Mark 3:28-35 - Who are my mother and my brothers?

3:28-30

We now get one of the most troublesome statements that Jesus made. All sins and slanders can be forgiven, except blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. From all the commentaries and books that talk about this it seems that no one is really sure what precisely it means. In particular the question of “have I committed the unforgivable sin?”. There is no mention of an “unforgivable sin” in the rest of the New Testament, apart from parallel passages in Matthew and Luke. In 3:31 Jesus does say that “He said this because they were saying “He has an impure spirit”. So it does seem that it means attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil. The general line is that if you genuinely repent and seek forgiveness, then you have not committed an unforgivable sin, otherwise you would not be repenting.

3:31,32

Attention now turns to Jesus’ family, who have come to rein Him in! They sent someone in to get Him. It isn’t clear why one of the family themselves did not go in. Anyway, someone did go in for them and told Him that “your mother and brothers are outside looking for you”.

3:33-35

Jesus, as He often did, turns the tables. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” He then looked at those around Him and said “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother”.  As with most of the things that Jesus said and did, there is an implication that He is the Son of God. Jesus knew that He was speaking God’s words and doing God’s work. He is also saying that the relationship between a man or woman and Jesus is more important than the family relationships.