FOR many centuries devotion of religious groups has been directed toward the unique family of three who, in the first year of Christianity, came out of Bethlehem of Judea, traveled into Egypt at the direction of an angel, and later settled in Nazareth. This family was composed of the newborn babe Jesus, Mary his mother, and Joseph of Nazareth. Old Testament prophecy had foretold the appearing of the immaculate Jesus as a man sent from God, and the aura of the Son of the Most High enveloped him even before his birth.
As the Bible student follows the sacred career of Jesus, he becomes aware that the great Way-shower had much to say about his family. The first recorded pronouncement he made along this line was when he was twelve years old and had lingered in Jerusalem. Finding him in the temple, Mary rebuked him for a lack of filial obedience, and he replied that he must be attending to his Father's business, referring to God as his Parent.
As time went on he often spoke, not of his connection with the material household of Nazareth but of his divine relationship with God, the Father of all. Once in the synagogue the people questioned his divine authority because they knew his human relatives. On another occasion he stated that whoever did the will of his Father in heaven was his brother and sister and mother.
