After being called demon possessed and crazy Jesus takes a step further and says that family relationships are not as important as a relationship with the God he is revealing. He throws this out in a society that takes great pride in their lineage. The leaders even more than others could look back on their heritage with pride and establish their legitimacy.
Jesus once again makes upsetting statements about those who do God’s will are in a much more important family, a family that is much more real and healing than the ones we came from.
In my growing up I was many times encouraged to uphold my lineage. There were many admonitions to not let down the family. That request, which came almost as a command, was fraught with chances to control others into submission through guilt. “Live up to the family name!” It also was fraught with guilt and shame when we didn’t. So we learned to lie in service of the family name.
In the family Jesus is referring to, we are called to love and serve each other. We are not called to elevate ourselves, to look with down at others with a sense of pride that we are more special than others, based solely on what freak of chance deposited one in a specific collection of relatives.
We are accepted into a family that is rooted in love. It isn’t perfect, but hopefully in this new family arrangement we are able to admit our imperfections, to love and receive love and walk together in our humanness.
Prayer: Help me to understand my true lineage. Help me not to get too hung up on family stuff here, but to focus on my true family and my true home.
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