Jesus Misunderstood by His Kinfolk and the Theologians
Jesus went into a house; and again a crowd collected, so that they were not able even to eat their food. When his relations heard of it, they went to take charge of him, for they said that he was out of his mind. And the Teachers of the Law, who had come down from Jerusalem, said:
“He has Baal-zebub in him, and he drives the demons out by the help of Baal-zebub, their chief.”
So Jesus called them to him, and answered them in parables:
“How can Satan drive out Satan? When a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot last; and when a household is divided against itself, it will not be able to last. So, if Satan is in revolt against himself and is divided, he cannot last—his end has come! No man who has got into a strong man’s house can carry off bis goods, without first securing him; and not till then will he plunder his house. I tell you that men will be forgiven everything—their sins, and all the slanders that they utter; but whoever slanders the Holy Spirit remains unforgiven to the end; he has to answer for an enduring sin.” This was said in reply to the charge that he had a foul spirit in him.
The True Brotherhood
And his mother and his brothers came, and stood outside, and sent to ask him to come to them. There was a crowd sitting round Jesus, and some of them said to him:
“Look, your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.”
“Who is my mother? and my brothers?” was his reply. Then he looked around on the people sitting in a circle round him, and said:
“Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
—Matthew.
The Inclusiveness of Home
If you wanted to gather up all tender memories, all lights and shadows of the heart, all reunions, all filial, fraternal, paternal and conjugal affections, and had only just four letters with which to spell out the height and depth and length and breadth and magnitude and eternity of meaning, you would write it all out with these four capital letters: H O M E.
—T. D. Talmage.