Luke 8:19

Luk_8:19-21

Then came to Him His mother and His brethren

Spiritual relationship to Christ

It is the higher kinship of the soul.

Christ did not set aside time relationships, but He opened up a far higher view, with which these were in analogy. Men know each other in various relationships; but very few men know themselves. Very few men know one another; but in the degree in which they do, they know each other at different points of the wide extension of man and his relations. A man may know his parentage and his home. That is primary knowledge, and very noble it is. He may know men by their co-operations and partnerships in the affairs of life--that, and only that. He may know men by some similar tastes and pursuits. Artists know artists; musicians know musicians; working men know working men; inventors know inventors. There is a line of sympathy that goes out from all these different points by which men interpret in other people something that they have in themselves. It is a knowledge which consists simply in the attempt to interpret in others something that we have felt in our own selves--to liken ourselves to those around about us. So a man may know his fellow-men in times of great excitement by partizan feeling, by party feeling, or by patriotism. The real relationship, the truest, the highest, while it does not disdain these lower relationships, regards them as external and transient. You may know men as parents, and not know them at all. You may know men as business factors and be utterly outside of them and ignorant of them. You may know men by tastes, by professions, by pursuits, and yet not know them interiorly. You may know men as your countrymen, and as faithful to law and order in times of great confusion; and yet that is exterior knowledge. It is juxtaposition, for the most part. Interiorly, how little does a man know his fellow-men until he has in himself the higher qualities, spiritual and intellectual, and until he interprets the like qualities that are in those around about him! Apply this to the relationship of men with Christ and with God. In the truest and highest sense, not until men rise into those qualities which constitute God can they be said to understand Him. We can understand Him when He thunders, because we can thunder in a small way; we can understand Him when He speaks of Himself as the Creator, because we are mechanicians in a certain way; when He sets His palace in order in the heavens above, when He fills the earth with His glory, when the firmament declares His glory and the earth His handiwork, we can understand all that well enough, because we ourselves are creators, re-arrangers of physical qualities and matter; and so we feel that we have an understanding of God; and we have. But our great wish is that we could understand Him according to our senses all the way through: Why does He not speak to me? That is the way my children understand me. I wish God would bring Himself down within the scope of my eyes. Why does He not hear me? Why does He not come within the realm of my ear? Why does He not come where I can lay my hand upon Him--thrust it into His side, indeed? We are always trying to come to a knowledge of God by bringing Him down to a level with our condition; then we think that we should understand Him; but the disciples did not. His brethren and His mother did not, and He was upon the line and level of their physical condition. They were just as far from Him, and just as far from satisfaction in regard to Him, as if they had never seen Him, or as if He had gone early from the cradle to the grave. And to-day men are seeking to know God by ratiocination. They are searching the origin of things, the germs of life, its unfoldings and its philosophy; and all of them are playing round about this great problem of the universe: Is there a God? Where is He? Who is He? What is He? The royal road to knowledge is goodness. He that loves, we are told in explicit language, knows God, though He cannot imagine the amplitude of such love. He that only knows the candle knows what the sun is a little bit; but the candle does not give him any conception of the magnitude and majesty and glory of the sun. He that loves here has one letter of the alphabet, as it were, but not the whole literature and philosophy of the Divine nature. This is the highway through which, and only through which, John declares that any man can come to an understanding of God. God is love; love is His constituent element, and no man can understand God that does not understand love. As no man can understand heroism except through the recipiency of, or sensibility to, heroism in himself; as no man can understand good taste except through the foregoing feeling of what is harmonious and beautiful; so it is in regard to the great discernments that reveal God to us. (H. W. Beecher.)

The affinity of the faithful

As this voice came to Christ while He was labouring, so many such voices come to us while we are labouring. One saith, Pleasure would speak with you; another saith, Profit would speak with you; another saith, Ease would speak with you; another saith, A deanery would speak with you; another saith, A bishopric would speak with you; another saith, The court would speak with you. Here is the rule now; if you live by it, then you are kin to Christ. As other kindreds go by birth and marriage, so this kindred goeth by faith and obedience. Hearers are but half kin, as it were m a far degree; but they which hear and do are called His mother, which is the nearest kindred of all. Therefore if you have the deed, then are you kin indeed; there is no promise made to hearers, nor to speakers, nor to readers; but all promises are made to believers or to doers. Again, by this you may learn how to choose your friends. As Christ counted none His kinsmen, but such as hear the Word of God, and do it; so we should make none our familiars, but such as Christ counteth His kinsmen. Again, you may see the difference between Christ and the world; Christ calleth the godly His kinsmen, be they never so poor, and we scorn to call the poor our kinsmen, be they never so honest; so proud is the servant above his Master. Again, by this you see how Christ is to be loved; for when He calleth us His mother, He shows us the way to love Him as a mother; for indeed He is the mother of His mother and His brethren too. Again, by this, all vaunting and boasting of kindred is cut off. Glory not in that thou hast a gentleman to thy father, glory not that thou hast a knight to thy brother, but glory that thou hast a Lord to thy brother. Again, by this you may know whether you be kin to Christ; as those priests were shut out of the temple which could not count their genealogy from Aaron, so they shall be shut out of heaven that cannot reckon their pedigree from Christ. Here are the arms now whereby you may show of what house you came. Lastly, by this you may know the devils kinsmen, and therefore Christ saith, You are of your father the devil (Joh_8:44), showingthat the devil and the wicked are as near kin as Christ and the faithful. (H. Smith.)

The two families--the natural and the spiritual

From these words of the Lord Jesus I learn that, without repudiating the family relations of earth, He institutes and proclaims the family relations of heaven. As a faithful minister of the gospel said once to a despotic sovereign, There are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland, explaining how Church and State may live and thrive on the same spot at the same time, giving and receiving help reciprocally, if each will consent to confine itself to its own sphere and exercise only its own functions; so the Scriptures intimate that two families pervade society, both having to a great extent the same persons as members, yet without jealousy or collision, getting and giving reciprocal support. Both families are of God. He has planned and constituted them. To Him they owe their origin, and from Him they receive their laws. A place has been assigned to the one in creation; to the other in redemption. The one is the grand Institute of Nature; the other the grand Institute of Grace. Both are good, each as far as it goes; but the second is deeper, longer, broader, higher than the first. The first is the family for time; the second is the family for eternity.

I. CHRIST IS THE GOSPEL PERMITS THE NATURAL FAMILY, IN ALL ITS INTEGRITY, TO REMAIN UNDISTURBED. Jesus was Himself the member of a family. He received the benefits of that position, and fulfilled its duties. Honour all the pure affections of human nature, for they thrill in the Saviours breast; loathe all the sins that stain it, for they crucified the Son of God. If you examine the natural affections and instincts of living creatures, you will find that one principle lies like s measuring rod along the whole--utility. These affections are inserted, and inserted such as they are, in the constitution of the creature, because of their usefulness. They are the instruments whereby the Maker works out His own design. Some living creatures, as fishes and certain species of birds, have no perceptible filial or parental affections at all. In their case the instinct is not needed, and therefore is not found. In others, including all the higher grades of the brute creation, the parental affection is developed in great intensity for a short period, and then altogether ceases. A mother that would have shed her blood for her offspring a month ago, when it was feeble, does not know it to-day, at least does not acknowledge it in the herd. The instinct, having served its purpose, is not left dangling after its work is done. Relative affections in human kind expatiate on a wider field, and are more enduring. Here we enter a region in which these affections find room to range; they become, accordingly, manifold and strong. The roots go deeper down in the deeper, richer soil. A short-lived maternal love would not serve the purpose here; and therefore a mothers love in this region is not short-lived. Christ was a perfect man. He was not only perfectly holy, but completely human. He took all our nature without its defects and defilements. He experienced filial and fraternal love. He loved His mother and His brethren with the true affection of a son and a brother. No disciple of Christ is permitted to break the bonds of kindred, and abjure the affections of consanguinity, on the plea of his Masters example or command. Superstition has always shown a tendency to exalt the spiritual relations by crushing the natural; it would build up, according to its own false conception, the family of God on the ruins of the family of man. God did not built up the family in order to pull it down again. As the ordinances of the earlier dispensation were a shadow, and so a prediction, of better things to come in Christ, the natural family is a type, and so a promise, of the spiritual and heavenly.

