Mark 3:32
- Jesus’ earthly adoptive father Joseph had probably been dead for some time, at least he is not mentioned in the New Testament after Jesus has turned twelve.
- Jesus had brothers and sisters in Nazareth (Mark 6:2-3).
Mark 3:28
- If Jesus had not said this, there would have been a danger that there might have been a cult around Jesus’ earthly relatives, or that someone might have taken it into his head, for example, to exalt Jesus’ mother Mary in an improper way.
- Jesus shows here that he does not belong first and foremost to his own family, but that he is the saviour of the whole world.
- One is not born to belong to Jesus, but it is a personal decision.