Mat 12:46-50, Welcome to Your Eternal Family.

Class Outline:

Thursday February 27, 2025

 

MAT 12:46-50.

 

Text:

 

Final group out of a lot of bad apples in Mat 11-12. Thankfully we end the chapters in goodness. These are of the good soil.

 

They seem to be in a house when His mother and brothers arrive (MAT 13:1).

 

Main idea: God has created a supernatural family for mankind through spiritual birth in Christ Jesus.

 

“Who do the will of God” (MAT 12:50).  

 

At this point, the will of the Father is to believe in Him. 

 

JOH 6:40

"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." 

 

We have the rest of the NT to thank for helping us not conclude that entrance into His family could ever be by works.

 

Did Jesus’ mother and brothers think He lost His mind?

 

We know from Joh 7 that His brothers were not believing in Him. His mother did believe in Him (Magnificat). 

 

“His own people” - hoi para autou = literally “those from Him.” 

 

MAR 3:20-22

And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. 21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses." 22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

 

Mark could have easily written that these included Jesus family, most seem to assume it is. I leave it to you. The main idea is the supernatural birth of a new family.

 

New covenant by spiritual birth:

 

Israel’s thinking had been limited, thus far, to a covenant linked through natural birth.

 

But here, Jesus is pointing to people not of His natural family and calling them mother, sister, brother.

 

MAT 8:11

“I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;”

 

The prophets saw the family of spiritual, supernatural birth (Isa 53-54).

 

Remarkably, Isaiah and the Prophets began to see hints of a new paradigm of fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant.

 

ISA 53:8

By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

And as for His generation, who considered

That He was cut off out of the land of the living

 

ISA 53:10

He will see His offspring,

 

Thus the new blessings come not through physical offspring but through offspring raised up by God Himself. This supernatural birth is made possible through the vicarious sacrifice of the Servant of the Lord.

 

Strikingly, the following chapter in Isaiah follows with the song of the barren woman who rejoiced that the children of the desolate one (closed womb) will be more than the children of the married. 

 

ISA 54:1

Shout for joy, O barren one, you who have borne no child;

Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not travailed;

For the sons of the desolate one will be more numerous

Than the sons of the married woman," says the Lord. 

 

“Thus, the gathering family cannot be explained naturally. … the Lord’s people, are created by supernatural birth.” [Motyer]

 

The woman’s offspring will possess the nations (ISA 54:3), and the Lord is her Husband (ISA 54:5), who is embracing her with an everlasting love (ISA 54:8). 

 

ISA 54:2-8

"Enlarge the place of your tent;

Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;

Lengthen your cords

And strengthen your pegs. 

3 "For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.

And your descendants will possess nations

And will resettle the desolate cities. 

 

4 "Fear not, for you will not be put to shame;

And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;

But you will forget the shame of your youth,

And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. 

5 "For your husband is your Maker,

Whose name is the Lord of hosts;

And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

Who is called the God of all the earth. 

6 "For the Lord has called you,

Like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

Even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected,"

Says your God. 

7 "For a brief moment I forsook you,

But with great compassion I will gather you. 

8 "In an outburst of anger

I hid My face from you for a moment,

But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,"

Says the Lord your Redeemer. 

 

This prophecy is for Israel, and will be fulfilled in the future at the Second Coming of Christ. But in the church we are the first-fruits of this blessing. 

 

New Testament passages: (many more than these)

 

GAL 3:26

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus

 

REV 5:9-10

"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 

10 "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.

 

LUK 18:28-30

Peter said, "Behold, we have left our own homes and followed You." 29 And He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times as much at this time and in the age to come, eternal life." 

 

Application: Importance of hospitality.

 

Importance of hospitality - many believers become outcasts from their families.

 

ROM 12:9-13

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. 

 

That is the character (should be) of the family that God has given to the church.

 

Many believers lose friends and family due to their Christian faith. We must reach out to Christians.

 

You do not excommunicate yourself from your own family, except in extreme circumstances as the Lord wills. You will always love your family, and you can reveal Christ to them.

 

Be a loving and participating member of your supernatural family. God has made us to be unified.

 

EPH 4:1-6

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 

 

God’s family, your family, is now made up of those from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation, who are united in ways never dreamed.

 

Live among them in love, service, and joy all flowing from our Head, Jesus Christ.