WHEN He took on human form Jesus was completely human, and He would have been weary when He didn’t even get enough peace to eat. His family thought He was mad and the lawyers were convinced that He was in league with the devil. This was particularly hurtful as it was to free us from the result of the devil’s work that He came into this world. It is certainly true that Satan is divided, but not in the way these lawyers thought, and Jesus is not one of the factions.
Forgiveness is central to the faith and we see here again how Jesus emphasises this. It is wonderful that God can forgive us so much, but we are mistaken if we have the picture of a weak God saying “Never mind, I wasn’t really angry with you.” Many people have wondered what the sin against the Holy Spirit might be, but it is clear here that it consists of denying that Jesus is God. The lawyers were saying that Jesus was possessed by an evil spirit. This was blasphemy indeed when the Spirit that possessed Jesus was the Holy Spirit Himself. This man Jesus is none other than God and we mustn’t forget it.
Family ties are the closest we experience, especially when we are young. Jesus loved His family and made provision for His mother when He was dying, asking John to look after her. However, when it came to the point where they were coming between Him and His work for God the Father, they had to take second place. Ultimately we must each stand alone. We are all separate individuals with responsibility to God for ourselves. We cannot take the blame or the credit for any one other person. There are times for us too when we have to make sure we don’t put our families before God. This is a very delicate balance to strike. Pray that you may get it right today.
