Light on the Hill

James Kaddis: Jesus is questioning what the people perceive as being the authority that would drive him away from the moment or the circumstance that he's in. Jesus is basically making it very, very clear that the thing that causes him to stay in the moment that he's in, especially in that situation, has nothing to do or is not predicated upon anything related to his blood relatives. It has everything to do with his allegiance to the Father that he co-rules with.

The picture here is my focus on what I'm doing right now carries a deeper bond than anything that you might find in the natural world with respect to family. My obedience to God is me dealing with the fire instead of my submissiveness to the family structure, which would be straightening out the picture. Makes sense?

Guest (Male): Hello again, and welcome to Light on the Hill with our teacher and Pastor, James Kaddis. Today, we jump back into our study of Mark's gospel to complete chapter three. When Jesus said that doing the will of the Heavenly Father is more important than doing the will of his family, he was conveying something important to us about obedience. Let's see what that is as Pastor James begins.

James Kaddis: Now, he finishes dealing with all of these issues: healing the man with the withered hand, calling the disciples to the ministry that they have, addressing the issue of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and in essence, the blasphemy that these Pharisees were delving out. And then now, Jesus gets interrupted with a very monumental situation because he's in the midst of this conversation being had.

He just finishes being accused of having an unclean spirit. He deals with that very directly. By the way, it is interesting how seriously Jesus took accusations like that because Jesus was the master of the unseen. Obviously, that makes perfect sense. And now we get to a point where something unique happens in this time period. Something really interesting.

Jesus is in the midst of not only addressing these people, the crowds are gathered around him, they're watching him. He's ministering to his disciples as well. He's just called them into the service of the ministry of the gospel. Lots of things are going on. There's a lot of components that are being juggled around right now. And look at what happens while Jesus is in the midst of doing the work that he's doing. This is very interesting.

"There came then his brethren and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, calling him." So this is interesting because you can picture what's going on. You can picture the fact that Jesus is having this extreme confrontation. This is probably about as confrontational as it gets. It's probably as difficult as it can get. It's probably as harsh as it could get.

My guess is you have Jesus's mother and you have Jesus's brothers, who have seen the behavior and the influence of the most political people of the time, the Pharisees, and were probably very bothered by what they were seeing. My guess is Mary knows that Jesus is the true son of God. My guess is Mary is fully aware that her son is the God that created her. My guess is Mary understands the full implications of it all. Of course, Jesus's brothers and sisters don't understand. They don't see it. They don't recognize it. They're not there yet, but Mary does.

As Jesus is getting older, I suspect that Mary is growing more and more fearful concerning the potential of the loss of her son's life. I suspect that she's growing more concerned about what's happening, how prominent he's becoming, and how infuriated the people are becoming that are surrounding him. So I'm guessing that she's probably prompting her children to call Jesus over because it's a very heated moment.

By the way, I can understand what that looks like. I think that if there's anybody that experiences the most trauma in my life, watching me confront some of the people who I confront or watching me act the way that I act at times, it's actually my family. It can be in some contexts a very positive light, in some contexts it can be very negative. My wife especially does not like watching me get into confrontational situations with other people, especially in areas that she knows I regularly contend in.

It's not anything that she particularly enjoys. She doesn't like the idea of me putting myself in harm's way. She doesn't like the idea of me being in the type of limelight where people respond in very aggressive ways. Oftentimes she worries about those things without ever telling me that she's worrying about it. It's very obvious. Now, sometimes it's a little bit more fun-natured than that.

For example, I remembered I hadn't been married to my wife for even a year. We had probably been married for six or seven months, and we go to Israel. I take her to Israel. It was her first time there, and it was the first time of her mother going on that trip. My dad went on that trip with us as well. And we get to the Old City.

Guest (Male): Coming up on Light on the Hill, Jesus is questioning what the people perceive as being the authority that would drive him away from the moment or the circumstance that he's in. Jesus is basically making it very, very clear that the thing that causes him to stay in the moment that he's in has nothing to do with his blood relatives. It has everything to do with his allegiance to the Father.

James Kaddis: As we get to the Old City, I am looking at this group of things that my wife and my mother-in-law seem to be eyeballing. I ask them if they want this, and they say yeah. And then I said, okay, I'll handle it. And then I watch them almost run from the place that we're in. They literally go into the courtyard where they almost pretend as though they have no affiliation or no association with me.

