Who Is My Brother In Christ?

"For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matt 12:50)

Was Jesus about breaking up families? No, that doesn't quite seem to be our Lord's aim in this incident. On the other hand, He does seem to be making a new family, a larger family with a wider variety of brothers, sisters, and mothers. No, that doesn't seem quite right either, maybe a little to hung up on the familial terms there. What the Lord says was what He said: Do the will of God and we are all three - brother and sister and mother. Do the will of God and we are immediate family of the Lord's Christ. Immediate family - not separated by a branch of the family tree, not just a casual acquaintance, or a cousin from far away, but a brother and sister and mother of the Lord Jesus.

We cannot be Him or become Jesus; He is Lord. But in this verse our Lord puts us as close as all of His immediate family, save one. The Father of our family is God. The Son though places all those who do the will of the Father as close as can be in a family: brother and sister and mother. We are His family. Doth the religious zealot protesteth?

Do we take liberty by claiming this place near our Lord? The religious zealot may well claim that our Lord meant for only the Twelve to be His brother and sister and mother. No problem! In His command stated in Matthew 28, our Lord tells those first disciples to go out and make more disciples. In fact our Lord commands that disciples be made of all nations. It seems He wants a big family. Amen. You and I are disciples of disciples of disciples in a chain of discipleship stretching back nearly 2,000 years, but we are disciples who believe in our Lord Jesus. And as disciples we are the brother and sister and mother of our Lord Jesus. We are family!

Rejoice in our dear brother Jesus on this Friday!

Bucky