Luke | Chapter 8

Luke 8:1-10

 

Taking the Word to the street to ears that will hear

 

 

 

  • Introduction
  • 1-3 The condition for change
  • 10 The parable on soils

 

 

Introduction

As we begin our study in chapter eight, we immediately see the transition in this chapter from two methods our Lord used up to this time. They signal a departure from what Jesus’ had done and the way He communicated to the masses, thus we see the change both in:

  • Location, here the change is the not the general area but the specific location of where He taught
  • Communication, also note we see that what Jesus taught didn’t change but the way in which He taught did

Both were predicated upon the conditions that Jesus now found His ministry at in only a short amount of time and as such mandated the specific changes. This chapter also offers great encouragement alongside powerful warnings about the condition of His church today. Generally speaking, we can break apart the chapter in its entirety in two sections that ought to bring us back to our school days in the classroom. Our time in school as well as our time to the classroom of Christ is made up of the same two things:

  • 1-21 Listening to the teaching or Hearing God’s Word
  • 22-56 The testing on the teaching or heeding God’s Word

I’m not sure if you were the kind of student I was but I confess I never had much confidence in the tests because I had not been listening. That’s the worst part of the test is it always reveals my lack of attention to what my Master has been saying to me.

 

Vs. 1-3 The condition for change

Vs.1 You will recall that when Jesus started His ministry in Luke chapter four, the synagogues were where His teaching and preaching started and as we pick up this chapter we notice a change and it begins with the opening words of chapter 8, “He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing glad tidings of the kingdom of God”. This causes me to make two general observations as it relates to this chapter:

  • First, consider that in a very brief amount of public ministry time from our Lord that He was no longer welcome to teach in the very places that had anticipated His return for centuries! The pulpits of synagogues were now closed to Him. Christian let those truths sink into your heart for a moment! Let me honestly and humbly ask you a question, “Do you think Jesus would find many pulpits open to His teaching and preaching today?” Instead of welcoming Jesus, He found opposition, instead of finding hearts that were willing to listen, He found scribes who were only interested is debating Him to find something they could arrest Him on. I can’t help wondering how many churches today would open their pulpits to Him? These synagogues were to be places of learning and spiritual growth yet seem to no longer want to listen to the Word of God even from the God of the Word. It is for this reason that these words from Luke about Jesus finding a pulpit to proclaim truth in every city and village as He took to the streets offers such a great exciting and comforting encouragement to His servants today. Truth doesn’t need to accommodate culture to be relevant it needs to confront culture as truth is never out of style. Also truth will always find an ear that will listen even if it is in the highways and byways.
  • Second, notice that not only did the location change where Jesus’ pulpit was at but also note that Jesus changed how He taught truth while never bending truth to the ears that were listening! That is what we note in the introduction, the parabolic teaching that was to cause the listeners not to be comfortable and have to go deeper if they wanted more understanding!

V s. 2-3 In what many of us would skip over is a very interesting proof of the reality of the effectiveness of the Word of God when the soil is open to the seed planted by the Sower. Notice that Luke mentions three women followers and Jesus each of them were engaged in “providing for Jesus from their substance”. Here we see a small little group of women from very different backgrounds served Jesus and His ministry out of their own resources. It was considered a very great honor to support a Rabbi and not that unusual, what is unusual was that it was the women who were supplying the funds to get the ministry going. You cannot find a woman in the gospel records that didn’t like and appreciate Jesus and His ministry. Let that fact sink in as often we are told that the Christian faith is against women, but it is clearly not how the women of the day saw Him. I also am fascinated by the diversity of the women:

  • Mary Magdalene: So called this because she came from the area of Magdala which was a city about 3 miles north of Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Luke points out her bio as being the person who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities as seven demons had come out of her. Mary had a dark and terrible past. How amazing is it that someone like Mary had responded to the gospel and now is a supporter of the gospel for other to also be set free from what possess them.
  • Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward: Mary had been possessed by seven demons Joanna’s husband worked for one! Joanna belonged to the privileged class. This was no passing fancy for Joanna as we will see her again among those who went to the tomb on resurrection morning. Her husband is called a steward of the king Herod which means that he was involved in taking care of the king’s properties and financial interests and that means that he was a very important official in the nation.
  • Susanna: And that is all we know of her as she is never referred to anywhere else other than her to say that she ministered to Jesus with her substance.

