Mark 3:20-21 “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.  When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’”

Why would anyone think that Jesus was insane, much less his own family? Jesus hadn’t grown up with the kind of formal training most would consider necessary to be a great Rabbi. He grew up in a working class home and learned a trade. He knew how to be a carpenter. Now he not only had made this little preaching and healing career his whole life. It had become an obsession. He wouldn’t stop long enough even to eat, rest, and take good care of himself. It didn’t make any sense to a family who didn’t yet believe in who he really is.

Some still look at devotion to God’s kingdom like this as madness. When a person makes God’s word and serving the Lord the number one thing in his life, many feel he is just wasting his time. It doesn’t seem to have any rewards from an earthly point of view. Parents who are thrilled if their children show an interest in the ministry are harder and harder to find. People who would actually change their schedules or rearrange their priorities so that God’s word could be number one in their lives are somewhat rare.

But you know him well enough to know better. Jesus was not insane, and neither are those who follow him. Instead, he is giving us something wonderful. “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, ‘Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.’ ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.’” (Mark 3:31-35)

Jesus was busy at work giving people a place in his family. Those who are truly closest to Jesus, those who really live in his love and all the blessings he gives, are closer than blood relatives to us. They are those who gather around to hear him and believe his words. In the next line Jesus says, “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” What is God’s will? Jesus says in John 6, “My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.”

As we look to Jesus, as we gather around him, hear his words, know his love, and receive his forgiveness, we become a part of the family of God. Jesus makes us his own brothers and sisters, and God’s own children. Nothing could be more sensible than that.