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• The Family of God, Mark 3:20-35,
  by Rev. Frank Schaefer    (see below)
   

• Family Values Revisited, Mark 3:20-35
  Rev. Randy L. Quinn 
   

• In Search of Something to Hold On To, II Corinthians 4:16-5:5
  by Dr. David Rogne

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The Family of God,
based on Mark 3:20-35, (and 1 Corinthians 12:7-13)
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

Picture this scene: Jesus is teaching the people, he’s involved in the work of the kingdom. The people had gathered to hear him teach. It was probably a gathering much like our worship service this morning.

When his mother and brothers arrived at the scene to see him, Jesus ignores them. Someone must have seen Jesus’ family arrive, or somehow his family got the attention of a person close to Jesus. Whatever may be the case, Jesus was informed of their arrival and his reaction is ….surprising, to say the least. Jesus exact words were: “My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

What was that all about? Why did he not want to greet his family? It would have only taken a couple of minutes to greet them, he could have easily taken a break from teaching.

How can we understand what was happening here? Could it be that Jesus was embarrassed by his family?

I used to be embarrassed by my family… I don’t know about your relatives, but I always thought I had the weirdest family. When we had family get-togethers, I was embarrassed to invite friends over, esp. because of uncle Gunther. The man had no manners. He would just blurt out whatever he was thinking, and he would also burp right there at the table. It was ugly. And then there was great ant Elfriede. She could never get our names straight, no matter how often you corrected her. And what embarrassed me most was the bragging that was going on when we got together. Does anybody else have relatives like that? Or am I the only one. But I tell you what, when I think back to those holiday dinners now, I think of them as the good old times, because at least I was blessed to have a family, and I was able to be together with my family. And, yes, in an emotional moment of homesickness I would even admit that I miss uncle Gunther. There is just nothing like family, and he was a part of our family--bad manners and all.


When you think about the fact that Jesus was so supportive of his mom throughout the gospel readings, perhaps its unlikely that he was embarrassed about them. Remember how he made provisions for her even on the cross he was nailed to.

So, perhaps Jesus was too busy doing church work. By not taking time for his family is Jesus saying that we should no longer make our families the number one priority? It is no secret that pastors and leaders in the church have lost their families over giving the church ministry the highest priority. In fact, according to a survey by Newsweek some time ago, the divorce rate among pastors is over 50%, same as the rest of the population in this country.

Some have speculated that there is a bit of hypocrisy involved here; while preachers lay down the law on their flock, they are no better when it comes to relationships than anybody else. However, we should not forget that the stress on pastors and their families is often horrendous. That’s why we need to pray for our pastors and spiritual leaders in our community.

Given the fact that the bible is clear on the fact that church need to be shining examples and role models when it comes to marriage and childrearing, I very much doubt that Jesus’ message is: church work is more important than our close family relationships.

This is what I think Jesus is saying: church gatherings are holy events; during the times of holy gathering the family takes a back-seat to the church family; when we get together as people of God once or twice a week—it’s a holy event.

The family of God is special indeed. It is a supernatural fellowship:
According to Mat 18: where two or three are gathered, Jesus promises, I will be present among them. Something happens when we as God’s family get together for worship. Who belongs to God’s family? I would think they are the ones that (in Jesus words), “who hear God's word and put it into practice." They are believers who are actively living their faith, who stand in daily forgiveness, seek to follow Jesus’ teaching to better themselves, and reach out to others to spread God’s love.

Supernatural things are promised to happen when the family of God gets together:

• There is “prayer power”—Jesus himself promised that “if two or three agree on something they ask for God will hear their prayers. “ We as a church in Christ’s body of believers have access to God in a special way; perhaps not every prayer is answered the way that we want to or that we ask about, but according to Jesus’ promise here, our prayers will be answered in God’s perfect timing and manner.

• We have “power to bless others”--According to Mat 18:18 Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “

This saying is somewhat of a mystery, we don’t exactly know in what context Jesus shared these words and exactly what he meant by that. The Message by Eugene Peterson puts it like this: “A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal.”
At the very least we can say that we have the power to bless others by our very words. Whenever we celebrate communion, we take a moment to do a so-called passing of the peace. This practice includes the concept of using words to bless others with Christ’s peace.
I thought this morning we could do it as part of this sermon; turn to your neighbor to the left and right and tell them: “May God bless you this week.”

All of us have just received a blessing from God through our brothers and sisters in Christ. There is supernatural power when God’s people get together.

This brings me to another point: according to the apostle Paul, we have been given special gifts as individual believers to edify (build up) and bless the body of Christ and our fellow church family members.

[Read the passage from Corinthians]

The NT concept of the church family is one of the most powerful concepts on earth. It all started on Pentecost Sunday with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on all believers. Everybody has been given a message from our Creator to bless others and to help others. We are called to discover and share this gift. When we get together, these gifts often come out in a special and very powerful way. This, my friends, is holy ground, we’re standing on holy ground indeed. Not because of the church building or the sanctuary or not even because of the “altar.” This is holy ground because of you—the family of God gathering together. Where two or three are gathered in Christ’s name there he will be in the midst of them.

Conclusion: When we get together as a biological family there is a lot of support and fun, but at times we also have arguments, don’t talk to each other Its the same with the family of God. We may have problems with each other at times, we may get on each other’s nerves, but deep down, we realize that we belong together, that when we get together there is something supernatural going on, prayers are answered, we are blessed and we are blessing others. The family of God is the most powerful institution in heaven and on earth. Amen.