Luke 8:19-21

8. Visit of the Mother and Brethren of Jesus: Luke 8:19-21.

We should have been ignorant of the real object of this visit, unless, in this as in several other cases, Mark's narrative had come in to supplement that of the other two. According to Mark, a report had reached the brethren of Jesus that He was in a state of excitement bordering on madness; it was just the echo of this accusation of the Pharisees: “ He casteth out devils by Beelzebub. ” Comp. Mark 3:21-22. His brethren therefore came, intending to lay hold on Him (κρατῆσαι αὐτόν, Luke 8:21), and take Him home. Matthew also connects this visit (Luke 12:46) with the same accusation. In John, the brethren of Jesus are represented in a similar attitude in regard to Him (Luke 7:5): “ His brethren also did not believe on Him. ” As to Mary, it is not said that she shared the sentiments of her sons. But when she saw them set out under the influence of such feelings, she would naturally desire to be present at the painful scene which she anticipated would take place. Perhaps also, like John the Baptist, she was unable to explain to herself the course which her Son's work was taking, and was distracted between contrary impressions.

Vers. 19-21. The word without (Luke 8:20) might be understood to mean: “outside the circle which surrounded Jesus.” But Mark expressly mentions a house in which He was receiving hospitality (Luke 8:20), and where a large crowd was seated around Him (Luke 8:32; Luke 8:34).

Are these brethren of Jesus younger sons of Joseph and Mary, or sons of Joseph by a previous marriage; or are they cousins of Jesus, sons of Cleopas (the brother of Joseph), who would be called his brethren, as having been brought up in the house of their uncle Joseph? We cannot discuss this question here. (See our Commentary on the Gospel of John, John 2:12.) One thing is certain, that the literal interpretation of the word brother, placed, as it is here, by the side of the word mother, is the most natural.

The answer of Jesus signifies, not that family ties are in His eyes of no value (comp. John 19:26), but that they are subordinate to a tie of a higher and more durable nature. In those women who accompanied Him, exercising over Him a mother's care (Luke 8:2-3), and in those disciples who so faithfully associated themselves with Him in His work, He had found a family which supplied the place of that which had deliberately forsaken Him. And this new. spiritual relationship, eternal even as the God in whom it was based, was it not superior in dignity to a relationship of blood, which the least accident might break? In this saying He expresses a tender and grateful affection for those faithful souls whose love every day supplied the place of the dearest domestic affection. He makes no mention of father; this place belongs in His eyes to God alone. We see how the description of the actual circumstances, given by Mark, enables us to understand the appropriateness of this saying. This fact proves that Luke knew neither the narrative of this evangelist, nor that of the alleged proto-Mark. How could he in sheer wilfulness have neglected the light which such a narrative threw upon the whole scene?