Young's Literal Translation[Mark 3:21] And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
The friends referred to here, are not his family. His "Family" (mother and brothers) arrive in verse 31. Mark records them saying nothing! His sisters could have been with "The Friends". He was in Galilee so it is quite conceivable that some of these friends could have been neighbors or previous acquaintances.....but they were not his mother and brothers.
Luke records the same event [8:19-21] but does not mention the "Friends" calling Him crazy. The "Family" says nothing!
We know that Mary is aware of His power and Messiah ship as scriptures confirm her receiving this revelation from the Holy Spirit.....no need to dwell on that. [John 2:5] Mary simply says, (knowing his power) "Do whatever he tells you". No where in scripture are we told that Mary doubts Him at all ....or thinks that He is crazy! The brothers....on the other hand, do not feel the same!
It seems that the John 7:5 verse wouldn't agree with that. Yup!
The brothers were very jealous of Him, hated Him and wanted Him dead! This is one of the reasons you see none of them (there were four) at the tomb and why Jesus gave to John, his cousin....the responsibility of caring for His mother. Our Lord did not select any of His own brothers to be an Apostle and none was selected to be a replacement for Judas.....so their standing among the Apostles could have been quite suspect also.
[John 7:1-5] After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jew's feast of tabernacles was at hand. His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world. For neither did his brethren believe in him.
As you read this scripture you can just visualize the sneers and hear the taunts from His brothers. They knew the Jews had it in for Him....wanting to kill Him, but they were telling Him to go to the feast, putting Himself in jeopardy. He goes anyway....without His brothers knowing it (verse 10).
Our Lord had a special childhood and as such His brethren may have taken on their jealous nature during this time. These brothers are mentioned in [Acts 1:14] as being in prayer with Mary early after the resurrection and they may have been rehabilitated and now considered believers (verse 15)....I'm not sure. Still, 15 years later, Peter...having escaped from prison felt it not safe to stay with the brothers [Acts 12:17]. James, the Apostle, had just been killed....and Herod had noticed how it had pleased the Jews (verse 3) so in attempting to kill Peter he figured he would get "The Grand Poobah". It backfired (verses 6-9). At this time in Jerusalem things had changed radically from shortly after the formation of the church at Pentecost. Early on, thousands were becoming Christians daily [Acts 2:41] and people attempted to place sick folk in Peter's shadow [Acts 5:15]. Something had changed in this short period of time since the first "Christian" Pentecost and Herod noticed that by killing Apostles........it pleased the Jews! Why?
Peter was afraid of James {Galatians 2:11-12] and as Bishop of Jerusalem [Acts 15:19], James carried a lot of authority. We are speaking of The Lord's brother here [Galatians 1:18-19]....not the Apostle James (and cousin of Our Lord) who was killed by Herod [Acts 12:2]. How ever did James become the bishop of Jerusalem....with all his baggage?
Why did Peter instruct the folks at John Mark's mother's house [Acts 12:12-17] to go and tell the "brothers" what happened? Why didn't he just send word to the Apostle John or some other Apostles? Why is Peter reporting to them (the brothers)? Were they his superiors in the Jerusalem church? We know that James is head of the church in chapter 15 so it stands to reason that by A.D.49 (date of the Council) the brothers are firmly in control of the fledgling Christian Church.
[Acts 12:1-3] Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) It kind of makes you wonder just "WHO" of the church wouldn't have been vexed????? Surely, by the next morning, the entire city of Jerusalem would have heard of Peter's escape. Why does Peter want James to know this in the middle of the night?
[Matthew 13:54-58] And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
This was Our Lord's own statement about His brothers. They gave Him no honor or respect. This was His opinion of James, Joses, Simon and Judah.....and evidently His sisters also! There is no place in scripture where it is said His own family (brothers and sisters) honored Him. James writes in his own book that he is a servant of Jesus Christ....but never mentions the resurrection. There is no indication anywhere else in scripture that he is saved....except his own words in [James 1:1].
[John 7:6-10] Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast: for my time is not yet full come. When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee. But when his brethren were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.
See the difference in Our Saviour's opinion of Himself.... and His brothers. The world cannot hate them because the world is evil! The world hates Him....because He testifies of it. We sometimes forget how much Our Lord was hated. In the Gospel of John itself there are twenty instances of people trying to harm Him or kill Him.....and this included his own flesh and blood.
Well.....15 years later Peter is evidently subservient to these same brothers.....and he is fearful of them. There was division in the early church and James and the brothers were leaders of one of the factions.....the circumcision faction [Galatians 2:4][Galatians 2:12]! These brothers did not honor Our Lord, they were not picked to be disciples nor chosen as Apostles, Our Lord said the world could not hate them, they evidently sought Our Lord's capture, imprisonment and death at the Feast, Our Lord did not entrust the care of His mother to any of them, not one was even considered to replace Judas.....but one became the leader of the Jerusalem Church!
Yes....your "Jewish" friend did have an interesting question.....and most folks are not aware of the answer. Our Lord's brothers were indeed suspect. The fact he groups them in together with Mary in some kind of conspiracy just means that he hasn't been taught New Testament scripture correctly. Not hard to understand that!
Enter Paul!
WOW.....ASK, AND YE SHALL RECEIVE, that your joy may be full.
That was another one of your lessons that will be printed and filed in the Diego Book of Knowledge, after further study.
You have hinted at trouble between Jesus and His brothers in a previous post but I had no idea it was that deep. I’ll read the Book of James again today and see it with different eyes.
I’ll relay this valuable information to the one that is absolutely spitting nails at the New Testament. Perhaps he’ll see things in a clearer light too.
Thank you again.
...........Ping
Surprise.....Another question.
On another site, someone takes the following two scriptures and believes they mean that God and Satan are One entity.
This thought is incomprehensible to me however, before answering her, I told her I would ask a friend, whose Biblical scholarship I greatly admired (hello Diego).
She is very intelligent but I believe she is looking for things that aren’t there....and finding them. She also stated that the fact that they are one entity is found in other places but fairly well hidden to an unassuming eye. The scriptures quoted were the most obvious.
1Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
11 Samuel 24:1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
............Ping