and cultures, and with different interests and maybe even slightly different beliefs about God, is something that is meant to make our lives richer. As we choose to get to know and to love those in the family of God who are different to us, we will discover more and more of God’s creativity and grace, and as we do that, we will often find that we are also being transformed more into his likeness.
Prayer: Jesus, thank you that I am part of a worldwide family of Christians. Thank you that even where there might be big differences between myself and some of them, we have a special bond because of you. Please help me to view all those in my church, and any other Christians I may meet, as my brothers and sisters. Amen.
Challenge: Here’s today’s practical challenge to help you put what we’ve reflected on into action:
Reach out to another Christian in your church or youth group who you don’t know very well and ask them to tell you their story of how Jesus has impacted their life. Make sure that you are being safe and do not meet up with anyone your parents/carers are uncomfortable with, and that you are supervised by a responsible adult or in a public place when you talk to them. Share your story with them too and talk about where Jesus may have done similar things in your different lives.
Outro: Thanks so much for joining us for Orbit today! We hope you found that helpful, and we’ll be back with another reflection tomorrow.