Mark 3:31-4:9

The Voice

Popularity is often a dangerous thing, particularly in a land occupied by Roman soldiers. As Jesus’ ministry grows, some of His friends and family start to get nervous: they wonder if He has “lost His mind” entirely. They just can’t understand what is happening and why He is so important. It doesn’t seem right—the boy next door from Nazareth receiving so much attention. In fact, they are so uncomfortable with it that they decide to intervene and take Him home.

But Jesus’ family isn’t the only group concerned about Him. The Pharisees are doing their best to spread doubt about His authority with the worst accusations possible: His power to heal comes from the devil himself. They are attacking Him publicly and questioning His identity as the Anointed One.

³¹When Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived, they couldn’t break through the crowd, so they sent word in to Jesus that He should come out to them. ³²The crowd was pressed in tight around Him when He received the message, “Your mother and brothers [and sisters]^[a] are waiting outside for You.”

³³Jesus looked around.

Jesus (answering them): Who are My mother and brothers?

He called into the silence. No one spoke.

³⁴At last His gaze swept across those gathered close, and Jesus smiled.

Jesus: You, here, are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵Whoever does the will of God is My true family.

4 ^1-2Jesus went out again to teach by the Sea of Galilee. When the crowd became unmanageable, He climbed aboard a boat and sat down to teach the people listening on the shore by telling them parables. One of His teachings went like this:

Jesus: ³Listen! A farmer went out and sowed his seed. ⁴As he scattered it, one seed fell along the hardened path, and a bird flapped down and snapped it up. ⁵One seed fell onto rocky places where the soil was thin, so it sprang up quickly. ⁶But when the hot sun scorched the fragile stems and leaves, the seedling withered because its roots didn’t go deep in the soil. ⁷One of the seeds fell among the weeds and thorns, which crowded the seedling out of producing a crop. ⁸And the rest of the seeds fell in good, rich soil. When they sprouted, the plants grew and produced a crop 30, 60, even 100 times larger than expected for every seed that the farmer had sown.