A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, your mother and brothers are outside looking for you — the crowd serves as the intermediary, relaying the family's message. The crowd is sitting around him — the posture of disciples, of those who have come to hear and follow. The contrast between those sitting around Jesus inside and the family standing outside becomes the spatial metaphor for the saying that follows. Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you is an invitation to step out of the teaching and attend to family obligation — the kind of obligation that even Jewish law would have recognized as primary.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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