Note 1 at Mt. 13:1: Matthew very plainly states that Jesus' parables recorded here were spoken the same day Jesus' mother and brothers came seeking Him. Luke also infers that these two events happened on the same day (Lk. 8:19). However, Matthew and Mark record Jesus' family coming to Him first and then the teaching by parables (Mt. 12:46-13:1; Mk. 3:31-4:2), while Luke lists them in the opposite order (Lk. 8:4-19).

None of the gospel writers stated that one event definitely happened before the other. They only got as specific as saying that they happened on the same day. At most, any differences could only be just a couple of hours. Therefore, any differences in recording such a busy day's events would simply be a matter of style and not of accuracy. With this in mind, Jesus' family seeking Him has been recorded in the sequence Luke listed, to be consistent with the view that Luke was the historian among the gospel writers and put the events in chronological order (see Introduction to the Gospel of Luke, p. xvii).