II. CHRIST IN THE GOSPEL ESTABLISHES, ON THE SAME SPHERE, A NEW SPIRITUAL FAMILY. If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; in the new creature a multitude of new affections spring and flow, but being on a higher level, they never run foul of the affections that expatiate on the lower sphere of temporal things. Mind, conscience, immortality, have been imparted to man, and these faculties have free scope for action; but those operations of the higher nature do not in any measure impede the inhalation of air, the circulation of the blood, or any of the other processes which belong to us in common with inferior creatures. Now, as mind, acting in another sphere, comes not into collision with the functions of the body, so the new spiritual affections, which belong to us as Christians, do not interfere with the original affections which belong to us as men. There is a process in agriculture which presents an interesting parallel to the simultaneous and commingling growth of relations for time and relations for eternity in human hearts. A field is closely occupied all over with a growing crop which will soon reach maturity, and will be reaped in this seasons harvest. The owner intends that another crop, totally different in kind, shall possess the ground in the following year; but he does not wait till the grain now growing has been reaped--he goes into the field and sows the seed of the new while the old is still growing and green. In some cases a method is adopted which is, from our present point of view, still more suggestive: the seed which shall complete its functions within the present season, and the seed which, springing this year, shall bear its fruit upwards, are mixed together in the same vessel and scattered together on the same ground. Nor does the one lie dormant for a season while the other monopolizes the soil; both spring up at the same, or nearly the same time. The plant for the future germinates at once, but it does not reach maturity till the following year; the plant intended for the present season--the wheat or the barley--grows rapidly and ripens ere the winter come. Lowly, meekly at the roots of the waving grain springs the plant of the future; it passes through its earlier stages while the tall stalks of the wheat are towering over its head. It springs although, the grain is growing on the same spot, and springs better because the grain is growing there. The vigorous growth of another species all around it shelters its feeble infancy; and after the winter has passed, in another season, it starts afresh and comes forth in its own matured strength. Thus the affections and relations that belong to the future spring and grow under the shadow of the affections and relations that belong to the present. Those stars that studded the dark blue canopy of the sky were lovely; often through the weary night did the lone watcher lift his eyes and look upon them. They seemed to him a sort of company, and while he gazed on the bright glancing throng he felt himself for the moment somewhat less lonely. Yet you hear no complaint from that watchers lips when those stars disappear; for the cause of their disappearance is the break of day. Either the many fond individual companionships which cheer disciples in the night of their pilgrimage will remain with them, as bright particular stars in the day of eternity, or they will fade away before its dawning; if they remain, their company in holiness will be a thousand fold more sweet; if they disappear, it will not be that those joys have grown more dim, but that we do not observe them in the light of a more glorious day. Two practical lessons, one in the form of a warning, and the other in the form of an encouragement, depend from the subject visibly, and claim a notice at the close.

1. Reverting again, for a moment, to the analogy of seed for the future sown and springing under the shade of a crop that is growing for the present season, we may gather from nature a caution which is needful and profitable in the department of grace. When this seasons crop, amidst which next seasons seed was sown in spring, has been cut in harvest and carried home, I have seen the field in whole or in part destitute of the young plants which ought at that time to have covered its surface, the hope of future years. Sometimes after this seasons harvest is reaped, no living plant remains in the ground. As you walk over it at the approach of winter, you see rotting stubble, the decaying remnants of one harvest, but no young plants, the promise of another year. Why? Because the first crop has grown too rank in its robust maturity, and overlaid the second in its tender youth. The principle of this lesson applies to the business of life as well as the reciprocal affections of kindred. Beware! Open your hearts and take the warning in. Have you hope for pardon and eternal life in the son of God, the Saviour? Then bear in mind that, under the shade of your city-traffic and your home-joys, a tender plant is growing, native of a softer clime--a plant whose growth is your life, whose decay your ruin, in the great day; a plant that needs indeed the shelter of honest industry and pure family affections, but dies outright under the choking weight of their overgrowth; and see to it that the profits and pleasures of time do not, by their excess, kill the hope for eternity. What is a man profited although he gain the whole world, if he lose his own soul?

2. It is ever true, according to the symbolic prophecy of the Apocalypse, that the earth helps the woman--that the occupations and affinities and friendships of this life may and do cherish the growth of grace in the soul. (W. Arnot.)

On rightly seeking the Saviour

I. THEY DESIRED TO SEE CHRIST. This their desire might proceed--

1. From a proud and vainglorious principle, from which the best of men are not entirely free. They might want to make it known that they were related to Christ, a person followed and talked of, who preached such heavenly doctrines, and performed such astonishing miracles.

2. From an undue, and, indeed, mercenary regard to the health of Christs body and safety of His person.

3. From natural love, without any other design but to please themselves with the company and conversation of one with whom they were so nearly connected, and for whom they had so great regard. Religion is no enemy to natural affection.

4. There might also be a mixture of spiritual affection. Yet, though the principle might be good, their conduct was reprovable, the application being unseasonable; and the check that Christ gave them should teach us, that no intrusion or solicitation should draw us from the work of the Lord.

II. THOSE WHO DESIRE TO SEE CHRIST DO NOT ALWAYS TAKE RIGHT METHODS TO OBTAIN THEIR END.

1. Some, through an improper humility or servile dread, keep at a distance from Christ, even when they have earnest desires to see Him, which desires will never be answered without nearer approaches to Him.

2. Others seek Christ in duties and ordinances, in the streets and broadways, when they ought to see Him in their own closets. They seek Him abroad, but not at home, whereas the kingdom of Christ is within us, and where should the King be but in His kingdom?

3. Others, again, seek Christ out of the Church, who ought to seek Him in it. They stand without. Let them come in, and seek Christ where He is to be found. (B. Beddome, M. A.)

The Lords answer respecting His mother and brethren

On these words of our Lord we may remark--

1. That they are not intended to cast a slur on His mother and brethren, or to undervalue the duties men owe to their relations.

2. That we must not allow our regard to our relations to interfere with our duty to God.

3. The sinfulness and folly of all superstitions regard to the Virgin Mary.

4. Nothing but personal obedience and faith can avail for safety.

5. The great love Jesus bears to His true disciples, and the high honour He bestows on them. (James Foote, M. A.)

Divine and human relationship

A little sad, wasnt it? that His mother and brethren were not sitting about Him. For, as another evangelist says, He looked round on those that were about Him. His disciples, who were learning of Him, were nearest to Him naturally, and His mother and His brethren were outside. It is a sad thing for any of us to be called by His name, and not know Him. It is the business of our human being to know Christ, and nothing else is our business. You observe Christ is always talking about His Father in heaven. You would think He knew nothing else. Did He, then, repudiate the earthly mother, and the earthly brother and sister? No verily. But it is a profound, absolute fact that our relation to God is infinitely nearer than any relation by nature. (George Macdonald.)

The true relatives of Christ

Kinship with Christ is not a matter of genealogy or of Church position, or the men around Him would have had it; not of birth, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. Kindred with Christ is a matter of nature, and nature can never be tested but by action. If a man is a partaker of the Divine nature that will show itself, and the will that will rule him will no longer be his own, but the will of his Father who is in heaven. (W. Arthur, M. A.)

Divine relationships

We have here two things, a character and a blessing,

I. THE CHARACTER. These which hear the Word of God and do it.

II. THE BLESSING. The same are my brother and sister and mother. (Dean Vaughan.)

Spiritual relationship

(An Epiphany Sermon):--Successive steps in Christs revelation of Himself.

1. At twelve years old, though He must be about His Fathers business, yet He remained subject for the present.

2. At marriage-festival--Woman, what have I to do with thee? a clearer Epiphany, and yet Mine hour is not yet come.

3. His friends, His mother, seek Him. He utters words which show that in the higher spiritual relationship claimed for His disciples there is no room for sex; the tie of brotherhood and motherhood a faint type only of the close communion between the redeemed and the Redeemer.

