“There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.”
Then Jesus's mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him — the family's arrival, foreshadowed in verse 21, now occurs. They are standing outside — they cannot get through the crowd — and they send a message in to Jesus. The outside/inside spatial distinction sets up Jesus' redefinition of family: the physical family stands outside while the spiritual family (those doing God's will) sits inside around Jesus. The mother and brothers are not presented unsympathetically; their concern is genuine. But the encounter creates the occasion for one of the most radical sayings in the Synoptic tradition about the nature of the kingdom's community.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
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