"Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
Mark 3:34-35
For some time I have felt that Jesus wasn't so much dissing his blood relatives in this passage (although it sounds kinda like it, doesn't it?) as he was making his "family" bigger. Jesus was inclusive all through his ministry. He included those whom his culture and society purposefully excluded. He went out of his way to be inclusive, even rendering himself "unclean" by touching a leper. Family ties were blurry to Jesus as shown in this passage and that should excite us. I think what Jesus is showing us here is that we are all "family" together...the family of humankind. We are all brothers and sisters and our responsibilities to our wider family are bigger than just taking care of our kinfolk. Jesus says that "whoever does the will of God" is family to him. He explained that the will of God is loving and caring for our neighbor, which involves much more than just showing up for the family Thanksgiving dinner! Jesus wasn't diminishing his blood relations in this passage as much as he was elevating everyone else to the position of his family--his loved ones. How can we manifest that in our world on a January Tuesday? Love, heidi
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