4. At last, dying, He commends His mother to the disciple, Behold thy mother, as if to show that the human relationship had ceased for Himself and her. Natural relationships are swallowed up, the spiritual eclipsing them. Results of acknowledging this fact.

I. DISCOMFORT.

II. CONSOLATION.

III. PRACTICAL EFFECT ON OUR LIVES, viz., our future relationship will be decided not by our present earthly ones, but by our birth of God. (O. Warren, M. A.)

Christ and kinship with Him

I. THE SPIRITUALITY OF CHRISTS MISSION AND HIS ABSORPTION IN IT. Affections, even the purest, must be sacrificed when they intrenched upon His liberty to do what He had come into the world to do. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Think of the loneliness of Christ. While holding intercourse with His friends at Bethany, or surrounded by His disciples, or pressed upon by the crowd, He was yet alone, always alone--alone in His knowledge of the full meaning of His lifes work, alone in the endurance of His bitterest pain, alone in the constancy and grandeur of His unfailing purpose.

II. THE LARGE-HEARTEDNESS OF CHRIST. He had two great lessons to teach men--The Fatherhood of God, and the common brotherhood of man How much larger our hearts would be, how much more generous our sympathies, if we shared more largely His Spirit of universal love.

III. THE NATURE OF KINSHIP WITH HIM. We all hear, and we all may do the Word of God. We have, then, set before us in the text a privilege in which we all may share--a sacred relationship with Christ into which we all may enter. Application:

1. Is there anywhere any poor man sorely tried, buffeted by circumstances, self-despising and despised of others, but who desires with all his heart to do the will of God. Rise up, and be of good courage, for thou art Christs brother.

2. Thou art perhaps a widow left alone and poor to struggle with the world; or a mother with the anxious care of a family upon thy shoulders; or a daughter whose life is passing away in some joyless home, and in devotion to an invalid parent whose petulance is thy daily cross. Be patient, and struggle on. Bear the cross, and do the duty, because it is Gods will. And remember for thine encouragement in every hour of trial that thou art Christs sister.

3. And O, aged mothers heart, bereft of thy children, and refusing to be comforted because they are not, think that the Lord of life and glory condescends to call Himself thy son. He will be the comfort and stay of thy declining days, the prop of thy feebleness, the companion of thy loneliness. (J. R. Bailey.)

The household of faith

I. THE CONNECTION WHICH IS HERE PROCLAIMED.

1. In regard to the connection, the first point is as to the parties between whom it subsists. On the one side, we have a personage of inconceivable greatness and power. Is it some glorious angel whom God made as a specimen of what the Creator can do? No. It is one who is above the angels, and concerning whom it is written, Let all the angels of God worship Him. This is one to whom it can be said, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. It is the eternal Son, the heir and Lord of all. It is Jehovah Himself, God manifest in the flesh! On the other hand, we have a portion of the human family. We have a company of dependent and powerless beings, whose breath is in their nostrils, and who have nothing of their own. Between Him, so great, and them, so mean, there is now the affinity mentioned in the text. He, the blessed and only Potentate, discovers and recognizes in them His brother, His sister, His mother!

2. The next point we shall inquire into is the nature of the connection.

(1) It is a close connection. There are many relations which belong to the constitution of human society. There are, for example, the relations of magistrate and subjects, master and servants, teacher and pupils, and so on. But the closest relation of all is the family relation. The family relation is fraught with intimacies which are known to no other. This is the relation which is declared in the text between Christ and His people. Christ and His people are embraced in the same family circle, the word being taken in its most limited acceptation. They are not remotely allied to Him. They are His nearest kindred. They are His brother, His sister, His mother. No tie of blood can be closer than that by which He and they are connected.

(2) It is an endearing connection. Love wells out of it--reciprocal love. We see, then, that between Jesus and His followers there is a connection which is fitted to give rise to love--which is fitted, we may say, to give rise to it in no ordinary degree, and to produce a most peculiar and devoted attachment.

(3) It is a connection that cannot be transferred. We are familiar with connections whose transference is easy, and is constantly taking place. There is the connection between master and servant. The master may be changed; and so may be the servant. There is the connection between bosom friends. He who is my friend now may become my foe in a little while, and I may get another friend in his room. Although I may change my friend, I cannot change my mother. Although I may change my servant, I cannot change my son. The connection between Christ and His people, then, is fixed. He cannot be supplanted in His relation to them, nor they in their relation to Him.

(4) It is a connection that cannot be destroyed. Recent occurrences in the history of the world have strikingly shown that the connection between a sovereign and his subjects is perishable, and may be suddenly dissolved. But, happen what may, brother and sister will continue to be brother and sister, and a mans mother is his mother as long as she lives. Neither accidents nor efforts can sever the family tie. Death, indeed, may come, and, in one sense, put an end to it. But even death cannot prevail against the bond by which Christ and His disciples are united. He liveth for evermore, and so do they.

3. Our third point is the advantage with which the connection is fraught to Christs people. The Lord is laid under obligations by it, which will redound to their benefit. A brother, a sister, a mother, have peculiar claims, which no relative, with a conscience and a heart, will disregard.

(1) Is the disciple a brother? He has a claim upon the Saviour as such. One of the most emphatic declarations of Scripture tells of a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. When a man is in straits of any kind, who so likely as his brother to relieve him, if that brother be able? Now, then, let the Christian rejoice that he is the brother of the Lord. Let him remember it in trouble, and let him not be cast down. The Lord Himself remembers it, and says to him, Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee.

(2) Does Christ declare that the disciple is His sister? A sister has claims even stronger than a brother. A sister is weak, and needs a guardian, and an arm to lean upon. A sister is timid, and needs a companion who has boldness and decision, that he may lead her forth, take her through the crowd, and encourage her by the way. A sister needs a prompt and powerful champion, that she may be defended from insult, and that her purity and honour may be cared for. And a sister turns to her kind and manly brother as the guardian, the bold companion, and the prompt and powerful champion that she needs. When Christ says that His disciple is His sister, He gives His people to understand that He is all this to them. And O how He cherishes and tends them!

(3) Christ says that His disciple is His mother. This also has great significance. It speaks to us of a son who devotes the vigorous labour of his prime to win a subsistence for his mother, and to make for her a comfortable and happy home.

4. A fourth point is the formation of the tie between Christ and His people. How is it constituted? How, then, is the rank of His mother and His brethren acquired? The question is answered in the following verse--Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother. It is as much as to say to us all, Do the will of My father in heaven, and ye shall become very dear to Me; ye shall acquire the strong claims of the closest relationship. But what must we understand by the will of His Father? We have His own definition of the will of His Father, when He says, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent. After Christs ascension, the Apostle John announced the will of the Father, saying, This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ. And is this the way to become members of the family of Jesus? Is this the way to do, if we wish to be the brother, and sister, and mother of the Lord? This is the way. He comes to us in the Fathers name, with gracious proposals, as the sinners Friend. Let us bid Him welcome; let us accept His offers; let us yield to His love. So shall we be His: and He shall be ours. To as many as receive Him, to them gives He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in His name. It is by faith that we enter the family of Jesus.

5. Our last point is the evidence of the tie. For this we go again to the same verse:--Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother. That which creates the tie, also manifests it. Take notice, says our Lord, take notice of the person that does My Fathers will, and believes in Me; take notice of My follower, My disciple! The same is My brother, and sister, and mother. There is a family likeness between Christ and His people. The doing of the Fathers will is a family characteristic. It is a feature by which a member of the Church of the first-born may be infallibly discovered. Christ, the chief, the great Brother of the household, is the image of the Father. And of all the members of the blessed household it can be said that, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. One remark we must add here, lest the mother and the brethren of Jesus be discouraged. It is not our doctrine, it is not the doctrine of Scripture, or of the text, that those only who attain to a perfect fulfilment of the Will of the Father can claim to be the kindred of the Lord. His meaning was, and the true doctrine is, that his brother, and sister, and mother, are they who have entered the school, who are learning the lesson, and have begun to practise the duty, of obedience to the will of the Father.

