Wednesday Bible Study: What Jesus asked, Part 12

 

One thing I have learned over years of trying to listen to the weak signal of Bott Radio on FM headphones in a metal building like I work in: You have to listen through the static.  More;  God WANTS you to listen through the static.  It sharpens your focus- and if it isn't, you just may not be listening at all.  I learned this lesson anew a couple of weeks back.  And if I got static, you know Jesus did too.

Perhaps no topic in the Bible has more implications to me, with my Catholic upbringing and certain FB friends' posts, than Mary.  And the post this day could be a BIG source of that static, if I let it.  But let me tune us first razor-sharp into what Jesus was aiming at.

Mat 12:46  While Jesus was talking to the people, his mother and brothers stood outside. They wanted to talk to him.
Mat 12:47  Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are waiting for you outside. They want to talk to you."
Mat 12:48  Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"
Mat 12:49  Then he pointed to his followers and said, "See! These people are my mother and my brothers.
Mat 12:50  Yes, anyone who does what my Father in heaven wants is my true brother and sister and mother." 

 

It was Matthew Henry's commentary that opened me up to what was really going on here.  Backtrack:  Jesus had begun this message a while back, and it must have been one that was hitting home.  He had just left the Synagogue after winning an experiential battle with the Pharisees- healing a man on the Sabbath.  Then after healing another, they tried to put off the crowd with slander- "This man heals by Belzeebub". They tried again, interrupting Him for a "sign"- "Perform for us, if You are God!"- demanding proof when proof was already there to be seen.

Now, Henry paints the picture, Satan shifts attack from dramatic to subtle.  Among the levels to this:

- Will Jesus be drawn off-mission by His family?

- Or will He ignore His family, casting Himself in a bad light?

-While Mary believed, we are told in John 7 His brothers did not, which would change when Jesus personally went to the eldest of them, James, as we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:5.  What would they say about Him in front of the crowd?

- And on a PR standpoint, it would be easier to believe in Jesus as a supernatural Messiah for the masses if not confronted with an all-too-human family, as we see not long after our passage...

Mat 13:53  And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,
Mat 13:54  and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
Mat 13:55  Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Mat 13:56  And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?"
Mat 13:57  And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household."
Mat 13:58  And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief. 

 

But as was His usual, He handled this with the following traits:  He stayed on point, and used the distraction as a teachable moment.

Mat 12:50 "... Yes, anyone who does what my Father in heaven wants is my true brother and sister and mother." 

The focus is on the next life, not this one; doing the Father's will, not our own or anyone else's.  He taught THROUGH the static.  He wants us to HEAR through it, as well.  This is Satan's world, and the only way to hear God clearly is to be close to Him.

And with His message shown, let me point out one true teaching in the midst of the static.  If Mary is the ":Queen of Heaven", to whom we should pray to get messages to Jesus, as my Catholic brethren believe, then tell me, why did He not invite her in at this point to TEACH that, rather than shutting her out that the people could listen to Him?  In all the Gospels, Jesus in His adult life has three main contacts with Mary: At Cana, where He let her know His time did not belong to her; here, where she was not allowed to distract from the message; and on the Cross, where He showed He hadn't neglected His family duties by passing her care on to John.  "Devotion to Mary" is just another layer of static.