For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother: - q.d., 'There stand here the members of a family transcending and surviving this of earth: Filial subjection to the will of my Father in heaven is the indissoluble bond of union between Me and all its members; and whosoever enters this hallowed circle becomes to Me brother, and sister, and mother!'
Remarks:
(1) What strange revelations will the day of judgment make, particularly as to the relative character of some (1) What strange revelations will the day of judgment make, particularly as to the relative character of some of the most, and some of the least, favoured of the human family! (Matthew 12:41-42.) Verily "the last shall be first, and the first last."
(2) When the demands of even the nearest and dearest relatives, urging on us only that attention to our personal interests or comforts which in other circumstances would be natural and proper, are seen to interfere with some present work of God, let the spirit of our Lord's example here be our guiding principle, rather than the suggestions of nature.
(3) How glorious is the thought that there is a family even upon earth of which the Son of God holds Himself a part; a family, the loving bond and reigning principle of which is subjection to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and so embracing high and low, rude and refined, bond and free, of every kindred and every age that have tasted that the Lord is gracious; a family whose members can at once understand each other and take sweetest counsel together, though meeting for the first time from the ends of the earth-while with their nearest relatives, who are but children of this world, they have no sympathy in such things; a family which death cannot break up, but only transfer to their Father's house! Did Christians but habitually realize and act upon this, as did their blessed Master, what would be the effect upon the Church and upon the world?