II. The second branch of our subject relates to THE DELIGHT WHICH JESUS HAS IN THIS CONNECTION. The text is expressive of feelings of complacency and satisfaction. It was a burst of affection, the utterance of a loving and joyful heart, when He exclaimed, Behold My mother and My brethren. To illustrate the delight which Jesus has in the affinity between Him and His people, it may be well to show what is His behavour towards them.

1. He visits them. It happens sometimes in a family of humble rank, that one of the members rises far above the rest in point of circumstances and position. And it happens also, sometimes, in such cases, that the great and wealthy member of the family forgets his poor kinsmen, and seldom or never goes to see them. But Christ does not forget His people. He came and saw them often during the old dispensation. He has never been long away from them. One visit, most notable for the wonders of love it exhibited, was His advent in the flesh. It had been described beforehand, but the half was not told. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. When He was departing, He said, I will see you again. The family of Jesus, like other families, has its meetings; the members often assemble; and now and then, at stated periods, they hold high festival together. On such occasions He, the exalted Brother to whom all look up, is never away. Absentees there may be, but He is not one of them; His place is never empty. Are they in darkness? He visits them and gives them light.

2. He sends gifts to them. He, the Brother of great possessions, sends gifts to His lowly kindred. All power is His, both in heaven and in earth. Do they need gold? He sends them gold, tried in the fire. Do they need raiment? He furnishes them with white raiment, that they may be clothed--robes of righteousness, garments of salvation. Do they need meat anddrink? He gives them bread of life, wine and milk, honey out of the rock.

We have spoken of their family feasts, but these would be feasts of emptiness, were it not for His bounty. What shall we say more? To express everything in a word, He sends them the Holy Spirit. That heavenly gift is completely subject to His administration.

3. He dwells among them. It is customary for the members of a family to dwell together. They group with each other in the same abode. It may seem strange to say that Christ dwells with His friends, after we have said that He visits them. But both are true. In this case there is no real inconsistency. Just before His ascension He declared to His disciples, Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. I am going away, yet will I never be absent. In Salem is His tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in Zion.

4. He acknowledges them. Behold My mother and My brethren. Behold these fishermen, these peasants, these obscure Galileans, who receive My doctrine. These are My relatives; see, this is the family to which I belong. And was not that a signal acknowledgment of kinsmanship that He gave in the case of the three children, when, before Nebuchadnezzar, and his princes and captains, and the vast Babylonian concourse, He walked in the midst of the furnace along with them? He promised that He would confess His brethren before His Father and before His holy angels. He is confessing them now in His continual intercession at Gods right hand. (A. Gray.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 8:19-21. Then came to him his mother, &c. — See the notes on Mat 12:46-50; and on Mar 3:31. My mother and my brethren are they which hear the word of God and do it — In these words we have an important branch of the character and the great dignity and happiness of the true disciples of Christ. As they make conscience of embracing all proper opportunities of hearing the word of God, so they take heed what and how they hear, as directed in Luk 8:18; and endeavour to hear it in the manner and spirit explained and inculcated in the last note. And their great honour and dignity Isaiah , 1 st, That they are regarded and esteemed by the Lord Jesus as his nearest and dearest relations; they are not only his subjects and his servants, but his brethren, his spouse, his members. They bear his name and image, and share his nature. The consequence of which is, that the relation in which they stand to him shall subsist, when all the relations of flesh and blood shall have ceased for ever. 2d, They are unspeakably dear to him; he loves them above all other men, and it should seem above all angels. He has their welfare infinitely at heart; in all respects acts the part of a kinsman, in caring and providing for them: he sympathizes with them in their infirmities and afflictions, and takes a share in their joys and sorrows. 3d, He admits them into his presence, — to his table, and the rich provisions of his house, — allows them the nearest access to, and greatest intimacy and familiarity with himself. He converses and corresponds freely with them, and even dwells among them. 4th, He is not ashamed of them, although poor and mean. When he died, he left them rich legacies; and does not forget them now he is in his kingdom; but defends, supports, directs, and comforts them many ways; sends them many rich presents and donations; will confess them as his friends and relations before all the principalities and powers of the universe, and will have them all, at last, to live eternally with him. Now from this near relation, in which those that hear the word of God, and do it, stand to the Lord Jesus, and from the great regard he has for them, it is easy to infer that all such should consider themselves as being nearly related to each other, and therefore should be very dear to one another. Being the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty, 2Co 6:18; and the brethren and sisters of his blessed Son, they are of course brethren and sisters to each other; not only bearing the same common name of Christian, but partaking of the same heavenly nature, and manifesting the same divine likeness, as the children of the same family generally resemble each other. And as their relation to each other, like that in which they stand to the Lord Jesus, shall subsist and be a firm bond of union among them, when all the relations merely human, and all the ties of nature, civil society, and worldly interest shall have ceased for ever; surely a consideration of this ought to make them esteem and love each other with pure hearts fervently, notwithstanding any little difference of opinion, or mode of worship, or such like circumstance which may have place among them. And they should show how dear they are to each other every way in their power; and in particular by their delighting in each other’s company, and being free and familiar with each other, and by cultivating a spirit of sympathy and fellow-feeling with and toward one another; never being ashamed of each other, however poor or despised by the world; but acknowledging, supporting, and comforting one another, as children of the same family, and members of the same body; and, above all, always endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 45.—ATTEMPT OF THE MOTHER AND BROTHERS OF JESUS TO SEE HIM, Luk_8:19-21.

(See notes on Mat_12:46-50; Mar_3:31-35.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_8:19-21.—St. Luke gives this incident as occurring after the parable of the sower, though without any precise note of time: St. Matthew and St. Mark relate it as occurring before that parable was spoken. It is probable that the latter evangelists follow the more correct order of time.

Luk_8:19. His mother and His brethren.—From the fact that Joseph is not mentioned, it is reasonable to suppose that he was dead. The fact that the members of His family came thus in a body seems to indicate that they wished to control His actions. St. Mark says that “they went out to lay hold on Him: for they said. He is beside Himself.” The great excitement created by His teaching and miracles, His formal choice of apostles, the unfavourable reception accorded to Him in Jerusalem, convinced them that He was bent upon a career that was bound to be a failure; and mental alienation on His part seemed to be the only explanation of His conduct. St. John says, “His brethren did not believe in Him” (Luk_7:5). Who these “brethren” were is an almost insoluble problem. Three hypotheses on the subject have been maintained:

(1) that they were actual uterine brothers of our Lord, the sons of Joseph and Mary;

(2) that they were legal half-brothers, the sons of Joseph by a former marriage;

(3) that they were cousins of our Lord, the sons of Clopas (or Alphæus) and Mary his wife, sister of the Virgin, mentioned Joh_19:25. For a full discussion of these various hypotheses we refer the reader to Lightfoot on Galatians, Alford in his prolegomena to the Epistle of James and his note on Mat_13:55, article James in Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, and to article Jacobus in Herzog’s Real-Encyclopädie. On the whole the third of these hypotheses seems to be more in accordance with the passages of Scripture bearing on the matter than are either of the other two. The allusion in Mar_6:3 to Jesus as the son of Mary seems undoubtedly to distinguish Him as her only son from the “brethren” there named—a fact which if allowed would be fatal to the first hypothesis. While if Joseph had sons older than Jesus by a first wife, we could not understand how Jesus could be heir through him of the throne of David.

Luk_8:21. Are these.—St. Matthew and St. Mark add vividness to the narrative by their description of Christ’s gesture and look as He spoke the words: the one says, “He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples,” and the other, “He looked round about on them which sat about Him.” The words assert the paramount claims of spiritual over natural relationships, and show that Jesus Himself exemplified the rule which He laid down for His disciples, and allowed no ties of human affection to draw Him aside from the path of duty (cf. Luk_14:26).