Why? Because over the next 20 minutes, there is a nasty shouting match like you can't even believe that ensues between me and the storekeeper who is super, super ticked off and angry at me because I'm speaking to him in English. I'm speaking in a way where when you hear me speak English, there's no way you can tell I have an accent. I sound like I am born and raised in America because I am.

You cannot detect any understanding of Middle Eastern languages whatsoever. So I'm talking to him and I'm like, no, this price is too high. And I'm letting the father and the son talk about how much they paid for it and how they can get this much out of this American. If we push it over here, we make it sound like it's a high price here. So I take it almost to the point where I get the price that I want.

I basically say I'm walking away if you won't give me this price. The price that I gave them was the price that they knew was their absolute drop-dead price. If we don't sell it for this, then we can't sell it because we're going to lose money. Shame on them because they're talking about how they're going to rip me off grandly and pay the month's bills and making their jokes about that.

Finally, we come down to that price. I bargain in English. This whole process takes about five minutes. And then the mischievous side of me decides that I'm going to give them a greeting in Arabic and tell them goodbye. Boy, did they lose their minds. They went absolutely nuts. You didn't tell us you were an Egyptian. At first, they thought I was Mossad because I could speak Arabic perfectly and speak English perfectly.

There's all this back and forth, and then that's when the other set of things that I wanted to buy started ensuing. We got into a bigger argument. At that point, that's when we're all yelling at each other. I mean, it's a shouting match in Arabic. It looks like we both want to just tear each other up. And at the end of the whole thing, 20 minutes later, we're sitting down and having a cup of tea.

That's our culture. That's the custom. That's what you do. Well, in the meantime, my mother-in-law and my wife are like, I just can't handle this. They weren't even anywhere near me. So that's sort of more the innocent side of that, but the not-so-innocent side, the part that's very difficult is I can see it's not easy for my wife to see me having to contend with many of the things that I contend with.

I don't even think she reads comments anymore. She stopped reading comments a long time ago because, again, some of them are so absolutely brutal and some of them are so insanely vicious that it creates this apprehension. If my mom were on this earth at the time that we started really growing in this area of social media, my mom would just go berserk. I think my mom would probably just want to literally choke out every human being that ever made any comment.

It would not be good because she is the epitome of a good mother, just brutally overprotective. I mean, just insane. So I can understand where Mary's coming from here. There's probably some significant apprehension in her heart regarding the confrontation that's taking place, and so she is seeking to insert herself in the most respectful way possible to mitigate what may end up being a very nasty result.

There's an interference that's happening here, and I want you guys to see it as such. Now, understand there's some overwhelming emotions that are already going on in the invisible realm that you have to discern. Number one, there's some apprehension. There's some fear. There's some concern. There is undoubtedly some very deep levels of anger going on. The Pharisees have made that very clear.

There's also this overwhelming emotion that exists in all of it that appears to be the even-keel. It happens to be something that is just like a very normal, nominalized kind of approach that's coming from Jesus who is indeed the creator of the universe, who's holding fast everything. By the way, there is one dynamic that I should probably explain to you because this is really important.

This is not me capitalizing on an opportunity to address the multiple groups of people who ignorantly on a regular basis call for me to start lowering my voice and speak with a softer tone. I don't want to justify my position, but I'm just telling people, I just want to say this right now. People who tell me to use a lower voice, here's my thing: there are so many other people that you can listen to. I'm not changing.

Here's a thing that people have to understand with respect to that. In our culture where we were raised, in our background, in our world, when you communicate with authority, you speak strong. That's just the way it goes. I remember this one time. I still to this day it was one of the most hilarious moments I had ever had overseas. I'm in Morocco. We're in town.

We're having a conversation with this Islamic family who is very much engaging, and we are yelling at each other. It is a very loud yelling match between the two of us. It's a very aggressive conversation. And when I say yelling, this is American yelling. This isn't Middle Eastern yelling. If it's Middle Eastern yelling, it's deafening. This is just regular conversation for us.

And there's this missionary girl who was our mission secretary who had no awareness of our culture, no awareness of our people, no awareness of our background, and pulled me aside after that whole exchange and basically confronted me in front of the missionary who was there, who had been there for probably five years.

