Jesus had a really ignorant family!

[seekeroftruth]

Luke 8:16 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. 18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”​

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19 Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”​

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21 He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”​

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Four chapters ago, and a few towns, His family wanted to throw Him off a cliff because they thought He was crazy. Now they want to "see" Him?!

I'm not making a big deal about verses 16-18. Jesus told the people [paraphrased] "My ministry is an open book. Nothing will be held back. Everything will be studied about my ministry. Listen carefully. You will all wind up with the same."

None of us has a higher station in Heaven than the Son of God, Himself. All the rest of us are brothers and sisters of Jesus, if we choose to be. We won't get a special seat if we memorized verses or took the offering. Nothing we can do, outside of Believing, can get us a nicer house in Heaven. After all it is Heaven everywhere in Heaven. Every home is spectacular. Even the shopping carts on street corners in Heaven will be spectacular. After all, it is Heaven!! We'll all be in Awe!

Jesus' family still thought He was insane. He could have been a priest. Instead, He's homeless, hanging out with the likes of a tax collector and a zealot! He's claiming to have more wisdom and healing power than anyone. His family would tell you about how He grew up. Didn't He scrape His knee once in a while? Didn't He bleed like any other human?

All the Scripture about the Messiah pointed to Jesus. An Angel spoke directly to Mary, His mother. An Angel spoke directly to Joseph, Mary's fiancé. They weren't married but the pregnancy was ok'd by the family priest Zechariah. An Angel spoke directly to Zechariah and told him Elizabeth, Mary's cousin and Zechariah's wife, was going to have a son, even though she was way too old to start a family. An Angel even told them what to name the babies.

Now His family wanted to "see" Him after trying to throw Him off the cliff. Geeze!!! I wonder, did the local Pharisee get to one of the brothers? Was the brother distraught because Jesus didn't "choose" him to be an Apostle over strangers? Jesus wasn't passing a hat during any of His sermons when thousands attended. Maybe that's what they wanted to talk to Him about. Jesus was turning water into wine and feeding thousands off of five fish and a couple loaves of bread. Why wasn't He feeding them instead of strangers? Maybe they figured He "owed" them a reparation of some kind for leaving them out. Maybe they just wanted to point out how much money He could make!


Jesus had a really ignorant family!

 

[SamSpade]

I get your point - but it's evident enough from the Bible that when they say a crowd did this or that, it never means that every single person present went along with it. There were those in the Old Testament who did NOT worship the golden calf in Moses' time or worship Baal in Elijah's time, even when it SEEMED like it was everyone.

The verse suggesting that Jesus' family wanted to throw him off a cliff merely refers to the persons present in the synagogue. When you tell a group of people that you're the Messiah, it's easy to see how an enraged audience might overpower the family. Mary stayed devoted to her son throughout his life and was there at his crucifixion - and his brother James (the Just) was the foremost leader in Jerusalem after Jesus' ascension.

In another sense - you're totally right. Jesus himself says of the same incident, in Mark, that a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and his own people. When your big brother goes about saying he's the Messiah and to this point, he's done nothing particularly Messiah like except to talk about it, you might be dismissive. Or resentful - MOM certainly remembered angels appearing.

What's clear however, is the townspeople of his hometown of Nazareth dismissed him entirely.

The books of James and Jude are written by his family, and not apostles with the same or similar names. If they didn't believe him at first, they came to believe him eventually.

 

[seekeroftruth]

I get your point - but it's evident enough from the Bible that when they say a crowd did this or that, it never means that every single person present went along with it. There were those in the Old Testament who did NOT worship the golden calf in Moses' time or worship Baal in Elijah's time, even when it SEEMED like it was everyone.

The verse suggesting that Jesus' family wanted to throw him off a cliff merely refers to the persons present in the synagogue. When you tell a group of people that you're the Messiah, it's easy to see how an enraged audience might overpower the family. Mary stayed devoted to her son throughout his life and was there at his crucifixion - and his brother James (the Just) was the foremost leader in Jerusalem after Jesus' ascension.

In another sense - you're totally right. Jesus himself says of the same incident, in Mark, that a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and his own people. When your big brother goes about saying he's the Messiah and to this point, he's done nothing particularly Messiah like except to talk about it, you might be dismissive. Or resentful - MOM certainly remembered angels appearing.

What's clear however, is the townspeople of his hometown of Nazareth dismissed him entirely.

The books of James and Jude are written by his family, and not apostles with the same or similar names. If they didn't believe him at first, they came to believe him eventually.

Maybe Mary and the boys saw things getting out of hand again and wanted to "help guide" His ministry to keep Him safe....

Maybe they wanted to talk Him into being priest in Nazareth instead of drawing such huge crowds, which would put a big target on His back. Neither Rome nor the Pharisees liked huge crowds. Jesus attracted huge crowds.

The fact He dismissed them, though, tells me the brothers were not Believers at that time. Mary was with them when they wanted to "see" Him though. Maybe she just wanted to be in the same room with Him instead of listening from outside the circle. At any rate, she was dismissed.