. Hence the two evangelists are in general agreement on this point. St. Matthew introduces it without any reference to time.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_8:19-21

Natural and Spiritual Relationships.—The purpose for which Christ’s mother and brethren came explains the words He uttered on this occasion. It was not merely to see Him, but to persuade Him to give up the work in which He was engaged, or even to use force to compel Him to yield to their desire. From the zeal and ardour which seemed to render Him indifferent to food and repose, they concluded that He was beside Himself (Mar_3:20-21), and probably also they were alarmed at the enmity towards Him which the Pharisees had begun to manifest. From their action and from the words which it evoked from Christ we may learn several important lessons.

I. Faith is often found wanting in those who are most highly favoured in outward circumstances.—Who could have been more highly favoured than the mother and brethren of Jesus, in being permitted for so many years to witness His pure and holy life? And yet they were at this time devoid of the faith in Him which is necessary for genuine discipleship. Others who had seen and known but little of Him had accepted Him as their Saviour and Lord, while they were quite out of sympathy with the work God had sent Him to do. Familiarity even with holy things is only too apt to breed indifference, and, as Christ Himself said, a prophet often finds comparative strangers more willing to listen to his message than those of his own country and kindred.

II. There may be collision between the claims of natural affection and those of the kingdom of God.—Christ Himself had now to choose between the two, and to subordinate the lower to the higher. And a like experience is familiar to all who have ever attempted to serve Him. This painful conflict is perhaps seen in its sharpest forms in cases where Christianity is beginning to make its way in heathen society. New converts have often to sacrifice ties of kindred and friendship for the sake of Christ, and to seem to be cruel to those whom they love most dearly. But in no state of society is the conflict between lower and higher duties altogether unknown. Circumstances often arise in which a sensitive conscience guides the believer to take a line of action which may be disapproved of by those whose good opinion and affection he is naturally most anxious to retain. The rule he should follow is here laid down for him by the example of his Master.

III. Obedience to God’s will means intimate union with Christ.—It was His meat and drink to do the will of His Father, and all who are imbued with the same spirit come into the closest fellowship with Him. It is quite evident that the language which Christ here uses involves claims of a unique kind—that no mere man, however holy, could thus present Himself as the bond of union between heaven and earth. The high privileges which He thus proclaims as belonging to those who become His disciples place rich and poor, high-born and lowly, on the same level. And the union which exists between Him and them death itself cannot break.

IV. These family relationships suggest the spontaneous affection which believers should cherish towards Christ and towards each other.—The mere fact of relationships, such as are implied in the words “mother, sister, brother,” naturally calls up feelings of love, and suggests strong and indissoluble ties. We experience a kind of horror at meeting with those who seem to be wanting in this natural affection, which appears to us as rather an instinctive impulse than an emotion which we can cultivate. Christ here uses these relationships with all that they imply to represent the spiritual ties formed between Him and His true disciples. And the common tie that binds them to Him should bind them to each other. So do we find it in actual fact. Christians recognise their brethren everywhere among those who believe in Christ, though they may differ from them in race, and blood, and colour. The relation of spirit to spirit is the profoundest of all. Civil wars, love of gain, and a hundred other things have been known to break the family bond, and to extinguish natural affection. But the mutual relations of believers with each other have been least disturbed of any, when those ties have been real and not nominal.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_8:19-21

Luk_8:19. “His mother and His brethren.”—This is one of the cases in which the parallel narratives in the other Gospels serve to supplement the history given by St. Luke, and to make its significance clearer. Had we no other information than that given here, we should not have known the reason why His mother and brethren desired to see Him; we should not have had reason for supposing that they were bent upon checking or interfering with His work; and His depreciation of natural relationships as compared with spiritual would have seemed uncalled for. We learn, however, from Mark 3 that His mother and brethren were

(1) alarmed at the rupture between Him and the Pharisees, and

(2) solicitous also concerning His health—for He and His disciples were so thronged by the multitude as not to have leisure “so much as to eat bread.” They came to the conclusion that He was beside Himself, and wished to put Him under restraint; or they alleged this as an excuse for His procedure, in order to pacify the anger of His enemies. Their conduct was, therefore, blameworthy, as prompted by excess of natural affection, an assumption of authority over Him or worldly policy. The comment of St. Chrysostom on these words is interesting, even if it show us only that belief in the sinlessness of Mary was not in his time an article of the Catholic faith: “What she attempted came of overmuch love of honour; for she wished to show to the people that she had power and authority over her son, imagining not as yet anything great concerning Him; whence also she came unseasonably. Observe then her and their recklessness. For when they ought to have gone in and listened with the multitude, or, if they were not so minded, to have waited for His bringing His discourse to an end, and then to have come near, they call Him out, and do this before all, exhibiting overmuch love of honour, and wishing to show that with much authority they enjoin Him; and this, too, the Evangelist shows that he is blaming; for with this very allusion he says, ‘while He yet talked to the people’; as if he should say,’ What! was there no other opportunity? What! could they not have spoken with Him in private?’ … Whence it is evident that they did this solely out of vain-glory.”

Luk_8:21. The Spiritual Relationship takes Precedence of the Natural.—The reply of Jesus is virtually a statement of the fact that when natural and spiritual relationships come into conflict the former must be made to give way. “He does not despise His mother, but He gives higher honour to His Father” (Bengel). The principle Christ announced was one which had already been approved in the word of God, in the blessing pronounced by Moses upon the tribe of Levi: “Who said unto his father and his mother, I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed Thy word, and kept Thy covenant” (Deu_33:9). We have therefore the plain lesson taught us that we must not allow ourselves to be guided solely by natural feelings, but when earthly ties bring us into conflict with our duties towards God obey the higher call even at the risk of seeming to be cruel and hard-hearted. No friends or relatives have claims upon us superior to those which spring from our obligations to God and Christ.

“My mother and My brethren are these.”—Perhaps in the first relationship Christ referred specially to those devout women mentioned in the earlier part of the chapter, as ministering to His wants and caring for Him with all the affectionateness of their sex; in the second He had in view the circle of apostles and disciples immediately surrounding Him. It is to be noticed that our Lord, though in St. Matthew’s narrative He introduces the additional term “sister” into His answer, does not, and indeed could not, introduce “father,” inasmuch as He never speaks of an earthly father. His Father was in heaven.—Alford.

Son of Man.—He is Son of man as well as Son of Mary, and in one sense is more identified with the race than with her.

“Brother, sister, and mother”—These words define the compass and limits of the relationship of the Son of God and man with the human race. This relationship has already been thrown open to the whole race by His birth in the flesh, already involved in the grace offered to all; but it is completed only in those who do the will of God, His Father in heaven.—Stier.

A New Relationship.—Nor is the separation between earthly and spiritual ties necessarily final: His mother and brethren, by becoming His disciples also, will become bound to Him by a closer than natural relationship.

But One True Nobility.—There is but one true nobility—that of obedience to God. This is greater than that of the Virgin’s relationship to Christ. Therefore when a woman in the crowd exclaimed, “Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked,” He did not say “She is not My mother,” but “If she desires to be blessed, let her do the will of God”; He said, “Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”—Chrysostom.

A Widely Extended Privilege.—With the apparent severity of the answer there is wonderful gentleness blended: the claim to relationship is denied to be the exclusive right of a few, but the privilege of making it is extended to the many who obeyed His word and accepted His teaching. All who then heard the word of God and did it, or who should hereafter hear and do, are taken into this intimate fellowship with Himself. “This was surely sent for the comfort of as many as should come after; and it is well worthy of remark how our blessed Lord in countless ways contrived that ‘as many as are afar off’—even we at this distant day—should be made to feel that privileges of the highest order are ours—privileges equal to any which were enjoyed by kinsmen and disciples in the days of the Son of man” (Burgon).

One Family.—How glorious is the thought that there is a family even upon earth of which the Son of God holds Himself a part; a family the loving bond and reigning principle of which is subjection to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so embracing high and low, rude and refined, bond and free, of every kindred and every age that have tasted that the Lord is gracious; a family whose members can at once understand each other and take sweetest counsel together, though meeting for the first time from the ends of the earth—while with their nearest relatives, who are but the children of this world, they have no sympathy in such things; a family which death cannot break up, but only transfer to their Father’s house! Did Christians but habitually realise and act upon this, as did their blessed Master, what would be the effect upon the Church and upon the world?—Brown.