She confronted me and told me how I was a black eye in the name of Christ, that I put a black eye in Jesus's face. I nailed him back to the cross with my actions, that I was completely unreasonable and out of control, and that I probably was the worst witness of any American that any of these Muslims will ever see.

The missionary that was right there in probably one of the harshest rebukes that I'd ever seen—it was very enjoyable to actually watch—he tells this girl, "Here's the problem with arrogant women like you. You speak forward making statements like this. This is the problem with arrogant women like you. You choose not to allow yourself to understand our ways, our people, our culture, our background.

And then you allow your open bitterness towards another brother to influence your view on how effective or not effective he is, when in reality you should take a good look at what just happened there. Because I'm guessing within the next few months I'm going to lead that man to the Lord. And I promise you if I do, it will be because of what happened with James today."

But again, it speaks of our culture. We are a confrontational culture. This is the Middle East. This is what we do. It's how it works. We're a very confrontational culture. That's why people respected Pastor Jeff so much anytime he went to Israel. He was the white-hair, bearded guy that was about as American as you would get.

He would walk around the Middle East with surf clothes on, but many of the people over there respected him as an elder statesman. Why? Because he knew how to talk to them. He knew how to raise his voice. He knew how to be aggressive. He knew how to walk assertively, and he knew how to not take no for an answer.

At the time, the last time that he went to Israel, it may have been like his 55th or 56th time that he was over there. He gets the culture. He gets the background. So already, as it is, it's an uncomfortable situation. There's a lot of volume happening. There's a lot of back and forth. My guess is this is an extraordinarily difficult confrontation that's taking place between Jesus and these Pharisees.

He's literally telling these men in front of the whole world that they're all going to hell. Think about that for a second. That they're not going to be forgiven by God for what they're doing. It's not an easy situation. So you can't blame Mary for seeking Jesus out and saying, "Come over here. We need you." Look at this verse 32: "And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Light on the Hill. Pastor James Kaddis is our speaker, and we're currently looking at Mark 3. James has also written an in-depth book on the first half of Revelation called *The Last Book*. Get your copy today at lightonthehillradio.com. We'll return to our study in Mark now as James continues to teach on what constitutes a real family in God's eyes.

James Kaddis: So let me just say that one more time. He's in the midst of the crowd. My guess is at this point his brethren have already signaled for him. My guess is he's already noticed that they're looking for him. My guess is there's some awareness that he has of that very thing. And now it's to the point where the crowd is being put into use to pull Jesus out of the situation to go to his physical siblings and to his mother.

So it's obviously getting a bit tense. But look what happens. It's interesting. Jesus says this. Again, remember this, by the way, when I read this guys, okay, just remember this: this is like the woman, "Go get your husband." Watch this: "And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?" Can we just stop for one moment and pause?

I'm not even going to ask you to speak out loud and tell me this, but have you ever thought why Jesus would respond with a question like this? It's very puzzling. Why would Jesus respond by saying, "Who is my mother, my brethren?" Reading this in the Greek language will not give you a hint as to how Jesus said this. You're not going to understand it.

It's likely that the language Jesus spoke in at this point was Aramaic. I don't have even enough familiarity with the Aramaic language other than I can tell you Semitic languages all have certain commonalities that exist within them where you can guess on a very specific type of language structure that might happen. There may be only two or three different contexts in which he could say this.

But in my mind, I wish I could understand exactly how the imposition of this question was going. Because some people will read this and rightly assume that Jesus, imposing this question, was doing it in the form of that which is rhetorical, meaning Jesus is asking this question because he's seeking to make a statement. I don't think that's the case. I don't think that this question is a rhetorical question.

I actually think that this question was designed to invoke a certain level of thought in the people that are calling out for him. I think that this question goes far deeper than anything rhetorical in nature. I don't think Jesus is making a definitive statement here by asking this question. I think that Jesus is seeking to cause the people that are hearing the question to think about that statement.

You see, you associate these people that are my flesh and blood as my family, when in reality you're making the wrong association and you're asking the wrong question. Jesus is redirecting the issue. Jesus wants them to understand that the work of his heavenly father is the one that actually takes precedent more than any other work, more than any other desire, more than any other need.

