When Jesus was told upon one occasion that his mother and his brethren "stood without, desiring to speak, with him," it is recorded in Matthew's Gospel that he asked, "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?" The record continues: "And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." It is evident that the Master sought at this time to impress his hearers with a broader concept of family and relationship than that which is usually entertained. That Jesus did not, however, disregard a right sense of filial devotion is indicated by the fact that at the time of the crucifixion he commended his mother to the care of his beloved disciple. (See John 19:25–27.)
A restricted concept of family, which includes only those who are sometimes referred to as "near relations," and which is often accompanied by a false sense of responsibility, may become very burdensome and hampering to those who entertain it. On the other hand, a more universal concept of family and relationship tends to freedom and right action. The prophet Malachi asked these questions: "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?" And on pages 576 and 577 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writing of a finite concept of God, says: "This human sense of Deity yields to the divine sense, even as the material sense of personality yields to the incorporeal sense of God and man as the infinite Principle and infinite idea,—as one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love."
The foregoing quotation from the Christian Science textbook indicates that, according to the teachings of Christian Science, the only real family consists of the universal fatherhood and motherhood of God, expressed in and through the universal brotherhood of man. In this right relationship there is nothing to prevent the expression of complete harmony. In it there is no room for misunderstanding, contention, or strife. In it there is no place for an erroneous sense of responsibility, nor for a mistaken, limited, fearful sense of dependence. God, the loving Father-Mother of all, sustains, directs, and amply provides for His children—His perfect spiritual ideas.
