Jesus’ mother and brothers were terribly frustrated because they couldn’t get through the crowd to meet and talk with him. Jesus jumped up, parted the crowd and welcomed his mother with a great hug. That’s what you’d expect, isn’t it? But no, Jesus instead comments, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”
Clearly Jesus did not mean to make little of either the importance or the beauty of natural family relationships. Think of his concern for his mother’s welfare as he hung dying on the cross, “This is your mother … this is your son.”
Jesus was simply making use of a very human situation to teach a principle of spiritual living: blood ties and lineage lines do not assure anyone of entrance into the kingdom of God. Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth, wondered, it is true, that the mother of her Lord should visit her but she extolled Mary as blessed because she “trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled.” The Lord’s disciples are those who hear the word of God and act on it.
