“Blood is thicker than water” is a proverb which means that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. The oldest record of this saying can be traced back to the 12th century in German, and in general, this is true. The family unit is by God’s design the most basic unit for support and discipline. And, to the shame of much of our world that no longer values and honors the family unit, the acknowledgment of this design of God’s is called by St. Paul in Ephesians the first commandment with promise, that is the 4th commandment, which says, “Honor your father and your mother that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.” In your blood family, you learn discipline, obedience, respectful ways to interact before entering the world in adulthood; from siblings, you have your first, “neighbors” if you will. You learn the blessings of yielding love toward your neighbor, whether it be tough love or gentle, while also learning the consequences of prideful and selfish living. And finally, when you leave the household of father and mother, brother and sister, you may be in a new system of society. You may  have even established a household of your own, but you never forget the bond of blood, the proto community that you grew up in at home. Blood is thicker than water, mom and dad are perhaps the best authorities you know, brother and sister, no matter how annoying, may always be your first friends and neighbors to have each other’s back.

Today, we will acknowledge the blessings of the connection of blood, but we will also learn of a greater connection. A connection with father, mother, brother, and sister of a different kind. This is the connection of faith, faith in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus clearly points out who His brothers and sisters really are, and who His mother really is, namely those who believe in Him and by this faith follow Him. He points out that those people who do the will of His Father, the will and desire that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth by believing in Jesus, are Jesus’ family. This faith family will last forever, and this faith family provides benefits far more powerful than water, and even that of blood. So today, let us evaluate our theme: “Faith is thicker than blood.”

(We pray…)

There are many ways we can breakdown this theme. For clarity and convenience, I will provide you with two ways: Faith is thicker than blood in the areas of benefactors and beneficiaries

There are so many that honor the tie of blood and family in the lower sphere of blood, and yet fail to honor it in the higher sphere of faith. There is a call from God’s Word for every believer to set the spiritual tie above every other tie when considering the best Brother they ever had. This Brother, Jesus Christ, implores us not to love wife, child, or sibling more than Him, for He says in Matthew 10:37, “He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” You may love your blood bond, and that is commanded by God for you to do so, but the bond of faith must come first. Living your faith by following God’s will must always come first, even if it means giving mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter the cold, hard truth. That bond of faith is so much stronger, better, and dire than that of blood. And so, if they are sinning, let them hear it, and if they are hurting, let them hear Christ.

But let’s be honest, how many times have we failed to do that? I know I’ve failed to tell those of the household of faith what they needed to hear. I know there are times where we’d rather not talk about our faith with family, or we’d rather spend time at home than reach out to the members of the household of faith who are struggling in their faith. Are we then, who put blood before faith, worthy of Jesus?

Though we have acted unworthy of Jesus. Though He should not motion to us as His family. Though we in no wise deserved to be part of the bond of faith, Jesus did something magnificent. We sing of it in hymn 387 verse 6 (The Lutheran Hymnal 1941), “The Son obeyed the Father’s will, was born of virgin mother, and God’s good pleasure to fulfill, He came to be my Brother. No garb of pomp or power He wore, a servant’s form, like mine, He bore, to lead the devil captive.” Though you have fallen in sin, Jesus came to be your Brother. Whatever the nicest thing your earthly brother has done for you, I’m sorry, but that’s a consolation prize compared to what Jesus has done for you as your Brother. This Brother took upon Himself the agony of hell to make you part of the family of faith. Not only for you, but He died for all people. He has died for your blood family and beyond. And so, here is another way in which faith is thicker than blood: by the benefactors. In this bond, you have a Brother who literally saved you from hell. This is the Brother, the Son of God who took on human flesh, who created the greatest familial bond imaginable. This is the brother who, when approached by His blood family, said to the multitudes that His familial love extended beyond Mary and His brothers, to all people, in fact. This is the Brother who paid His innocent life to adopt you into your loving Father’s care.

And here’s another great benefactor: Your Heavenly Father. This Father is better than your earthly father, for He is the one that gave your blood family to begin with. He is the one who sent Jesus into this world to redeem you a lost and condemned person. He is the one of which Jesus says, “Whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven, He is my mother, brother, and sister.” The will of the Father includes loving our neighbor and loving Him, all beginning with the 1st command: fearing, loving, and trusting Him above all things. Although we have not done this, it was also God’s will to send His Son to save you and to send His Holy Spirit through His Word and Sacrament to give you the gift of faith, to trust in Jesus to forgive you. Doing the Father’s will is nothing else than in repentance receiving the free gift of grace of sins forgiven through Jesus, and receiving this through His free gift of faith instilled by the Holy Spirit through His Word. Now, the Father of Christ is your Father by adoption. He is the greatest protector, and He is so toward us, who are of the bond of faith. He can be approached in prayer, for the Heavenly Father, who is holy, will give us all manner of good when we come to Him in prayer. And, unlike the fathers of this world who make mistakes even when they try their best to good by their families, God the Father always does good by us, who have been adopted into the house of faith.

