“For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35, ESV). Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him and someone told Jesus about it. In spite of the powerful bonds that families had in ancient times Jesus reduces the significance of family bonds in comparison to one’s bond with God. One reason this is encouraging to many is that even if your family was dysfunctional or destructive, the family of God is far more important and valuable. This leads us to the biggest reason that this verse is encouraging: we have the privilege of being “relatives” of Jesus! If we do God’s will we are his brother and sister and mother. Performing rituals, singing songs, or knowing Scripture do not make someone a relative of Jesus. A disciple of Jesus is one who subordinates their will to God’s. Thirdly, even though he didn’t have a sister there, Jesus still said that people could be his sister. Thus, he encourages women that they are just as important as men in the family of God.
