The bible study that I'm doing along with the readings stated something that I hadn't heard before. It talks about the passage in Mark where Jesus talks about who is mothers & brothers are. The study stated that Jesus' mother and brothers were "outsiders" in the sense that they were physically outsiders. While this doesn't surprise me on the brothers part (it's not the first time brothers would not want to believe in their brother - thinking of Joseph and his brothers as an example), I was surprised to think of this in the sense of Jesus' mother, Mary. I'm not sure how she could possibly be an "outsider" spiritually as she witnessed first hand the miracle of Jesus' birth. She must have known that Jesus was more than human and that there was purpose to his life. Anyway...that was just a new idea that I'll need to think on.
However, the devotional continued in encouraging us in the hope that is to be found in watching how the brothers transformed in their belief of Jesus after the resurrection.
"They went from ridiculing Jesus to embracing him, from being cynical about Jesus to describing themselves as slaves and followers of him."
This same hope is there for us for any of our family members who are cold towards Jesus. Let's hold onto this hope and remember to pray for them.
1 comment:
It definitely makes sense that his brothers were skeptics. And their later conversion does give hope for our friends and family who do not yet believe.
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