GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 3:35
The Test
The Illinois Secretary of State publishes a book titled Illinois Rules of the Road for anyone who wishes to take their driver’s license test. Therefore, I secured the 1957 version of the book to begin studying for the driver’s test. The current edition of the book covers 117 pages; I don’t remember the book being that long. At the end of every chapter of the current book, there is a series of questions, which may appear on the driver’s test. I studied the book, and on Monday, February 10, 1958, my mother took me to the DMV office in Granite City, Illinois. In addition to the written test, there was a vision test. The final segment of the test involved driving with an agent in the car. Sitting in the passenger seat with his clipboard, he noted every maneuver I made. (He didn’t fasten his seat belt because in 1958, cars didn’t have seatbelts.) When we arrived back at the DMV office, he asked me some questions, and pointed out that I always needed to check carefully for oncoming traffic before pulling away from the curb. He told me that I had passed the test and would receive my license through the mail, giving me a temporary license.
St. Mark described the scene, likely in Capernaum, where Jesus was surrounded by a crowd so large that when his family came to take him away from the demanding work and danger, they could not get near him, so they sent him a message. Receiving their message, Jesus looked at the crowd circled around him and rhetorically asked, “Who are my mother and my brothers.” It’s easy to imagine Jesus pondering his own question, perhaps stroking his chin in thought. And finally, he said, “For whoever does the will of God, this is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35)
Jesus’ qualifying test, while not nearly as long as Illinois Rules of the Road, is nonetheless profound and life-altering. “Doing the will of God” is not a spur-of-the-moment, one-size-fits-all test. It’s a lifetime challenge. Not a one-time quiz, but a lifetime decision. The “pass” is not given at the beginning of the journey, but at the end.
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