Quest 10
1. Jesus’ earthly family did not believe in him.
He had four brothers, James, Joses, Judas, and Simon, and at least two sisters (Mark 3:3) – “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?”
His brothers did not believe in him (John 7:1-5) - After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him.
His family thought he had gone crazy (Mark 3:20-21) - Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
2. Jesus loved his earthly family.
When he was in the throes of death on the cross, he showed his love to his mother (John 19:26-27) - When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
He appeared to his oldest brother after he was raised from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:7) - Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
3. Jesus taught that earthly families are temporary families.
Example: Marriage is not an eternal relationship but a temporary relationship. When the Sadducees got into a discussion with Jesus about marriage, he said to them (Matthew 22:29-30): “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.”
Jesus valued spiritual relationship more than temporary earthly families (Mark 3:34-35) -And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”
4. Your spiritual family is your forever family.
Example: People speak of orphaned children or children in foster care finding their “forever family.” Websites like foreverfamily.org or foreverfamilyfoundation.org help with adoptions. Or locally we have Christian Family Services.
In Christ, you were adopted into your forever family (Ephesians 1:3-5) - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ.
You cannot let the beliefs and traditions of your temporary earthly family interfere with your obedience to Jesus Christ (Matthew 10:37) - Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
5. Your earthly family can be your forever family.
Jesus died on the cross for the earthly family who thought he had gone crazy and didn’t believe in him.
Be willing to die to yourself that there might be eternal life in your earthly family (2 Corinthians 4:11) - For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
In closing, we had an elder in the church in Olympia who used to say, “We can love people to hell.” He meant we can choose to not tell them the truth of the Gospel for fear of offending them. We love them, but we don’t want to upset them. So we just love them on their way to Hell. Don’t love people to Hell.
