Those who listen to Jesus, who hear his call to repent and believe and accept him as God’s King, are made part of a new family. A new family that is meant to be more significant and more important even than our own biological families.
Your family here on earth are most likely the people who you know, love, and care for the most. To be part of an earthly family is to be assured of love, help, and assistance.
Jesus is telling us that believers in Christ can have that same assurance: assurance of God’s love, assurance of God’s favour, and security of knowing that God our Father wants what is best for us. We have the privilege of a big brother who gives his life in order to free us from Satan (Hebrews 2:11). It is one thing to have a friend that has always got your back, it is another thing to be part of a loving family. We sometimes shut the doors on our friends, but we never shut the doors on our family. God promises us that he will never shut the door on us if we sit at the feet of Jesus Christ, listening to and obeying him.
In the New Testament letters, those who believe in Jesus Christ are encouraged to think of themselves as a family. The church is referred to as the household of God (Ephesians 2:19, 1 Timothy 3:15). Deacons are there to make sure we care for one another (Acts 6:1–4; 1 Timothy 5:3–16). And our responsibility, now that we have been adopted into God’s family (Ephesians 1:5), is to listen to and obey Jesus (who is the head of the church, Colossians 1:18).
34 And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!