Luke 8:19

‘And there came to him his mother and brethren, and they could not come at him for the crowd.’

Mark 3:21 tells us that they came because they thought that He was ‘beside Himself’. Luke leaves that fact to be inferred. He had had much to do with Jesus’ mother and therefore was sympathetic in His treatment of her. However the tale had to be told. And he does make it clear that they had not come to join the crowd in order to hear Him. Rather they wanted to ‘come at Him’. Their purpose was not to approach Him in the cause of the Kingly Rule of God, but rather as basically agreeing with the people of His home town in their negative verdict against Him (Luke 4:28-30).