Fresh Studies in Matthew, Matthew 12:46-48

Chapter divisions are really meaningless, so we have to overlook them most of the time, especially here.  Twelve is a very long and intense chapter.  We start with controversies over nothing made into something and end with an incident with Jesus’ family where they seem to think he’s crazy.  It may be they just don’t know what to do with him.  His mother should have known better, but they were, at the core, afraid for his life.  His unbelieving siblings probably feared for their own, since in those days the family was often punished with the wrong-doer.  At first I thought that this story, which is recorded three times in the gospels, did not have a reference to their thinking he is out of his mind, but I was wrong—it’s in Mark 3.  There it says “his own people,” so it assumed that is the reason they are there, asking for him.

 Jesus does not reject his family here really, only shows that blood ties have their place and there is a stronger tie, faith and following him, identity in him.  That is very revolutionary, since in most cultures family and genetics is all.  It shows how much we are loved.