I HAVE A NEW FAMILY
Jesus could be downright rude.
When He was told that his Mom and his brothers had come to see him while he was
teaching a crowd of his followers, he certainly offended them when he asked the
crowd: ‘Who are my mother and my
brothers?’ Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, ‘Here
are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister
and mother.’ (Mark 3:31-34)
Jesus’ birth family had planned an intervention. In their minds, the family’s oldest son was clearly delusional: When Jesus’ family heard about [all that he was doing], they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind”. . . (Mark 3:21) Their big brother had gone crazy. He needed to be rescued for the sake of himself and the family’s honor.
In the ancient Mediterranean
world
the
individual draws his honor from the group, and likewise, has the potential of
dishonoring his family. How Jesus fares reflects on his family as a whole. . .
If Jesus had permitted them to take control of him, he would have given into
their agenda for the sake of family peace. . . . Jesus rebuffs his family by
referring to a higher standard than family, to a different kind of family, a
new community.”
Jesus did not bow to their
will. This encounter shows that Jesus was advocating a new priority for his
followers—faith family takes precedence over blood family.
Jesus was not a
cult leader who wanted to cut his followers off from their families so he could
control them. Jesus still believed that we should care for our relatives. When he
was hanging from the cross and noticed his mother and the Apostle John standing
there, he told his Mom: Dear woman, here
is your son. And to John he said, Here
is your mother. Though our faith family should be our first priority, we
can’t ignore the needs of our biological family as well.
How do we live out this truth
in practice? Who receives the bulk of your hospitality? Who do you vacation
with? Who do you spend your holidays with? A simple way to begin living out
this priority is to include people from your faith community when you celebrate
a holiday or go on a vacation. Everyone will be enriched by the experience.
