The Lord's Mother and His Brethren
Luke 8:19‑21 • 1 min. read • grade level: 14
From a comparison of the first two scriptures it would seem that the incident they contain, which again brings Mary to our notice, took place at Capernaum. Here at this moment the Lord was entirely engaged in His blessed ministry, and so greatly were the crowds attracted to Him, that He and His disciples “could not so much as eat bread.” His “friends,” either in their concern for Him or inconvenienced by what was going on, “went out to lay hold on Him: for they said, He is beside Himself” (Mark 3:2121And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. (Mark 3:21)). It is this incident which explains the occurrence now to be considered, for in Mark’s gospel it follows almost immediately upon it. Again, then, we find Him diligently pursuing His divine mission, and “the multitude sat about Him” (Mark), and “while He yet talked to the people” (Matthew), “behold, His mother and His brethren stood without, desiring to speak with Him,” but, as we gather from Luke, they “could not come at Him for the press,” that is, the crowd. Then, “standing without, [they] sent unto Him, calling Him,” as we learn from Mark. Word was thus passed into the inner circle of His audience that our Lord was wanted by His mother and brethren, and thereon, following the account in Matthew, one said unto Him, “Behold, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with Thee.”