The Greatest Family – At Easter

The greatest family of all time was in turmoil! They were not united in belief, and all hope seemed gone. It all started many years ago.

An unexpected guest visited her and told her she would have a son – without human conception. It was an unbelievable story – but it was certified by the angel. She accepted the message and the responsibility and said, “Be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38). Now she must tell the man to whom she was engaged. How would he accept that? He might laugh at her, or break off their engagement, or worse. Under the law of the land, they could execute her for having a baby out of wedlock.

The baby was born. Not long after the birth, some shepherds came in from the fields and told her that angels had given them a message. The baby was the Savior, Christ the Lord.  Joseph stood back in amazement. “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.”  (Luke 2:19).

As was customary, after 40 days, Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the Lord at Jerusalem. They met an aged man named Simeon, whom the Holy Ghost assured him that he would not die before seeing the Lord’s Christ. And he knew Jesus was that one. Then he said some puzzling words to Mary. “This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.”  Then followed his very unsettling words, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.”

Jesus grew up in their home. He was strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. It was hard on Mary as a mother when other children came along. When squabbles came among the children, or fights, disagreements, or misbehavior, Jesus was never guilty or wrong. To the other children it appeared that she was playing favorites.

Then the big day came when Jesus was 12 years old.  Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem for the Passover feast. When they returned home afterward, they assumed Jesus was with their relatives in the traveling group. But after a day’s journey they discovered he was missing, and they turned back to Jerusalem. After a three-day search they found him in the temple listening and asking questions. All who heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. Mary, as any mother concerned would, asked him why he had done this to his parents. He replied with an answer that would resound in her memory for many years. “Don’t you know that I must be about my father’s business?”  Jesus went home in submission to his parents but Mary “kept all these sayings in her heart.”  (Luke 2:51).

Sometime between Jesus’ age of 12 to 30, Joseph must have died. Nothing more has been told us about Joseph after the Passover when Jesus was 12. After his stepfather’s death, Jesus became “man of the house” and was known as a carpenter like Joseph. (Mark 6:3). During this time, as he grew to adulthood Mary learned to trust and depend on him for everything.

At the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry there was a wedding at Cana of Galilee. Jesus and his disciples were invited, and Mary was there, perhaps as a friend helping with wedding feast. When Mary learned that the wine supply was gone, she simply told Jesus about it but didn’t tell him what to do. She knew who Jesus was and realized he could handle it.   And he did. He turned the water into wine.

Sometime later Mary and Jesus’ brothers came to talk to him. Someone in the crowd notified him and Jesus made a unexpected statement. “Who is my mother? And who are my brethren?” “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.”   (Matthew 12:48, 50). Mary, by this time, evidently understood his ministry and who he was. She was not offended. However, her sons, Jesus’ brothers did not know who he was and did not believe in him. (John 7:2-5).

The next time we see Mary is at the cross of Jesus. She was loyal and loving to the end. She probably witnessed his trial and scourging and the dreadful march to Golgotha, where the Roman soldiers compelled Simon to carry the cross for him. She observed as the soldiers drove the spikes through his hands and feet securing him to the cross and then dropping the cross into the prepared hole. Every wound to Jesus was as a sword piercing through her own soul.

There at the cross Mary again was reminded of Jesus’ love for her. While he hung there dying, he made provision for her.   He said “Woman, behold thy son,” referring to John standing nearby. Then he said to John, “Behold thy mother.”

Mary went to John’s home after seeing Jesus crucified. Even though she knew some promises about Jesus, doubt flooded her heart and mind. Would Jesus really rise from the dead? She remembered that he had raised others from the dead, but would he really lay down his life and take it up again as he said?

With anxiety in her heart and lines of despair on her face, she tried to rest for the remainder of the day. Then she waited through the dark of that long first night, and moment by dragging moment through the next few days. What about her family? They did not share her love and belief in Jesus.

On the first day of the week, she began to hear stories. Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus alive. Angels had told other ladies that Jesus was risen again. Peter and John reported an empty tomb. Two on the way to Emmaus had walked and talked with Jesus. Jesus had appeared and talked to the disciples that same evening. Peter had seen and talked with Jesus alone. Hope stirred in her heart. Jesus was truly alive! A week later he challenged Thomas to feel his nail prints and the wound in his side. (John 20).

During the next few days, he talked to 500 brethren at once. Then he talked to her son James, and he believed. It was not long until all her family believed. (1 Corinthians 15).

As the apostles and other believers gathered in the upper room after Jesus’ ascension, they celebrated the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. And all of Mary’s family gathered with her and the other Christians as they prayed together and chose a replacement to be the 12^th apostle. (Acts 1). Mary rejoiced that all her family were now followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some years after that Mary was delighted when her son, James, Jesus’ half-brother, became a leader in the Jerusalem church and later wrote the book of James.  (Acts 15).

Mary’s family was now complete in the Lord Jesus and her heart was filled with joy!  The greatest family ever were all saved.

What a marvelous triumph it is when Mom, Dad, and all the children are saved and serving the Lord!

Does this describe your family?  What can you do about it?

There’s a wonderful old song written by Dr. John R. Rice that expresses this theme. It has five verses. I am only copying in the first and fifth verses.

O Bring Your Loved Ones!

(1) How can I meet Him without my loved ones,

How can I smile and know they are lost,

When I see Jesus, up in the glory

Without the souls He bought at such cost.

 Chorus:

O Bring your loved ones, Bring them to Jesus!

Bring every brother and sister to Him!

When comes the reapers, Home with the harvest

May all our dear ones be safe gathered in!

(5) How glad the greeting, praises and singing

When we meet Jesus, with all our own.

Then will our labor seem but a trifle,

And all our tears, and toiling be done!