The Sower and the Seed - Part V

Luke 8:19-21

We don’t hear much about Jesus’ biological family in the four gospels, other than during his childhood and around his death and resurrection. The gospel of John alone refers to Jesus’ mother and brothers being with Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry.

There is that famous passage (John 2) where his mother encourages him to do something about the shortage of wine at a wedding. Jesus tries to get out of it, but his mother persists and so Jesus obliges, turning the water into wine and causing stress ever after among Sunday School teachers everywhere. After that wedding, perhaps of some distant relation, Jesus goes down to Capernaum along with his mother and brothers, his small flock of disciples tagging along. But at that point, these family members seem to drop away and Jesus is left alone with his growing following.

Whatever the occasion for their visit now, it follows (in Luke, anyway) the parables of the Seed Sower and the Lamp, and Jesus is pictured using their visit to bring home the point even more clearly that the life of faith is all about how we are to be receptive to God’s Word. This point and the family visit are so linked in the minds of his followers years later that Matthew and Mark also connect the event and the teaching together. It leaves a very deep impression on all who witness it, including Jesus’ brothers.

Jesus has just finished telling his followers to consider very carefully how they listen to God because the more they receive from God the more they are able to receive from God. While Jesus is saying all this, someone lets him know that his mother and brothers are outside, wanting to see him. They can’t get in because the crowd is too big – and perhaps they really want Jesus to come out to see them because they want to talk with him concerning a private matter away from all these strangers.

Jesus’ brothers haven’t yet bought into Jesus’ mission. I suspect they have struggled with Jesus leaving the family business and running around with all these groupies. Jesus is the first-born after all and has an obligation to his mother, if no one else. He really does have familial responsibilities he is ignoring, a concern echoed by another man not much later when that man struggles with his own family obligations and whether he can follow Jesus because of them. What Jesus says to that man is what he himself is now practicing: “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) In fact, it this very kind of family divisiveness Jesus will soon enough explain he has come to bring, all in the name of God’s will.

So they come to Jesus, hoping to sort out some matter with him, family-like. Social etiquette of the day says that a person should interrupt his business to respond to a family request. But Jesus apparently doesn’t even respond to them. He simply goes on speaking to his disciples, continuing his train of thought about what it means to really hear or listen to the word of God. What it means is that we don’t just listen, we actually do something about it. Moreover, the only family Jesus has any more, the only people Jesus sees as his mother and brothers are those “who hear God’s word and put it into practice.”

I wonder how many of Jesus’ teachings his biological siblings heard in person. It may be that this was just such a rare message – and it was aimed directly at them. I consider my family, Jesus said, to be those who hear God’s message and actually do something about it.

If that is the case, then it is no wonder that James, understood to be the brother of Jesus, later places such great emphasis on obedience to God’s word, particularly when he writes “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). James had heard that clearly enough in that terse sermon so long ago, so much so that he dared add counterweight to Paul’s teachings on grace by declaring that we must demonstrate our faith by our deeds of good will. Even demons believe, he writes, but only those who are true followers of Jesus actually do the will of God (James 2:14-19). James had learned his brother’s lesson well.