Matthew 12:47

47 So one of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."

Matthew 12:47 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 12:47

Then one said unto him
Either one of his auditors, or, as the Ethiopic version has it, one "of his disciples": the other evangelists intimate, that more than one acquainted him with it; which is easily reconciled: for, upon his mother and brethren calling to him, as Mark says they did; first one and then another, and more, might apprise him of it, and especially as he did not immediately go out unto them.

Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak
with thee:
whether this message was carried at the request of the mother and brethren of Christ, and delivered in a simple manner, and with an honest intention; or whether it was officiously done, and with a design to interrupt him, and to try him, whether he would prefer his natural relations, and their society and conversation, to the spiritual work in which he was engaged, in doing good to the souls of men, is not certain; the latter seems probable, from the following words, and conduct of Christ. Some copies read, "desiring to see thee".

Matthew 12:47 In-Context

45 Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day."

46 Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him.

47 So one of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."

48 Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers!

Footnotes

• [a]. [Some manuscripts do not have verse 47.]