Mark 3:31-35 • Doing God’s Will
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010"Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, 'Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.' Answering them, He said, 'Who are My mother and My brothers?' Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, 'Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.'"
— Mark 3:31-35 (NASB)
Jesus contrasts two groups to provide an example of who is qualified as doing the will of God and who is not. The most obvious difference between them is wanting to be in the continual presence of Christ to hear His Word, and those who want to remove Him and prevent His Word from being spoken to anyone. We could make an entire case that a sure measurement of whether a person, group, or entire movement is "in Christ" or not can be based on the degree to which they accept and preach the Word versus those who seek to replace or withdraw that emphasis in favor of something else. But it also interesting to note the other New Testament teachings of what it means to do the will of God.