What a beautiful mosaic these three women paint of the transformative work of the Word of God. It is the supreme gracious work of our Lord that He can produce a glorious portrait from such unusual colors. Only our Lord can mix different personalities, educations and experiences to create a masterpiece that no art museum is fit to have it hang on its wall as it is only fit for the throne room of heaven. In Isaiah 11:6 we are told that the lion shall lie down with the lamb. We assume that when this takes place that the lion will become like the lamb, and all this would mean that the lamb absorbs the lion instead of the lion eating the lamb. Ah, but the real work of the Lord in transformation is when He comes into the heart the lamb and lion both retain what He created them to be and that is what we see in these women. They remained as He had always intended them to be without losing what they always been.

 

Vs. 10 The parable on soils

You will find this parable both in Matthew 13:3-23 as well as Mark 4:3-25. Mark in chapter 3 verse 23 mentions that Jesus adopted the parabolic method when teaching. Then in chapter 4 verses 33-34, Mark will offer his commentary on this method employed by Jesus saying that, “with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” That commentary is the key to understanding this method as well as the difficulty of Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12 and Matthew 13:14-17. When you look at Marks gospel in the fourth chapter you notice that three of the four stories deal with some type of seed. The only one that diverts from this is found in verses 21-25 and has to do with light under a basket and visibility.

Also found in Mark’s gospel is the fact that the word “parable” in 4:10 is plural which would have included all of the parables spoken by Jesus that day, from the boat. That being said Mark gives us the chronological order of events in order to give needed instruction and interpretation on what is commonly referred to as the “Parable of the Sower” to his Roman readers. The reason for this seems to be found in Mark 4:13 where Jesus said to His parable inquirers, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand ALL the parables?”

Based upon Mark 4:13 the “Parable of the Sower” is the key to all parables. It is for this same reason I think it is best that we first deal with the setting in verses 1-2 then move to the instructions in verses 10-12 before we move to the parable itself, verses 3-9 and with Jesus’ interpretation in verse 14-20.

The difficulty presented Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12 and Matthew 13:14-17 is best understood by keeping these verses in context. If we take them out of context we create confusion with regards not only to the intent of parables but to the character and nature of Jesus. Did Jesus mean, as “simple reading” seems to imply that He spoke these stories in order to hide truth so that people could not understand and in not understanding couldn’t be forgiven?

Our Lord points out that there are two kinds of hearers:

  • The first one He describes as “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God..” This is a class of hearers who according to Mark 4:10 “when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked about the parable.” A group who certainly was the minority among the 10’s of thousands but was not exclusively disciples. Their chief characteristic, the common denominator in this first group is they are the ones that “came to Him and asked Him” about the parable. Jesus said it had been given to THEM “to know sacred secrets or mysteries of the kingdom of God.” Twice in the telling of the parable Jesus refers to the key to these sacred secrets as being available to those that He says in verse 3 “Listen!” and again in verse 9 who have “ears to hear, let him hear!” Notice what this mystery is about; “the kingdom of God” that is how God is at work in the world, functioning through humanity now and throughout world history.
  • The second one Jesus describes as, “…those who are outside, all things come in parables.” Jesus isn’t mentioning a geographical location but rather a position of a person’s heart. It is to this second group that Jesus addresses the information of Mark 4:12 as He describes their present condition as: “Seeing that they may see and not perceive, and hearing that they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.” This passage presents some difficulties that are cleared up in the context of Mark 4:11 and 33 as clearly Jesus wanted people to be able to hear who were truly interested.

