Daily Recap of Sunday's Sermon — Tuesday: Jesus Identifies His Disciples as His True Family

[This day's recap: recorded by the host.]

Host 1: Welcome to Daily Recap of Sunday Sermon. I'm Michael and it's Tuesday. This week we're walking through Sunday's sermon from Pastor Aaron. It's called Who Belongs to Jesus? And the text is Matthew chapter 12 verse 46 through 50. Today is part two.

Host 1: Jesus identifies his disciples as his true family. On Monday we heard the big question behind the sermon, what happens when our love for our families comes into conflict with our love for Jesus? Today, we step into that scene itself.

Host 1: Verse 46 says, says, while he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside asking to speak to him. Pastor Aaron asked us to picture what's happening here. Jesus has been teaching the crowds Earlier in Matthew 12, the Pharisees have accused him of casting out demons by the power of Satan.

Host 1: Jesus has confronted them, he's warned them about the seriousness of their unbelief, and he's told them he is greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon. Right in the middle of that, his mother and his brothers arrive.

Host 1: So why did they come? Well, Matthew doesn't tell us, but the other gospels help. In Mark chapter 3, the crowds are so large that Jesus and his disciples can't even find time to eat. And his family goes out to take hold of him because they're saying he's out of his mind.

Host 1: John's gospel tells us his brothers didn't yet believe in him. In Luke, he tells us that the crowd was so large that they couldn't even get near him. So word gets passed along, your mother and your brothers are outside. They want to speak with you.

Host 1: Pastor Aaron said that's a little like what he calls the Thursday call. Thursdays have been his meeting day for over 20 years. and inevitably somebody in his family calls during those meetings. He picks up every single time, why?

Host 1: Because they're important and he really loves them. So how would you expect Jesus to respond? This is the woman who gave birth to him, she fed him, and raised him, and cared for him, these are his brothers.

Host 1: You might expect him to say, hold that thought, my mom is here. But look at verse 48 and verse 49. He replied to the man who told him, who is my mother and who are my brothers and stretched out his hand towards his disciples and he said here are my mother and my brothers.

Host 1: Can you imagine hearing Jesus say that? So is Jesus rejecting his earthly family? Pastor Aaron was clear he's not. Even while he was suffering on the cross Jesus made provisions for his mother to be cared for. Jesus loved his mom and he loved his brothers.

Host 1: Instead, he's teaching us which relationships matter most. Here's how Pastor Aaron put it, our relationship with Jesus is greater than even our closest earthly relationships. He said that should challenge us. especially those of us who love our parents and siblings and look forward to being with them.

Host 1: And it shouldn't surprise us. Jesus already said it in Matthew chapter 10 verse 37, whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Host 1: That's strong. And it's clear Jesus must come first. He's not saying we shouldn't love our parents our spouses or our children. He's saying we must love him more. So here's something to carry today.

Host 1: When family calls, we pick up, and that's a good thing. But it brings us back to Monday's question, who actually comes first?

Host 1: You can hear the full sermon at sgcatlanta.org sermons. tomorrow we will cover putting Jesus first and the privilege of belonging to him where we hear why loving Jesus first is good for our families and what a privilege it is that he calls ordinary disciples his family.

Host 1: I'm Michael. Thanks for listening and I'll see you tomorrow.