Spiritual Affinity the Closest of All.—The deepest affinity is that of the spirit. Hence the supremacy, even in the present provisional state of things, of the wedlock relationship. Hence, too, the still higher supremacy of the relationship that will rule in the world of glory (Mat_22:30).—Morison.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

CONSANGUINITY OF THE HOLY GHOST

Mat 12:46-50; Mar 3:31-35; & Luk 8:19; Luk 8:21; Luk 11:27-28. “And it came to pass while He was speaking these things, a certain woman, lifting up her voice from the crowd, said to Him, Blessed is the womb having born Thee, and the breast which Thou didst suck. And He said, Truly, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” This is simply the gushing ejaculation of a woman in the crowd, so carried away with admiration of His mighty works and wonderful preaching that she is electrified with the conception of the glorious honor appertaining to the woman who enjoyed the privilege and the blessing of motherhood, thus giving the world such a Son. Matthew: “And He, speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers are standing without, seeking to speak to Him. And responding, He said to the one having spoken to Him, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? Reaching forth His hand toward His disciples [Mark says they were all sitting down around Him in a circle], said, Behold, My mother and My brothers. For whosoever may do the will of My Father who is in the heavens, the same is My brother, My sister, and My mother.” Luke says, “My mother and My brothers are those who hear the Word of God and do it.” His reputed father, Joseph, is not mentioned here in connection with the family, neither have we a single word in reference to him since Jesus accompanied them to the temple when He was twelve years old. There is not doubt but he died during the ensuing eighteen years. We hear of Jesus having sisters living in Nazareth; doubtless married. Questions arise in reference to these brothers of Jesus — four in number, James, Judas, Simon, and Joses — the Roman Catholics, conservatively to their Mariolatry, claiming that they were the sons of Joseph by a former marriage; and the Protestants, certainly with more plausibility, that they were the uterine brothers of Jesus, and of course younger than Himself, as we have not an intimation that Joseph had a former marriage, and especially from the fact that we always find them in company with Mary, which looks much like she was their mother. Jesus then being thirty-two years old, if they were children of Joseph by a former marriage, it would put them up considerably in bachelorhood, and not seem very plausible that they would have been giving a stepmother so much attention. There is no doubt but they, thinking that He was wearing Himself out, wanted to prevail on Him to relax labor, and go home with them, and take a good rest, which was incompatible with the urgency of His important ministry. We see here, His natural relatives go into eclipse when contrasted with the spiritual. So we all find, as we become more spiritual, our physical consanguinity sinks into deeper eclipse; not that we love our natural relatives less, but the consanguinity of the Holy Ghost is so much sweeter and richer than that of this world, that we find our affections absorbed and literally captured by the saints of God, admiring and appreciating them in proportion to their approximation to that Perfect Man, the fairest among ten thousand and altogether lovely.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8:19-20 Jesus had four brothers—James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon—and an unknown number of sisters (Matt 13:55; Mark 6:3). These children were probably born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus’ virginal conception and birth. (On the other hand, some believe that Mary remained a lifelong virgin and that Joseph was therefore a widower with children from a previous marriage when he married Mary.)

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk_8:19-21. See on Mat_12:46-50; Mar_3:31-35. Luke has the section in accordance with Mark, but in a shortened form,[114] without anything to indicate chronological sequence or connection of subject, and he gives it a different position.

Luk_8:20. λεγόντων] by its being said. See Winer, p. 519 [E. T. 736]; Bernhardy, p. 481; Borenemann, Schol. p. 53.

Luk_8:21. οὗτοι] my mother and my brethren are those who, etc.

[114] Therefore it is not to be said, with Baur, Evang. p. 467 f., that Luke purposely omitted the words in Matthew: καὶ ἐκτείνας τ. χεῖρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τ. μαθητὰς κ.τ.λ., in an interest adverse to the Twelve. It is not the Twelve alone that are meant in Matthew.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 8:19-21 . Mother and brethren (Mat 12:46-50 , Mar 3:31-35 ). Given in a different connection from that in Mt. and Mk. The connection here seems purely topical: the visit of the friends of Jesus gives Him occasion to indicate who are they who represent the good, fruitful soil (Luk 8:21 ).

Luk 8:19 . διὰ τὸν ὄχλον : a crowd seems unsuitable here (though not in Mt. and Mk.), for just before, Jesus has been conversing with His disciples in private.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. Visit of the Mother and Brethren of Jesus: Luk 8:19-21.

We should have been ignorant of the real object of this visit, unless, in this as in several other cases, Mark’s narrative had come in to supplement that of the other two. According to Mark, a report had reached the brethren of Jesus that He was in a state of excitement bordering on madness; it was just the echo of this accusation of the Pharisees: “He casteth out devils by Beelzebub.” Comp. Mar 3:21-22. His brethren therefore came, intending to lay hold on Him (κρατῆσαι αὐτόν, Luk 8:21), and take Him home. Matthew also connects this visit (Luk 12:46) with the same accusation. In John, the brethren of Jesus are represented in a similar attitude in regard to Him (Luk 7:5): “His brethren also did not believe on Him.” As to Mary, it is not said that she shared the sentiments of her sons. But when she saw them set out under the influence of such feelings, she would naturally desire to be present at the painful scene which she anticipated would take place. Perhaps also, like John the Baptist, she was unable to explain to herself the course which her Son’s work was taking, and was distracted between contrary impressions.

Vers. 19-21. The word without (Luk 8:20) might be understood to mean: “outside the circle which surrounded Jesus.” But Mark expressly mentions a house in which He was receiving hospitality (Luk 8:20), and where a large crowd was seated around Him (Luk 8:32; Luk 8:34).

Are these brethren of Jesus younger sons of Joseph and Mary, or sons of Joseph by a previous marriage; or are they cousins of Jesus, sons of Cleopas (the brother of Joseph), who would be called his brethren, as having been brought up in the house of their uncle Joseph? We cannot discuss this question here. (See our Commentary on the Gospel of John, Joh 2:12.) One thing is certain, that the literal interpretation of the word brother, placed, as it is here, by the side of the word mother, is the most natural.

The answer of Jesus signifies, not that family ties are in His eyes of no value (comp. Joh 19:26), but that they are subordinate to a tie of a higher and more durable nature. In those women who accompanied Him, exercising over Him a mother’s care (Luk 8:2-3), and in those disciples who so faithfully associated themselves with Him in His work, He had found a family which supplied the place of that which had deliberately forsaken Him. And this new. spiritual relationship, eternal even as the God in whom it was based, was it not superior in dignity to a relationship of blood, which the least accident might break? In this saying He expresses a tender and grateful affection for those faithful souls whose love every day supplied the place of the dearest domestic affection. He makes no mention of father; this place belongs in His eyes to God alone. We see how the description of the actual circumstances, given by Mark, enables us to understand the appropriateness of this saying. This fact proves that Luke knew neither the narrative of this evangelist, nor that of the alleged proto-Mark. How could he in sheer wilfulness have neglected the light which such a narrative threw upon the whole scene?

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There is no knot of flesh and blood, among men so nigh and strait, as the band which is between Christ, and them who embrace him with a true faith.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 19. His mother and brethren] See the notes on Mt 12:46, &c., and on Mr 3:31, &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19-21) Then came to him his mother and his brethren.—See Notes on Mat_12:46-50, and Mar_3:31-35. There cannot be any doubt that we have in those passages a report of the same incident; but it may be noted that St. Luke places it after the teaching by parables, and the other two Gospels before. In this instance the evidence preponderates in favour of the latter sequence of events.

For the press.—Better, by reason of the multitude.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19-21. Christ’s Mother and His Brethren.

