Mark 3,31-37. 13. Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

Verbum Domini Manet in Aeternum

Mark 3,31-35               4819

13. Sn. n. Trinitatis 058   

Nicetas, Martyr 372 

15. September 2019 

1. O Lord, Jesus Christ, Your Heavenly Father’s last and greatest Prophet; send to us the Holy Spirit to teach us to understand what we read and hear in Your Holy Scriptures, so that in them we discern You and are blessed with Christian faith.  Amen. (Mark 3,35) 

2. »Then His mother and His brothers arrived. While they were standing outside, they sent word to Jesus, calling for Him. A crowd was sitting around Him. They began to tell Him: „Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.“ He replied: „Who are My mother and My brothers?“ He looked at those who sat around Him in a circle and He said: „Behold, My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother, sister and mother.“« 

3. The Holy Scriptures make the point time and again that the family of God is not determined by genealogy but by grace. The Lord told Abraham: »In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed« (Genesis 22,18). The Apostle Paul teaches on this, saying: »Understand then that those who believe are the children of Abraham. Foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles/nations by faith, Scripture proclaimed the gospel in advance to Abraham, saying: All the nations of the Earth will be blessed in You. So then those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. The promises God spoke referred to Abraham and to his Offspring. It does not say: „And to his offsprings,« as if it were referring to many, but as referring to one: And to your Offspring, who is Christ. God graciously gave the inheritance to Abraham by a promise« (Galatians 3,7-9.16.18).

4. Jesus is the Offspring promised to Abraham throughout Genesis. In Mark 3, Jesus explains how significant this is. When His mother and brothers arrived looking for Him, He replied that those gathered around to hear Him are His mother, brothers and sisters. This is not to say that Jesus was forsaking his familial bonds with Mary, James, Joseph (Joses), Jude(as) and Simon, but that Jesus’ close family is expanding to include Jews and Gentiles who do the will of God. Jesus taught His disciples: »I also have other sheep who are not of this sheepfold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to My Voice. Then there will be one flock and one Shepherd« (John 10,16). 

5. Jesus begins to explain what the will of God is with the Parable of the Sower that He immediately tells. It is a parable about the gospel being proclaimed to all people, but only some bear fruit with faith. It is the will of God that all men and women be saved, but God also knows that only some will hear this gospel and believe. To such who have faith in Christ, the harvest they produce is 30, 60 and even 100 times more than was sown. A life of faith is a life full of good works. Faith and works are two sides of the same coin; they go together. Faith produces works. The apostles exhort us in their epistles to remain steadfast in our Christian faith and to be diligent in our works, such as to be kind, loving and charitable to our neighbors. 

6. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray for the will of God to be done. In this petition we ask God to give us the Holy Spirit so that we believe His Word and lead Godly lives as children in His kingdom of grace. We ask here that we live with the certainty that God’s kingdom is now here upon the earth and that God is in control of every great and small event in our lives and in the history of humanity. Jesus also tells us what God’s will is: »My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day« (John 6,40). Thus God’s will is done in our lives when He hinders the plan of the Devil, the world and our sinful flesh which all attempt to destroy our faith in Jesus and walk a path that is against God’s commandments and His grace. Thus, we are certain that God’s kingdom arrives and that His will is done on earth, for God Himself guarantees that His means of grace establish and sustain His kingdom and will. The Prophet Isaiah records what God had said to him: »My Word will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it« (Isaiah 55,11). 

7. Jesus Himself is our brother. He calls us into His family, went to the cross to save us and gives us the good works of His teachings and miracles. He brings the will of God into our midst and in doing so He blesses us. By faith we receive Jesus as our brother and embark on the path of doing His will; it is a lifelong path of faith in Him and of service to our neighbors. To do the will of God begins with believing in the one whom God sent to save us, that is, to believe in Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14,6). This faith puts us in Jesus’ family and makes us Christian brothers and sisters of one another. The New Testament epistles usually begin and conclude by drawing attention to our familial relationship, and so »The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters« (Galatians 6,18).  Amen. 

8. Let us pray. O Lord, God of our salvation; bless us now and forever more, so that we live in the grace and mercy that You give us as Your children.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

Soli Deo Gloria

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 28. Revised Edition © 2012 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. 

Löhe, Wilhelm. Seed-Grains of Prayer: A Manual for Evangelical Christians. Wartburg Publishing House, Chicago circa 1912. Concordia Publishing House; Concordia on Demand.