First the word, “THAT” at the start of Mark 4:12 in the Greek means, “in order that” or because of, which implies that Mark 4:12 was a preexisting condition in these hearers and NOT one caused by Jesus’ teaching parables. Matthew’s account supports this as these folks were seeing and hearing, but what they saw and heard was not leading them to the Lord. This is a quote from the prophet Isaiah in the 6th chapter verse 9-10 who describes the people of his time as being those who saw and heard but were nonetheless blind and deaf because of the hardening of their hearts.

Jesus employed parables to loosen the heart and was fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. This is more obvious when we read in Matthew 13:14 as Jesus says, “And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled”. He quotes Isaiah further in verse 15 saying, “For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes have closed, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” God didn’t close their eyes and ears; they closed them for the purpose of not turning from sin and the outcome was that they didn’t receive forgiveness.

Next lesson we will look at the parable further covering:

Vs. 5-15 The Parable and the explanation of the parable

 

 

Luke 8:5-15

The parable of the soils

 

 

  • Introduction
  • 5-8 The parable
  • 9-10 The right question
  • 11-15 Jesus interpretation

 

Introduction

At the start of our study in the eight chapter of Luke, we noted a change predicated upon the condition of the soils. The two methods Jesus had used up to this time were changed:

  • Location, the change was not the geographical region instead it was the specific location of where He taught, from synagogue to the streets!
  • Communication, what Jesus taught didn’t change but the way in which He taught did!

We also dealt with the difficulty with the simple English reading found in the three gospels were this parable is found, Matthew 13:3-23, Mark 4:3-25 as well as here in Luke. It is only when we examine the text in Mark in chapter 3 verse 23 and 4:33-34 where he mentions that Jesus adopted the parabolic method when teaching and offers his commentary on this method employed by Jesus saying that “with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” That commentary is the key to understanding this method as well as the difficulty of Luke 8:10, Mark 4:12 and Matthew 13:14-17. Based upon Mark 4:13 the “Parable of the Sower” is the key to all parables.

Jesus is points out that there are two kinds of hearers:

  • The first one He describes as “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God..” This is a class of hearers who according to Mark 4:10 “when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked about the parable.” Their chief characteristic, the common denominator in this first group is they are the ones that “came to Him and asked Him” about the parable. Twice in the telling of the parable Jesus refers to the key as being available to those that He says in verse 3 “Listen!” and again in verse 9 who have “ears to hear, let him hear!”
  • The second one Jesus describes as, “…those who are outside, all things come in parables.” Jesus isn’t mentioning a geographical location but rather a position of a person’s heart. It is to this second group that Jesus addresses the information of Mark 4:12 as He describes their present condition as: “Seeing that they may see and not perceive, and hearing that they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their sins be forgiven them.” The word, “THAT” at the start of Mark 4:12 in the Greek means, “in order that” or because of, which implies that Mark 4:12 was a preexisting condition in these hearers and NOT one caused by Jesus’ teaching parables.

Now we move to the parable as well as the explanation given the disciples after their inquiry.

 

Vs. 5-8 The parable

First as we look at this parable generally we see that there are three points of interest in this story:

  • The Sower: Who we are told in verse 37 is the Son of Man. Though truly there is a sense that all who are His disciples are Sowers.
  • The Seed: Clearly in Jesus’ explanation of the parable, the seed is the Word of God. Also, in Mark 4:14, we are told that the Sower sows the Word.”
  • The Soilsrepresent the responses of the heart upon hearing the Word of God.

There are four consequences of the seed in these four soils.

Each had an agent that caused the consequence:

  • Soil by the wayside, the seed was stolen by the foe
  • Soil on stony ground, the seed was starved by the flesh
  • Soil among the thorns, the seed was strangled by fear
  • Soil on good ground, the seed was successful by faith

There is also according to Mark’s account to be three levels of fruitfulness that could be due to opportunity or fidelity, ability or loyalty. Jesus says that the crop showed growth by yielding a crop that sprang up and increased, “some by thirty, some by sixty and some by 100 grains” Mark 4:8. I’m reminded of what we read in 1st Peter 1:23 Peter writes that we are “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God that which abides forever.”