19. Then came to him his mother and his brethren] Our text has the plural; the reading paregeneto (sing.) would imply that the Virgin took a specially prominent part in the incident. Joseph is never mentioned after the scene in the Temple. This incident can hardly be the same as those in Mar_3:31-35; Mat_12:46-50, because in both of those cases the context is wholly different. St Luke may however have misplaced this incident, since here, as in the other Evangelists, relatives of Jesus are represented as standing outside a house of which the doors were densely thronged; whereas the explanation of the Parable had been given in private. It is here merely said that they wished to see Him; but the fact that they came in a body seems to shew that they desired in some way to direct or control His actions. The fullest account of their motives is found in Mar_3:21, where we are told that they wished “to seize Him” or “get possession of His person,” because they said “He is beside Himself,”—perhaps echoing the feelings which had been encouraged by the Pharisees. We must remember that His brethren “did not believe in Him” (Joh_7:5), i.e. their belief in Him was only the belief that he was a Prophet who did not realize their Messianic ideal. It needed the Resurrection to convert them.

his brethren] James, Joses, Simon, Judas. Possibly (Mat_12:50; Mar_3:35) His sisters also came.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it was told him by certain, which said,.... The phrase, "which said", is omitted in the Vulgate Latin version, and in Beza's most ancient copy. The Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions only read, "and they said unto him"; and the Persic version renders it, "a certain person said"; some one person, as in Mat 12:47

thy mother, and thy brethren, stand without, desiring to see thee; and to speak with thee, as in Mat 12:47. See Gill on Mat 12:47.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.

Ver. 19. See Mat 12:46; Mar 3:31.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See the notes at Mat 12:46-50.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

See Poole on "Mat 12:46", and following verses to Mat 12:50. See Poole on "Mar 3:31" and following verses to Mar 3:35.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 19-21. Interference of Christ"s mother and his brethren.

Then came to him his mother and his brethren. St. Mark, in his third chapter, gives us the reasons which led to this scene. It had been bruited abroad that a species of frenzy had seized upon that strange Man who had been brought up in their midst, and who had lately aroused such enthusiasm in all the crowded lake-district of Galilee. It is difficult to estimate aright the feelings of his own family towards him; admiration and love seem to have struggled in their hearts with prejudice and jealousy not in the case of Mary, but in the case of the so-called brothers. They seem ever to have been close to him during his public ministry, not among his "own," but still near him, watching him, and listening to him with a half-wondering, half-grudging admiration. But John tells us (Joh_7:5) that they did not believe in him. It needed the Resurrection to convert them. The crowd round the Master at this juncture was so great that they his kinsmen could not press through it to speak to him. They conveyed to him, however, a message. The Heart-reader knew well what were the motives which induced them to come to him just then; the brothers were so distrustful that they had suffered themselves to be carried away by the Pharisees" evil surmises, that Jesus was possessed by a devil. The mother, influenced by her earthly fears for her Son, was induced to accompany the brothers, no doubt hoping to induce him to withdraw himself from the scene of excitement, at all events for a season.

Vers. 19-21. Christ"s one relationship.

How is Christ related to us? And is he related to us in a way other than that in which he was related to men and women during his life on earth? The answer to this question is that there is only one way in which he has been or will be permanently related to mankind. We look at

I THE VERY TEMPORARY CHARACTER OF HIS FLESHLY RELATIONSHIP. He was, of course, most intimately associated, in purely human bends, with "his mother and his brethren." But he gave the clearest intimation that this was only to last during his sojourn on the earth, and that it was not to be relied upon as a source of life even then.

1. He checked his mother in her eagerness at the very first miracle he wrought. (Joh_2:4)

2. He intimated in the text that his human connections were already merging in those of a higher, a spiritual hind.

3. He disengaged himself, tenderly but decidedly, from his human, filial obligations as he was about to consummate his redemptive work. (Joh_19:26)

4. He declined the demonstrativeness of his warm-hearted disciple as partaking too much of the fleshly, and intimated that all approach thenceforward must be of a heavenly and spiritual character. (Joh_20:16, Joh_20:17)

5. He instructed his apostle to declare that all further knowledge of Jesus Christ must not be "after the flesh," but spiritual. (2Co_5:16)

6. He gave no position in his Church to his mother or his brethren because they had been such. They cud not derive anything, in their after-relation to him, from the fact of their motherhood or brotherhood; they stood related to him just as all other souls did, by their reverence, their trust, their love, their service, and by these alone.

II THE PERMANENT AND INTIMATE CHARACTER OF HIS SPIRITUAL RELATIONS WITH US. "My mother and my brethren are these which hear the Word of God and do it." "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother". (Mat_12:50) From these words of truth and grace we gather:

1. That what unites us to Christ is practical godliness. It is reverent attention followed by obedient life; hearing and doing the will of God. It is well to place ourselves where the will of God is made known; better to listen attentively when it is revealed; better still to be excited to solemn and earnest feeling concerning it; but we do not become Christ"s, we are not numbered amongst his own, until we so hear and heed and feel that we resolve to be and strive to do what we know is his holy will concerning us. We may fail frequently to realize our own intention; we may strive upwards and Godwards with many a stumble on our way; but if there be an honest and earnest effort towards the good and the true, animated and inspired By the fear and the love of God, then Christ acknowledges us as his, we are citizens of his kingdom. We are something more than that; for we learn from the text:

2. That those who are truly united to Christ are in very close affinity with him. So much are they to him that the nearest and dearest human relationships are called in to express it. Dear as the mother is to her child, as the sister to her brother, so dear are all true and earnest souls to their Divine Lord. With filial, with brotherly love will he watch and guard them, will he provide for their necessities, will he sympathize with them in their sorrows, will he attend their steps, will he secure their lasting interest in the Father"s home. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Matt. xii, 46; Mark iii, 31.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The true relatives of the Lord:

v. 19. Then came to Him His mother and His brethren, and could not come at Him for the press.

v. 20. And it was told Him by certain which said, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to see Thee.

v. 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 the narrative above Luke had combined the discourses of two different occasions. This explains the fact that he here relates the incident concerning the relatives of Jesus. Christ was busily engaged with His teaching when there came an interruption. His mother and His brothers (cousins or half-brothers) had come down with the intention of taking Him away for some time and giving Him a much-needed vacation. Though they tried to get into the house, they could not so much as come near Him on account of the great multitude that filled every bit of available space. So the request of His relatives was passed along, until finally Jesus was told by those nearest to Him that His mother and His brothers wanted to see Him. There was no doubt that they meant well, but their understanding of the Savior’s work and ministry was very poor. And therefore their attempt, with all its implied kindness, was an unwarranted interference with the Lord’s business. He did not go out to them, nor did He permit them to disturb Him. He was about His Father’s business, and in the performance of those duties which had been given Him by His Father no man may disturb or hinder Him. Note: This is an example for us that we may not be discouraged or turned aside from our purpose when our work concerns the kingdom of God. Jesus here, after looking at His disciples that were sitting nearest to Him, gave an answer which could be transmitted to the waiting relatives: My mother and My brethren are these that hear and do the Word of God. The spiritual relationship with Christ through faith is far more intimate than any physical relationship possibly could be. It brings the believer into the closest communion with his Savior. Joh 15:1-6.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Two things are here observable, 1. The truth and verity of Christ’s human nature: he had affinity and consanguinity with men, persons near in blood to him, by the mother’s side, called here his kinsmen.

Observe, 2. That Christ’s spiritual kindred were much dearer to him than his natural.

Alliance by faith is more valued by Christ, than alliance by blood: to bear Christ in the heart is greater honor than to carry him in the womb. Blessed be God, this great and gracious privilege is not denied us even now.

Although we cannot see Christ, yet love him we may, his bodily presence cannot be enjoyed by us, but his spiritual presence is not denied to us. Though Christ be not ours in house, in arms, in affinity, and consanguinity, yet in heart, in faith, in love, and service, he is or may be ours.

Verily spiritual regeneration brings men into a more honorable relation to Christ than natural generation ever did. O how dear are obedient Christians to Christ! He prefers them in esteem before those of his own flesh and blood. My brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [L. Teaching As to Mother and Brethren].

