Need for Personal Relationship with Jesus
March 12, 2021
Commentary
Jesus told a parable of a demon who had been driven out but finding no place to rest returns with seven other spirits (vv. 43-45). In other words, it is not enough to clean house: we must also invite in the right tenant. The Pharisees were proud of their “clean house”, but their hearts were empty.
Even Jesus’ earthly family did not fully understand Him or His ministry (John 7:1-5). Some of His friends thought He was crazy (Mark 3:21). By this time Joseph was probably dead, and Jesus’s immediate family consisted of His mother Mary, His half-brothers (James, Joseph, Simon and Judas), and His half-sisters (who are not named) (Matt. 13:55-56). There is no clear evidence that any of Jesus’s siblings every trusted in Him as Savior before his death and resurrection. We aren’t told why His family wanted to see Him (vv. 46-47), but it’s reasonable to assume they were concerned for his welfare and by extension theirs. Jesus was the eldest child, the de facto leader of their family after the death of Joseph, and the one responsible to care for their mother. Yet here he was stirring up trouble with the religious leaders and traveling from town to town.
When Jesus was told that his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to talk to Him, He answered, “Who are my mother and who are my brothers” (v. 48)? Even being a member of Jesus’s own earthly family did not merit salvation because of family ties. Even His mother and half-brothers needed to be saved from sin. Apart from personal faith in Him as Lord and Savior, they were no more spiritually related to Him than any other human being. The same is true in homes today. Being born into a Christian home does not make a person a “born-again” Christian any more than being born in a garage makes a person an automobile. Until a person accepts Jesus as his own personal Savior, he is not one of His.
Application
Do I have faulty expectations about Jesus and my relationship with Him? Is my faith based on the family I was born into or is it mine?
Matthew 12:43– 50 (NET)
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ When it returns, it finds the house empty, swept clean, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”
46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came and stood outside, asking to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you.” 48 To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 And pointing toward his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”