There are also three enemies to the fruitfulness of the word of God in the human heart:

  • vs 5 Birds = the wicked one: Now it is important to realize that the fields here had paths through them. So the farmer would take his wooden plow and would go through an area that had a path in it, scattering the seeds. Simply put, the ground would be hard, and so the birds would come and eat the seed. So, if a person is hard and not receptive to the seed of the Word of God, the Devil will come and snatch the Word away. Notice that they heard the Word but did not consider it (understand). It is not that they could not understand it; rather, it was that they did not want to think about it wisely in their lives.
  • vs 6 Stony ground: Here the enemy is the flesh. They say that sounds great; they raise their hands at an altar call and come forward all excited, but when they see that the flesh has to die they cannot continue to live a lifestyle of sin, then they don’t want anything to do with their profession of faith. People don’t know anything anymore about commitment and cost. Once they find out there is a cost involved, they walk away.
  • vs 7 Thrones = deceitfulness of riches: Here the enemy is the world system. Pleasure and the pursuit of it causes those to say the cost is too great. Now the problem with this soil is that it is receptive to any kind of seed. It simply grows all sorts of things that choke out the seed of the Word of God.

The soil upon which the seed is sown speaks of the conditions of people’s hearts not only the hearts prior to salvation but at any given time. We must not think that our soil is automatically “Good” and will produce fruit because at one time it has. Any given day this can change, if we don’t remain in the same spot spiritually. We can again see this in Mark’s account as he records the fact that Jesus started this parable in Mark 4:3 with the word “listen” and in the Greek means, “Be listening” yet the word was NOT a word that was issued as a command but one rendered in kindness. Though issued in kindness and gentleness it was nonetheless done to a crowd that was far more interested in coming in contact with Him to be healed than it was to listen to the Word. That combined again in Mark 4:3 with the word “behold” right after the word listen was Jesus’ way of saying, “Pay attention to what I’m about to say!”

So as we put the parable together with Jesus’ interpretation we note the consequences of four places where the word was sown:

  • vs 5  Wayside:The word “wayside” simply means road and is defined by Jesus in verse 12 as the condition of the heart whereby after a person hears the Word, satan comes in and takes away by force the Word that was sown in their hearts. The fact that it was sown in the Greek describes that it had begun to germinate but satan came in and snatched it away before it had time to become a plant. The first group described are those that are “Hard Hearted” they hear the word and as far as obedience to the word is concerned they say, “That’s for the birds.
  • vs 6 Stoney ground: The same seed of the word fell on ground full of rocks and Jesus defines the condition of this soil in verses 13 as having a superficial experience with the Word and that the condition of their heart as being rocky didn’t permit the roots to go down into the heart. Jesus describes these “rocks” as tribulation and persecution that comes and they quickly stumble. As long as the Word is producing the desired results without any negatives they are fine, but as soon as tribulation or persecution comes, they leave. Stony ground speaks of “Shallow Heart”. They say Jesus is the Way but as soon as things don’t go their way they drop their commitments. They are crisis Christians as that is when they turn back to faithlessness.
  • vs 7 Among the thorns: The seed of the Word here fell amongst the seeds of thorns, and it choked out the Word suffocating the plant. Jesus describes this in verse 14 and says they are drawn in a different direction by cares and worries of their course in life. The cravings for the things and lifestyle of this world chokes out the Word thus the Word isn’t able to bear fruit.  This heart speaks of a “Crowded Heart” a person has too many things crowding out the Word of God. Such as worries about finances either because they have too little or they have too much.
  • vs 8 Good ground: Finally Jesus describes in verse 15 “good soil”, in which the seed not only yields a crop, according to the Greek it keeps on yielding a crop. As noted in Mark 4:20 the final soil of the heart is a “Fruitful Heart”, producing an ever-yielding crop. Agriculturalists tell us that a great yield is 48 times the amount of seed sown. So 30 times would still be very good, 60 times the amount of seed would be amazing and a 100 times the amount sown would be miraculous.