And so, seeing our benefactors, our Father and Brother at work in the Heavenly family of faith, let’s survey the scene of our text to see how many beneficiaries there are and how much stronger the bond of faith is as we see Jesus make such a profound statement regarding His own blood family. When it comes to the bond of blood, there’s nothing like the type of concern that family has for each other when one of their own goes astray. Though the approach of the family is not perfect, some enabling the wayward one, some having no empathy for them, some giving bad, inexperienced advice, and others acting apathetic, despite all this, at times there comes a time of intervention, if and when the family musters up the courage to do so. Here we see it with Jesus’ own family. Here we see Mary and her children coming to speak with Jesus while He is preaching to the multitudes. The people notice this as a strange thing to be happening, as indicated by their “Behold!” ‘What are they doing here?’ They stood outside the crowd, wishing to speak with Jesus as a family unit. As the Jewish leaders hate for the Preacher of the Truth grew, so the fear of Mary and Jesus’ brothers did. Perhaps this was an intervention, and it came from a well-meant place. “Jesus, please stop! You’re going to end up hurt, or even worse, killed!” Little did they know at this time that that was the plan.

This intervention brought on by the connection of blood, though coming from a place of concern, still gave way to an even greater concern expressed by another connection—that of faith. Jesus didn’t give way to blood, but He kept preaching. To the family of faith, He was calling them to repentance, and He did this out of concern for their way.  I’m sure Jesus was concerned about His family, but His family weren’t the only beneficiaries of His familial love. No, that extends to all in the household of faith.

We learn this from His response to a casual question. A man from the crowd sees that the family can’t reach Jesus due to the crowd, and that Jesus can’t see His family members. He simply tries to do them a service by making Jesus aware of the request. “Oh, Jesus, your mother and brothers are here!” But this man, in trying to provide a simple service to Jesus, receives an even greater service for himself through a teaching moment. He is taught by this question, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Jesus fixed the man’s thoughts on something greater. Not only he, but after speaking out loud, now the whole crowd is thinking, “who is Jesus’ mother, and who are His brothers?” Jesus takes the crowd from beyond the ties of blood to something greater, and He does the same with you today. “Who is Jesus’ mother?” Let this question blow away any deifying of the mother Mary. This goes beyond blood, this connection of faith. “Who are Jesus’ brothers?”

To answer the question, and by doing so demonstrate to you just how much thicker faith is than blood, I will do the same thing that Jesus did to answer the question: (motion to the crowd) these are my mother and my brothers. Jesus did this with His disciples, His followers driven by saving faith. There is no blood connection here, but one by faith in the same saving source—Jesus Christ our Lord. That must have been so relieving for the disciples when Jesus motioned that way, and it will be so for us when He returns to sort wheat and tares, sheep and goats, believers and unbelievers. By the grace of God, when this happens, Jesus will motion to us, the family of saving faith, and say, “these are my sisters and brothers.” There is nothing stronger than that. The love of the soul for Christ is to be fairer, purer, higher, stronger, deeper, more intense, lasting and holier than any natural brother’s, sister’s, or mother’s love ever was. Faith is thicker than blood considering how many beneficiaries there are, and the type of bond they have.

In conclusion, I don’t want you to go away thinking that I don’t value the bond of blood. Mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter are all tremendous blessings, but they come to us first and foremost by our Heavenly Father. He is our Father by faith in Jesus Christ. He is the Father who loves you more than any father and mother can, and He has been made so by Jesus, your Brother, who has provided a love that no brother or sister can ever replicate. All those under their care, the household of faith, are many more than your family, and they all have a bond that surpasses nature and nurture, they have the bond of faith in God and love towards one another, and all this is cultivated by the Holy Spirit. I pray that your blood family all know their Heavenly Father and Savior Brother, and by the Sprit all become part of that greater household of faith, the household which Jesus shall motion to on that last day to say, “These are my mother, brothers, and sisters.” May the Father who loves you, the Son who saved you, and the Spirit of adoption who calls you by the Gospel give you peace unto the day we all unite as a glorified household of faith in Heaven. Amen.