Why Would Jesus Rebuke His Own Mother? (Or Because We're All In This Together)

I promise I'm not as boring as I may sound.
Ok.
You may continue.


To set it up, Jesus has just rebuked his concerned mother (she thought he was going a little overboard with this whole Savior-thing) in front of a crowd of his disciples because it was so crowded that she couldn't get close enough to him. So, she basically tells a random disciple, "Hey, please get Jesus's attention & tell him that his mother & brothers are here to get him."(Ouch!)
Jesus essentially replies, "These are my mothers & brothers; the ones following me, listening to me, & obeying me."

Now, the explanation.
As I read this portion of commentary from the Life Application New Testament Commentary (by the way, one of my favorite resources) I knew I had to share it's contents which explain the story.

"Jesus gave a respectful rebuke to his overly concerned mother; he was not severing ties with his earthly family. Through this incident, Jesus gave another lesson to his followers by explaining that spiritual relationships are as binding as physical ones. This would be the basis for the new community that Jesus was building--the Christian family [aka. The Church]...In these words, Jesus was explaining that in his spiritual family, relationships are ultimately more important and longer-lasting than those formed in one's physical family." (in reference to Luke 8:19-21, emphasis added)

I love it!
Shouldn't this then change our attitude & behavior towards the people in our church communities?
Now, let these words sink in:

"Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." (John 13:35, NLT)

The Absurdity of Christmas

Merry Christmas.
I hope you get to take some time to read the following and reflect on the wildly absurd action of Jesus actually leaving His place of glory and humbly coming to earth for our sake.

I love my family. I love my parents. I love my grandparents. I love my friends.
But most of all I love my Savior.

This passage will forever remind me of the true meaning of Christmas:

"You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Though he was God,he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
(Philippians 2:5-11, NLT)

Let's be the Christ and act with the same absurd service to one another.

A Jewish Priest Touches An Outcast...That's Not Normal!

Jesus was Jewish. Not only Jewish, but a Jewish priest. And the norm for a Jewish priest was NOT to touch people with leprosy. Heck, they weren't even AROUND people with leprosy! Lepers were quarantined to live in their own sick towns as to not infect anybody else with their mutilating disease. So when a guy with leprosy comes running up to Jesus (a Jewish priest) you can bet people's heads turned & they were most likely expecting Jesus's head to turn too.
All eyes on Jesus.
What does he do?
How would He choose to handle & react to such an outcast, such an unclean person?


"Jesus reached out and touched him. "I am willing," he said."Be healed!" And instantly the leprosy disappeared." Luke 5:12 (NLT)

Jesus does the unthinkable. He touches the man THEN heals him with his words. Catch that. Jesus didn't heal the leper with His touch, yet He chose to touch the man while the leprosy was still there and THEN heal using His word.


I'm so glad Jesus chose to touch me, while I was still riddled with the infected sin throughout my body, and then heal me. He didn't expect me to come to Him already clean because He is the One who does the cleaning.