Traveling with Family

“Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”    —Mark 3:35

Growing up in St. Charles, Pennsylvania in Armstrong County, my family drove a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief station wagon. In those days, there were four children in our family. I do not remember the actual traveling part of family road trips, but I do remember celebrating my birthday each year on Lake Erie in July.

One thing I do vividly remember when traveling as a family was my dad threatening to stop the car if we did not calm down and behave in the back seat. My dad would whip his right arm onto the top of the front seat and yell back at us, “Don’t make me stop this car!” We never found out what would happen if he had to stop the car because we obeyed immediately.

My memory has been kind to me. I look back with nostalgia and good thoughts over my childhood. The saying goes, “You can pick your friends, but you’re stuck with your family.” I felt blessed (most of the time) with the family I had. It was a good childhood.

God entrusted Jesus into an earthly family. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be the Creator of the universe and to have to listen to a step-father threatening to stop the ox cart.  It’s hard to think how Jesus’ family reacted to living with the perfect Son of God. Mark chapter 3 gives us a glimpse into one moment in Jesus’ family history.

After Jesus had healed a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath and then appointed His twelve Disciples, they entered a house but were so overwhelmed with followers that they could not even eat. Jesus’ family came to rescue Him. “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind’” (Mark 3:21). The leaders of the day were also calling Jesus crazy. They accused Him of being possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. They attributed Jesus’ miraculous powers to heal and cast out demons to Satan.

Jesus’ mother and brothers could not reach Him due to the crowd. Word was sent to Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you” (3:32). Jesus replied with a question, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Jesus then looked around and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (3:34-35).

Jesus may have had His struggles with His earthly family, but He loved them to the very end. His family eventually believed in Him. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was at the Cross and with the believers gathered in the Upper Room on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. James, the Brother of Jesus, became one of the key leaders of the Jerusalem Church and was the human author of the book of James. Acts 16:31 became true for Jesus’ family, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”

As Christians, we have a large extended family of every Christian believer in the entire world who does God’s will. As human beings, God has entrusted us with a biological family to care for and love. If you had a great childhood, praise God and love your family with all your being. If childhood was painful and your family members do not believe, continue to love them and trust God for their salvation. God loves them even more than you and I ever could. God loves them and us so much that He said (well, not exactly in these words), “Don’t make me come down there.” But praise the Lord, God did come down to Earth in Jesus to save us from our sins.