Verse of the Day Devotion.  Mark 3:35 

“For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” –  Mark 3:35

While Jesus was speaking to the Scribes who came to question Jesus, His mother and His brothers came. “And His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him, and called Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Mark 3:31-32. There is no question about who His mother was, Mary the wife of Joseph. However, not much is mentioned regarding His brothers. However, we do find them named in the Matthew’s gospel. “And coming to His hometown He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” Matthew 13:54-56.

And when they arrived, they called out for Jesus, and Jesus responded. “And answering them, He said, who are My mother and My brothers? This was a rhetorical question which forced attention on a deeper issue, that being an authentic relationship with Him. He was not denying they were family, in the physical sense, but He was looking deeper. So He continues with, “And looking about on those who were sitting around Him, He said, Behold, My mother and My brothers!” Mark 3:34. Now, Jesus was not minimizing their relationship. Mary was His mother, and he did have half-brothers and half-sisters with Mary as the mother and Joseph as the father. What He was speaking of was a spiritual family, and not the physical family. Again, He was not minimizing the relationship with His physical family, but He was introducing the idea of a spiritual family. And our focus verse lays out who His spiritual family was. “For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35. In other words, in a spiritual sense, whoever does the will of God is now a part of the family of God. The Apostle Paul lays out this though beautifully. “But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Galatians 4:4-7.

God must come first in all areas. We must please Him before anything else. We must do His will ahead of everything else. And those who do will be a member of the family of God, and everyone who does this will be family: brothers and sisters in Christ. “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26. This does not do away with our earthly family, however, it must take precedence and will ultimately last forever.   

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries, for their

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