As we read this parable along with Jesus’ explanation clearly, this parable is about “fruitfulness.” A farmer sows seed to bear fruit; that is why he does so. Typically a farmer would take his bag full of about 30 pounds of seed and throw it out over about half an acre, and in about 4 months they hoped to see fruit from his labor. These fields were not cultivated fields; they were plowed crudely, only breaking the soil up to 4 inches. As they were plowed, the seed was scattered; sometimes they were plowed to cover the seeds, but not always.

So what we are looking at is the seed in relation to the soil and whether or not it would produce fruit. In this story, 3/4 of the work does not produce any lasting fruit. Only 25% of the seed sown produced any fruit, and out of that 25%, it had faring results (100, 60, 30). I find this truth quite comforting. A lot of times we are out sowing the Word of God, and we just don’t see the results that we would like. Well, the problem is NOT the seed; folks, the problem is not even the field; the problem is what is in the field, which does not allow germination.

Eternity magazine did a study on a large crusade. 178 churches came together, and in one week, 4,106 decisions were made for Christ. Within three months, only 3% were still going to church. So what is in the soil?.

The difference is found in Jesus’ words, “he who hears the word understands.” It is found in the person who considers the truth; the person who receives the King will bear fruit. Now with that said, the key is in hearing. How are you hearing? Do you want the truth? Folks, fruitfulness has everything to do with how you hear.

 

 

Luke 8:16-21

When a mirror becomes a window

 

 

  • Introduction
  • 16-18 Three laws on the nature of the Christian life
  • 19-21 Obedience to the Word is thicker then blood

 

Introduction

As we move on in the 8th chapter of Luke in verse 16 you note that there is no break in thought as the words of Jesus in parables continues but the next part of the narrative has a time stamp with the word “then”. The fascinating thing to me is that the word indicates a change in time but not necessarily in subject. Whenever any writer sits down to write they are attempting to give the reader context and connection to the subject and characters they are unveiling. Luke had informed his reader in chapter 1:1-4 that he had complied this gospel record from “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account..” This “orderly account” is not completely chronological in nature and at times to develop a picture of the subject that Luke is unveiling needs to be taken out of sequence in order to complete the thought, this is just such a case and the reason for the word THEN in verse 19, simply put, Luke has given us a succinct condensed version. This is clearly seen in the story of verses 19-21 where Jesus’ mother and brothers meet Him and this most likely occurred towards the end of Jesus’ third year of ministry and is covered more fully by Mark in the 3rd chapter. The question that the bible student must ask is, “What thought is the writer wanting the reader to connect?” Or perhaps, “What is the common denominator in subject matter?” Looking at these three sections two of which are parables, what do they have in common? Well they further develop the idea of hearing or listening to the Word of God by examples both in how we speak and also what listening is all about.

  • 4-15 The parable of the soils/Sower = How to listen to receive the Word of truth. To truly hear God’s Word, you must be willing to receive it and the three different soils are indicative of the reason why the Word of God is or isn’t having its proper effect of what it should indicated by the fourth good soil.
  • 16-18 The parable of revealed light = How to speak to others about the Word of Truth which indicates whether you have received the Word of Truth. When you have received God’s Word (A lit Lamp) you demonstrate that you have received it by understanding three laws with regard to light:
  • Light must not be kept from its essential nature of visibility so others can see.
  • Light should be impossible to keep secret; its very nature is to reveal.
  • Any attempt to keep light from being light will only increase the person doing so of losing the benefits of the nature of light and plunging back into darkness.
  • 19-21 The visit of Jesus’ Mother and Brothers = How to live when you have heard the Word of Truth. To hear God’s word requires the person having done so to ever seek to live in obedience to it even if we don’t understand it and are motivated to disobey it out of love and concern.

