"And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.
And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."
Mark 3:32-35
This is an interesting story from Christ's life, which to me seems to be a little bit like the story of him staying behind in the temple when he was young. The overall lesson is not that family is unimportant. Christ as a young man was chastised and was subject to his parents, and I'm guessing that Christ, here, spoke with his family when he had time. We don't ever want there to be a conflict between family and God, but the lesson here I think is that if and when there is a conflict, that God's priorities are always the correct choice.
It also seems like a really awesome invitation to be part of Christ's family. People had been following him around, wanting to touch him to be made whole, and here he tells them that they (and we) are invited to be his family and his priority, if they do the will of God.
It would be easy to look at choices like these as disloyal and exclusionary, leaving family out or excluding them, but instead of asking Christ to come out to them, they could have chosen to come in. I think it is similar to choosing to be baptised or not. God invites us in, welcoming *everyone* ... he wants us to be a close community of believers, to love each other, to serve each other. He isn't trying to exclude, but to welcome, and invites all of us to join with him.... but the correct place to join together is where he is, not where we are.
Let's choose to come to Christ and be part of it all, to unite and rejoice in all that God offers us, together.
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