Did Jesus blow off his real family? Mark 3:32-24.

by Open mind 4 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Open mind

  This week's Borg-assigned Bible reading was Mark, Chapter 1-4. And of course, we had a real hard-liner make a comment about how our "real family" are the JWs at the Kingdom Hall. This was based on Mark 3:32-34, NWT.

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  32 As it was, a crowd was sitting around him, so they said to him: "Look! Your mother and your brothers outside are seeking you." 33 But in reply he said to them: "Who are my mother and my brothers?" 34 And having looked about upon those sitting around him in a circle, he said: "See, my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother."
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  What's your take on these verses?

  What point do you think Jesus was trying to make?

  All viewpoints welcome.

  FWIW, when it comes to the words attributed to Jesus, I'm a total cherry picker. But at first glance, this doesn't look much like a cherry to me.

  OM
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  OnTheWayOut

  I will assume the verses are an accurate rendition of what Jesus said.

  He wasn't saying that He or his followers (or JW's) should ignore their
  family, including any who are not his followers (or JW's).

  He was saying that he was already tending to his family, and that they
  were just as important as his "fleshly" family (I hate that term). He would
  see what his mother or his brother wanted, but didn't want to shortchange
  his other family here. I am sure that if his mother were in need of
  medical assistance, he would have gone to her.
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  sir82

  35 Whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother."

  Probably not what you are looking for, but seeing this brought another thought to mind...

  This verse completely blows out of the water the JW idea that "Jesus' brothers" mentioned in Matthew 25 ("whoever does these things to the least of these my brothers...") refers to a small remnant of a few thousand geriatric dudes clustered primarily in New York state.

  I.e., Jesus promises to reward those who work good toward anyone doing God's will, not just toward "the anointed remnant.".
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  Sad emo

  I dunno if this helps but having read a couple of commentaries on these verses - the context was that his mother and brothers had turned up to take him home because they thought he'd gone crazy so his stern rebuttal is usually understood in that context - he knew what he was on earth to do, his earthly family were trying to obstruct or end his mission so he was saying that effectively, his 'real' family are those who work with him rather than against him.

  Also, the fact that he was sitting down is apparently significant - he was acting as a rabbi/teacher rather than preaching, which would lend more weight to one's words - he wasn't speaking facts/set truth, only using a kind of 'example' teaching to get his real point across.

  Maybe a very loose analogy may be found among ex-JWs here whose blood relatives and old 'friends' now shun them, many of you have found 'real' family here or amongst other exes. Who are your real mother and brothers - the ones shunning you or the ones who accept you as you are and care about you?
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  Open mind

  OTWO:

  Your explanation sounds reasonable if the objective is to look for the interpretation that makes Jesus look reasonable. And of course, you stated right off the bat that we are ASSUMING these words were actually uttered by Jesus. BTW, I know you're not a Biblical apologist.

  I'm going through the Bible now for the first time as a fairly neutral outside observer. (At least that's what I try deluding myself into thinking.) Jesus' reply just seemed a bit over-the-top to me.

  How about this similar statement at Mark 10:29,30:

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  29 Jesus said: "Truly I say to you men, No one has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news 30 who will not get a hundredfold now in the period of time, houses....and fields, with persecutions, and in the coming system of things everlasting life."

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  I guess you could make the argument that he was looking for disciples who could make those sacrifices in order to get the whole Christian expansion going.

  It seems to me like these sorts of verses are perfect little nuggets for high-control religions to get people to start thinking that it's a good thing to marginalize your own family.

  Just a thought.

  sir82, I'm going to tuck away that definition of "brother" for future use. Thanks.

  Sad Emo, thank you. That sounds reasonable too. And here's the creepy part, the loyal-JWs probably see themselves in some sort of bizarre mirror-image of what happens here on JWD. I'm not expressing this very well. I'll see if I can do better if I get a few more minutes later.

  OM