 

Vs. 16-18 Three laws on the nature of the Christian life

It is always good to be reminded that the word parable means to cast alongside and as such it is a story that teaches truth by placing it alongside of something familiar. A parable would start off with something of interest and familiarity and then becomes a mirror in which the person would be able to see themselves and it is when in the parable a person sees their own reflection that a mirror can become a window through which we can see God and His grace. Charles Spurgeon once said that the sermon is the house, the illustrations are the windows that let the light in. Those that use illustrations must do so as our Lord demonstrated and that was never to just stir up emotions of listeners. Also every parable Jesus ever taught even though it was cast alongside of truth was also actually true in fact.

The appeal in this parable switches on another reason to make sure you have ears to hear as others count upon the light you share to save them from darkness. We all ought to be hearing in such a way that we will be able to proclaim clearly what we have seen in our hearing. As noted above there are three natural laws of light:

  • Verse 16, Light must not be kept from its essential nature of visibility so others can see. When a person truly receives the light of the Word of God it has a nature within us that makes it visible to those around us. This is NOT a self-righteous nature of flaunt our faith, but there is a natural visible nature to those who have come into true contact with the Word of God. This goes against our fleshly natural tendency of the fear of being different as the world always likes to persecute that which is different. Yet with that said, the true recipient of the Word of God will lay a hold of the privilege of being made new and different from what they were and not ashamed of the gospel among whom they are now called to serve. We have all heard well-meaning professing believers say that they don’t mix business with their faith, but to adopt such an attitude and practice is to fail at both. For the person who has truly received the light of the Word of God they can no more say that they never use any of their natural resources in their business as they don’t mix them with their business. We are transmitters of truth, not only by what we say but also by how we operate in every sphere of our lives!
  • Verse 17, Light should be impossible to keep secret; its very nature is to reveal. There are three types of people in this world that the person without the light of God’s Word tries to keep secrets from:
    • They try to keep secrets from their fellow humans. But things always have a way of coming out. First a person who keeps secrets from other people are generally unhappy people as the joyous person is the person who has nothing to hide. There was once an architect who offered to build Plato a house in which every room would be hidden from public view. Plato responded that it would be far better for him that the architect would build the house where every room in it was visible to humanity.
    • Sometimes we try to keep secrets from ourselves. Why shut out our hearts from the consequences of our habits, our actions and attitudes which we are very aware of. It is like a person who has symptoms of a grave illness but shuts their hearts from it in an attempt to ignore the illness. Oh what folly it is to keep secrets from ourselves as it changes nothing and only makes our condition worse.
    • We try and keep secrets from God! No person has engaged in a more impossible task than this. We all should remember Hagar’s confession at the birth of Ishmael in Genesis 16:13 “You-Are-the God-Who-Sees” and also ask ourselves in her respond as she did, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” One day we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and in that day not only our actions, but every idle word will be revealed, how much more beneficial is it for us today to not be keeping secrets from God and instead ever seek to live openly in the light of sweet confession as we see this day growing closer? Seven times in Jesus’ words to His Church we read this admonishment, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We should listen to the Word of God as it has its primary message from the Lord to our own souls. To not do so is an insult not only to our own redeemed heart but also to our Sacrificed Lord who has spoken to us for our benefit and obedience.
  • Verse 18, Any attempt to keep light from being light will only increase the person doing so of losing the benefits of the nature of light and going back into darkness. Organically light is essential for growth and maturity of all living things and that is the third natural law of light. The universal law is that the more a person has of light the more they will grow and the converse of this is equally true the less a person has of light the less they will grow. This is true physically as the stronger a person is the stronger they will become the weaker a person is the weaker they will become. We may not like this, but it is like the natural law of gravity in that the natural law doesn’t care about what you think or feel about the natural law. The more a person seeks the light of the Word of God for their life the more they will mature into the person God has called them to be. But if they refuse the light of the Word of God in their own life they will see diminished results and eventually lose what gains they may have enjoyed. Saint’s there is no standing still in Christian maturity if we are not pressing into to Him to press on with Him then we are going back. In that sense we all ought to continually be seekers as those that seek Him shall find Him. Proverbs 8:17 says of wisdom, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me.”

