Family ties

Matthew 12: 46 - 50

Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

Family relationships....how beautiful or broken they can be and how much they continue to affect us throughout our lives. Some have been blessed with healthy family relationships. For others, families were dysfunctional and we may spend much of our adult life dealing with old wounds. Yet we are comforted because we trust that the Lord works together with us to 'redeem' those parts of our lives that have not yet been illuminated by his healing light.

At the same time, our relationship with Jesus places us in a different 'family', a spiritual family. Jesus points to his disciples as he makes the above statement. They are the ones who have expressed commitment to him, who have been at his side throughout his ministry. I place myself in the scene. Do I find myself standing among them? Or am I a little further away, with the 'crowd'? Well, I do want to believe that I have heard his invitation and have responded to the call of discipleship. How amazing that Jesus points to me and those who are also standing near him and calls us his family members! What a wonderful sense of being included in a family relationship that crosses all boundaries and barriers. There are many who are not able to feel fully at home with their natural families, whether or not they were truly dysfunctional. But Jesus has come to call us into a new family relationship, one that unites us to him. This is the gift of having entered the kingdom of God. But as usual, Jesus points to a certain 'standard' that will demonstrate that one has truly entered the kingdom. It is not a condition for entry but a consequence of it. All members of Jesus' spiritual family ....do the will of the Father in heaven. A privilege comes with a responsibility. Even in a natural family, healthy ties are maintained only if each person carries out his or her responsibility. In our spiritual family, bonds are made concrete when we obey our Father in heaven by doing his will. In our own strength this will be difficult, given our natural tendency to rebel. But as Jesus called his first disciples and they remained with him, so those of us who remain in close communion with him will enjoy the privilege and be empowered to carry out the responsibility of our spiritual family.