L. CHRIST'S TEACHING AS TO HIS MOTHER AND BRETHREN. (Galilee, same day as the last lesson.) aMATT. XII. 46-50; bMARK III. 31-35; cLUKE VIII. 19-21.

a46 While he yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without seeking to speak to him. [Jesus was in a house, probably at Capernaum-- Mar_3:19, Mat_13:1.] c19 and there came bcome cto him his mother and bhis brethren; cand they could not come at him for the crowd. aand, standing without, they sent unto him, calling him. 32 And the multitude was sitting about him [We learn at Mar_3:21, that they came to lay hold of him because they thought that he was beside himself. It was for this reason that they came in a body, for their numbers would enable them to control him. Jesus had four brethren ( Mat_13:55). Finding him teaching with the crowd about him, they passed the word in to him that they wished to see him outside. To attempt to lay hold of him in the midst of his disciples would have been rashly inexpedient. The fact that they came with Mary establishes the strong presumption that they were the children of Mary and Joseph, and hence the literal brethren of the Lord. In thus seeking to take Jesus away from his enemies Mary yielded to a natural maternal impulse which even the revelations accorded to her did not quiet. The brethren, too, acted naturally, for they were unbelieving-- Joh_7:5.] a47 And one said bthey say unto him, c20 And it was told him, aBehold, thy mother and thy brethren bseek for thee. cstand without, desiring to see thee. aseeking to speak to thee. [310] [This message was at once an interruption and an interference. It assumed that their business with him was more urgent than his business with the people. It merited our Lord's rebuke, even if it had not behind it the even greater presumption of an attempt to lay hold on him.] 48 But he answered { b33 And he answereth aand said unto him that told him, band saith, cand said unto them, aWho is my mother? and who are my brethren? b34 And looking round on them that sat round about him, ahe stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, bsaith, aBehold, my mother and my brethren! cMy mother and my brethren are these that hear the word of God and do it. b35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, amy Father who in heaven, he bthe same is my brother, and my sister, and mother. [In this answer Jesus shows that he brooks no interference on the score of earthly relationships, and explodes the idea of his subserviency to his mother. To all who call on the "Mother of God," as Mary is blasphemously styled, Jesus answers, as he did to the Jews, "Who is my mother?" Jesus was then in the full course of his ministry as Messiah, and as such he recognized only spiritual relationships. By doing the will of God we become his spiritual children, and thus we become related to Christ. Jesus admits three human relationships--"brother, sister, mother"--but omits the paternal relationship, since he had no Father, save God. It is remarkable that in the only two instances in which Mary figures in the ministry of Jesus prior to his crucifixion, she stands forth reproved by him. This fact not only rebukes those who worship her, but especially corrects the doctrine of her immaculate conception.] [311]

[FFG 310-311]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

19–21. Then came to him his mother. See notes on Matt. 12:46–50; Mark 3:21.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

brothers

These were Jesus' younger brothers—the other sons of Mary and Joseph who were born after Jesus. Since the Father of Jesus was God, and their father was Joseph, they were technically his half-brothers. This detail is not normally translated.

He was told

This can be stated in active form. AT: "People told him" or "Someone told him" (See: Active or Passive)

wanting to see you

"and they want to see you"

My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it

This metaphor expresses that the people who were coming to listen to Jesus were as important to him as his own family was. AT: "Those who hear the word of God and obey it are like a mother and brothers to me" (See: Metaphor)

the word of God

"the message God has spoken"

translationWords

Jesus

brother

word of God

obey

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

19–21. CHRIST’S MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN

19. παρεγένετο δέ. The Rec[179] has the plural; the reading παρεγένετο would imply that the Virgin took a specially prominent part in the incident. Joseph is never mentioned after the scene in the Temple. This incident can hardly be the same as those in Mar 3:31-35; Mat 12:46-50, because in both of those cases the context is wholly different. St Luke may however have misplaced this incident, since here, as in the other Evangelists, relatives of Jesus are represented as standing outside a house of which the doors were densely thronged, whereas the explanation of the Parable had been given in private. It is here merely said that they wished to see Him; but the fact that they came in a body seems to shew that they desired in some way to direct or control His actions. The fullest account of their motives is found in Mar 3:21, where we are told that they wished “to seize Him” or “get possession of His person,” because they said “He is beside Himself,”—perhaps yielding to the half suspicion which had been deliberately encouraged by the Pharisees. We must remember that His brethren “did not believe in Him” (Joh 7:5), i.e. their belief in Him was only the belief that He was a Prophet who did not realize their Messianic ideal. It needed the Resurrection to convert them.

[179] Rec. The Textus Receptus.

οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ. James, Joses, Simon, Judas. Possibly (Mat 12:50; Mar 3:35) His sisters also came.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19-21.] The mother and brethren of Jesus seek to see Him. Mat 12:46-50. Mar 3:31-35. The incident is introduced here without any precise note of sequence; not so in Matt., who says, after the discourse in ch. 12, ἔτι αὐτοῦ λαλοῦντος τοῖς ὄχλοις … and Mark καὶ ἔρχονται … having before stated, ver. 21, that His relations went out to lay hold of Him,—for they said, “He is beside Himself.” We must conclude therefore that they have it in the exact place, and that Luke only inserts it among the events of this series of discourses, as indeed it was, but without fixing its place. His account is abridged, and without marks of an eyewitness, which the others have.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19-21. The Visit of His Mother and His Brethren. Christ’s true Relations. Mt. (12:46-50) and Mk. (3:31-35) place this incident before the parable of the Sower; but none of the three state which preceded in order of time. Comp. 11:27, 28, and see on 11:29. On the “Brethren of the Lord” see Lange, Leben Jesu, ii. 2, § 13, Eng. tr. i. p. 329; Lft. Galatians, pp. 253-291, in his Dissertations on the Apostolic Age, pp. 3-45, Macmillan, 1892; J.B. Mayor, Epistle of S. James, pp. v-xxxvi, Macmillan, 1892.1 D. B.2 artt. “Brother”; “James”; “Judas, the Lord’s Brother.”

19. Παρεγένετο δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἡ μήτηρ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ. For the verb, which is a favourite with Lk., see on 7:4. Here Mk. has ἔρχονται and Mt. ἰδού. In writing the sing. Lk. is thinking only of ἡ μήτηρ. Such constructions are common, and do not imply that the first in the series of nominatives was emphatic or specially prominent, except in the writer’s thoughts. Comp. Joh 18:15, Joh 18:20:3; Act 26:30; Phm 1:23.

The precise relationship to be understood from the expression οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ will probably never he determined or cease to be discussed. There is nothing in Scripture to warn us from what is the antecedently natural view that they are the children of Joseph and Mary, unless “I know not a man” (1:34) is interpreted as implying a vow of perpetual virginity. The “firstborn” in 2:7 and the imperfect followed by “till” in Mat 1:25, seem to imply that Joseph and Mary had children; which is confirmed by contemporary belief (Mar 6:3; Mat 13:55) and by the constant attendance of the ἀδελφοί on the Mother of the Lord (Mat 12:46; Mar 3:32; Joh 2:12). The Epiphanian theory, which gives Joseph children older than Jesus by a former wife, deprives Him of His rights as the heir of Joseph and of the house of David. It seems to be of apocryphal origin (Gospel according to Peter, or Book of James); and, like Jerome’s theory of cousinship, to have been invented in the interests of asceticism and of à priori convictions, respecting the perpetual virginity of Mary. Tertullian, in dealing with this passage, seems to assume as a matter of course that the ἀδελφοί are the children of Mary, and that she and they were, here censured by Christ (Marcion. iv. 19; De Carne Christi, vii.). He knows nothing of the doctrine of a sinless Virgin. Renan conjectures that James, Joses, Simon, and Judas were the cousins of Jesus, but that the brethren who refused to believe in Him were His real brethren (V. de J. p. 23). This solution remains entirely his own, for it creates more difficulties than it solves. See Expositor’s Bible, James and Jude, ch. iii., Hodder, 1891.

συντυχεῖν. Elsewhere in bibl. Grk. 2 Mac. 8:14 only.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.