 

Vs. 19-21 Obedience to the Word is thicker than blood

Vs. 19 As mentioned the placement of this story in the account here is not in chronological order and instead is a further illustration open the aspects of proper listening of the Word of God. In that vein it is important before we look at this passage to generally understand a few things that this meeting points out with regard to listening:

  • Then His mother and brothers came to Him: The first thing that I see is that the proximity to truth in the Word of God is not necessarily beneficial. What I mean is here in Mary and Jesus’ brothers were people who had enjoyed the most time with Him, they had witnessed His life the closest and never once did they ever noticed anything but His perfection in keeping and living truth. There were no inconsistencies in Jesus’ life that would cause this reaction. The reaction was a product of fear and their own loving concerns about His health and safety due to the crowd’s response to His ministry. So the principal offered by Luke indirectly is that relational closeness to Jesus is NOT measured by time around the truth of the Word of God but rather upon obedience to it!
  • And could not approach Him because of the crowd: Second I think it is important to establish that such a response by Jesus’ Mother and brothers was not out of the normal human reasoning. Jesus’ family witnessed the chaos of His ministry. Mark 3:21 tells us that His own people heard about the fact that “they could not so much as eat bread” that they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” The use of the words means His kinsmen or His mother and brothers. Yet with that said we ought not to assume that this was unkind speech or criticism from Jesus’ immediate family as I don’t believe that to be true. Instead I believe it was a loving concern for Jesus physical and mental well-being. Again what this points out with regard to receiving the Word of God is that it is possible to react reasonably out of concern in love and to do so in disobedience. Obedience is not optional to our understanding nor to our emotions and loving concern. We are to respond to the Word of God as Peter the experienced fisherman did at Jesus command to go out to deeper water and again cast his net after having been out all night and catching nothing in Luke 5:5, “nevertheless at Your Word I will let down the net”.

Vs. 20-21 Jesus had hoped that the tens of thousands would have dispersed when He went up the mountain with His disciples, but they hadn’t, as demonstrated by the fact that He couldn’t so much as eat bread. And as already noted the Greek phrase, “His own people” in Mark 3:21 is further identified by Mark 3:31 as “His brothers and mother” which indicates that it was his immediate family. The words “about this” in Mark 3:21 are italicized which means that they aren’t in the Greek but were added in an attempt to clarify. In this case they misrepresent Jesus’ family’s concern as only being the multitudes with regards to Him eating. Instead, the words having heard refers to all the incidents and crowds during Jesus’ ministry in this region. The words lay hold mean to get possession, become master over or seize and indicate that Jesus’ immediate family came to take Him by force against His will. The reason for such a forceful action is that they estimated that He had become mentally unstable due to the demands of the multitudes.

When word came to Jesus from the multitude saying, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” I’m certain the multitude expected that Jesus would immediately go out and see them. They were concerned enough about His condition to come to where He was at even with thronging multitudes. They had to have let people know loud enough and long enough to garner attention that got word to Him. Jesus didn’t respond to the request but asked the multitude, “Who is my mother, or brothers?” Then before they could answer He looked around at those closest to Him and said, “Here are My mother and brothers!”

To clarify what He meant by this Jesus continued, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.” His answer reveals both His identity and others’ relationship to Him which is a stronger bond then any human bond or need. His greatest need that superseded all human needs is to “do the will of God”. There is a primacy given in relationships that bind us to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to our Lord Jesus, to God the Father, and the Holy Spirit above the demands of even our natural family.