WHILE Jesus was speaking inside the house, his mother and his brothers were seeking to speak to him. They remained outside, no doubt, because there was no room inside for them to come in. We are not told what they wanted Jesus for, but their coming was an opportunity for Jesus to declare a wonderful spiritual truth.

Jesus was unique. Through his mother Mary he was born human. Mary's husband Joseph had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus, for the conception of Jesus in Mary was by the Holy Spirit and totally supernatural. It enabled Jesus, who was the eternal Word, one with God eternally, to enter this world as Saviour. Humanly speaking Jesus had brothers through Mary who had further children by Joseph. His brothers were in a sense half-brothers. So Jesus had two families, one an earthly through Mary, and the other heavenly and spiritual, because he was still wholly and truly God, even though he was truly human also. This is the doctrine of the person of Christ – two natures but one person. This testimony to the earthly family of Jesus makes it impossible for the Roman Catholic church to maintain Mary had no other children than Jesus and had no normal married relationship with Joseph.

This truth about the person of Jesus was constantly being revealed, as it is here. A little more each time. In this case Jesus speaks of his heavenly family, and at the same time tells us that others can become members of this family. Jesus speaks of these others as his real brothers and sisters, who are his family spiritually and eternally.

Adam and Eve were created with this heavenly relationship with God. They knew God as Father and had intimate fellowship with God, and lived in the heavenly environment of Eden where God communed with them each day. However this relationship with God as Father was lost for Adam, and through Adam for the whole of humanity, by Adam's disobedience. Now everyone of us when we are born into this world are born with no relationship with God as family and Father.

The wonderful revelation which is given here by Jesus is that by his coming into the world and through the work he came to do, those who believe on him are reborn into his heavenly realm and become his family as brothers and sisters, with God as their Father. This is the real and eternal family, and more important than earthly family. Earthly family is important, but if there is conflict between our natural family and our heavenly family in Christ, then Christ's family comes first.

Jesus here points to his disciples and calls them his true family. They have left all and followed him.

What is the mark of such family members. Jesus tells us. They are those who do the will of his Father in heaven, that is the will of God. The test of true spiritual life and that we are born anew into this heavenly family is this fact that we do the will of God, and we do it willingly because now God is our heavenly Father who we know loves us, and cares for us, and has our best interests at heart, so that what his will is we know to be the best for us.

At the heart of this obedience to the will of God is the centrality and importance that Jesus has in our lives. We read in Romans 6:17 these words “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” What does this say? It tells us that we have received with faith and understanding the Gospel that Jesus has worked salvation for us, and that through him and his work for us, and by faith in him and what he has done for us, we are saved from death inherited from Adam, are forgiven all our sins, and have been reborn into the heavenly kingdom Adam lost. We have been delivered from this earthly death where we were slaves to sin and Satan, and now reborn as a new creation in the heavenly realm.

The evidence of this is that, like Adam before he sinned, we walk with God in total obedience to his will. Thus we seek to please him, and to do this we seek his will in his word, the revelation of his will in the Bible. Doing the will of God is taking the Bible as God's Word to us, and seeking to be instructed as deeply as possible in all that God has revealed of himself, and has instructed that we must believe and follow.

It is characteristic of disciples of Jesus that we think much of Jesus, believe strongly in him, and love him as Lord and Saviour. This knowledge and commitment to Jesus will be seen in our lives because we are not able to speak, testify, live without Jesus being declared and loved. We want to be with Jesus and he fills our lives, so that we can't help declaring his love. By this shall people know that you are my disciples because you keep my commandments.

This is doing the will of God. Through Jesus we love and know God as our Father, and because we know and feel his love for us, we want to please him and live for him.