Pastor Nick Gatzke

Two families lived in the American Northeast, in the same era, and sociologists eventually studied both. One descended from Max Jukes, an unbelieving man who married a woman of like character. Among the more than 1,200 known descendants, over 300 died early, 130 went to prison, and 190 were prostitutes. The family cost the state a fortune and gave almost nothing back. The other family descended from Jonathan Edwards, a man of God who married a woman of like character. Hundreds of his descendants became clergymen, professors, physicians, and authors. Three became congressmen, and one became vice president of the United States.

Your family shapes your identity, your trajectory, and even your faith, often before you’re old enough to notice it happening. So when Jesus starts talking about his own family, it’s worth leaning in.

Near, Yet Far

In Mark 3, there is a massive crowd, so desperate to touch him that he has to escape by boat. There are demons who cry out to Jesus, “You are the Son of God,” yet cower rather than worship. There are scribes who accuse him of being possessed by Satan. Then there are Jesus’ own mother and brothers, who hear about the commotion and go out to restrain him, “for they were saying, He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21).

Notice the strange reversal. The crowd, who barely know who Jesus is, are pressing in to get close. His own flesh and blood, who have known him his entire life, are trying to shut him down. Proximity to Jesus doesn’t guarantee faith in Jesus. You can sit in a pew every week, grow up in a Christian home, or even share his last name, and still be far from his true family.

A Case the Devil Can’t Win

The scribes’ accusation—that Jesus casts out demons by the power of Satan—gives Jesus the occasion to explain something essential about himself. “How can Satan cast out Satan?” he asks. “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand” (Mark 3:23–24). Satan doesn’t sabotage his own operation. Jesus then describes himself as the stronger man who binds the strong man—Satan—and plunders his house, setting captives free. It’s a vivid picture of what happens at salvation: Satan holds people in unbelief and darkness, and Jesus, the only one strong enough, rescues them into his light.

But Jesus follows this with a sobering warning. All sins can be forgiven, he says, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness” (Mark 3:29). This isn’t a passing bad thought or a moment of doubt. It’s the settled, ongoing refusal to call the Spirit’s saving work good. The scribes had seen Jesus heal the sick and free the oppressed, and called it evil. Isaiah warned of this centuries earlier: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). Seeing miracles never automatically produces faith. Even standing close to the truth, you can still call it a lie.

Who Gets to Be Family

So if the crowd isn’t automatically family, and his own relatives aren’t automatically family, who is? Jesus answers plainly. Told that his mother and brothers are outside asking for him, he looks at the people gathered around him and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:34–35).

Notice what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t say the family of God belongs to those with the right bloodline, the right church attendance record, or the right religious pedigree. He says it belongs to those who do the will of God. This should catch our attention, because everywhere else in Scripture we’re told simply to believe. Here, Jesus adds the word “do.” The two are never separated. You cannot truly believe in Jesus without following him in obedience, and you cannot obey him rightly without believing in him first. Faith is the root; obedience is the fruit that proves the root is alive.

This is not a word meant to shake your assurance for sport. It’s meant to test whether your assurance is real. Some of us soften the call of Christ so much that we imagine we can yield to him occasionally rather than kneel before him daily. But Jesus isn’t asking for an occasional nod in his direction. He’s asking whether you recognize him as king and follow him as king.

The Door Is Open Wider Than You Think

Here’s the astonishing part. The family of God does not have an impossible barrier to entry. It doesn’t matter how far off you’ve been, how dysfunctional your earthly family was, or how many mistakes you carry. Jesus, the stronger man, has already done the work of rescue. What he asks in return is not perfection, but surrender—the willingness to trust him as Savior and follow him as King.

Scripture tells us that Mary and Jesus’ brothers eventually did come to faith and were welcomed fully into his family. The door that was once shut by unbelief opened again through faith. If it opened for them, it can open for you.

So ask yourself honestly: are you merely near Jesus, or are you truly his? Do you know things about him, or do you follow him? The good news is that whoever does the will of God finds not only a King, but also a Father, a family, and a home that will never let them go

“A Word From Pastor Nick” is based on Pastor Nick Gatzke’s Bible teaching on A BETTER WORD