Jesus is already driving us down the path of the discussion of obedience. I'm going to get into why he asks this question this way in just a second. But the one thing that I want to make clear is that if you spend time thinking about why Jesus would ask this question, you'll begin to realize very quickly that Jesus is questioning what the people perceive as being the authority that would drive him away from the moment or the circumstance that he's in.

Jesus is basically making it very, very clear that the thing that causes him to stay in the moment that he's in, especially in that situation, has nothing to do with his blood relatives. It has everything to do with his allegiance to the Father that he co-rules with. The picture here is my focus on what I'm doing right now carries a deeper bond than anything that you might find in the natural world with respect to family.

My obedience to God is me dealing with the fire instead of my submissiveness to the family structure, which would be straightening out the picture. Are you guys following me here? This is important because something bigger comes into play. By the way, let me just make this one statement before we read the next verse. This in no way is a passage that teaches you how to be belligerent.

This in no way is a passage that discourages you from developing relationships with your blood family. As a matter of fact, there are passages in the Bible that very effectively argue that if you don't take care of your family, you're worse than an infidel. So this is not a term that's being thrown out to redefine family, as many cult leaders might do. There's a lot of people that will play on this and will create these cult-like families based on this passage when this passage doesn't even have anything to do with that.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today for Light on the Hill. What you just heard is one part of a study in Mark's gospel from Pastor James Kaddis. You can hear it again at lightonthehillradio.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Not long ago, Pastor James released his new book on the first half of Revelation. It's entitled *The Last Book*.

He points out that Revelation isn't a book of fear, but rather a book of hope. Pastor James will help you understand the world we live in and current events through a biblical lens, preparing your heart for what lies ahead. Get a copy by going to lightonthehillradio.com or through Amazon. Tomorrow is the 4th of July, commonly known as Independence Day. I thought it would be great for you to close today's program in prayer for our nation.

James Kaddis: Father in Heaven, we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us, Lord, for the gift of our country. We thank you, Father, for the fact that we've been given this incredible document that was inspired by you to be able to govern our land. And we thank you that that document is based on the final court of arbitration, which is your word.

I pray, God, that our nation would come back to a place of seeking you, always putting you first. We pray, God, that you would remove these evil, wicked rulers from amongst us. We pray, God, for our dear president, that you would protect him, Lord. We pray that you would heal our nation and that, Lord, you would bring into fruition all that you will, that this great republic would be saved. We thank you, Lord, and we love you, and we look to you, and we ask these things in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): Amen. Now let's return to Mark chapter 3 for the rest of today's message: Who's Your Real Family?

James Kaddis: Look what it goes on to say: "And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother." Do you want to picture, develop a picture of what's happening here when Jesus says what he's saying? It's really important.

You guys cannot lose sight of this. He asks the question: who are they? You're saying my mom and my brethren are calling me. Who's my mother, who's my brethren? And then he points around and he looks at all the people that are sitting with him, seeking to learn about the kingdom of God, and he makes this statement. He says: "For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother."

He's very likely communicating several principles here, right? The first thing that he's probably communicating is something that I know hit the heart of at least one of his brothers, and that would be James. My guess is James was there when this situation happened. And the only reason why I can guess that James was there when the situation happened was because of what we read about James in the book of Acts and what we read about James especially in the letter that he writes to the Hebrew church.

There's a principle that directly ties to what we're reading here that I am guessing James took very, very deep root into. That's the first thing. The second thing that I want everybody to understand here—and this is critical—Jesus is speaking about obedience. Jesus is speaking about the forfeiture of your own will for the purpose of embracing the will of the Father.

Jesus is saying here that obedience to the Father is the most important aspect of anything that we're going to do in this life. That if we're going to allow something to bring a bond within us, if there's going to be something that allows a common bond to exist, it's going to be understanding the will of the Father.

Let me go back and say this, because this is where it gets difficult for some people: this isn't Jesus redefining family, okay? That's not what he's doing here. This is Jesus explaining the fact that doing the will of his Heavenly Father is more important than doing the will of his family. This is Jesus saying that doing the will of his Heavenly Father is more important than the components that would traditionally be tied to the family that would pull a person away from their calling or their purposes. Remember, you are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.