Mark 3:20-35
Family. We all have one. Some are loving, some are odd, some are dysfunctional, some are abusive, and some are a combination of all those things and more. If nothing else, families are complicated. And as we find ourselves right in between our cultural celebration of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and all the sentimental ideals that those holidays promote, the gospel of Mark provides us with a glimpse of a particular family and their dynamics - Jesus’ family, often referred to as the Holy Family. Now with such a title, who could blame us for assuming that Jesus’ family would be wholly perfect - always serene, supportive, understanding, and patient. But if that’s what we think we would be mistaken.
After going about healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching the gospel, Jesus comes home. But the reception is not warm. He is not behaving in the way many would expect. People are talking. Rumors are flying. “That Jesus,” they say, “he’s out of his mind.” And his family is concerned. But they aren’t the only ones. Religious authorities from Jerusalem are also up in arms about Jesus claiming that what he is doing comes straight from the devil himself.
So his family comes to restrain him. Maybe thinking that they will save him? Maybe they are just trying to salvage the family reputation? Who knows. Nonetheless, they go and call for him. And word is passed to Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.” But Jesus doesn’t go to them. Instead he stays and asks, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then looking at those around him, he answers his own question, “Here are my mother and my brothers!”
Ouch! That must have stung - at least for his mother and blood siblings. But for those beyond that small, closed group it probably sounded like very good news. Outsiders are now in. It’s not that Jesus is rejecting his own family of origin, he’s broadening it. Enlarging the circle of who family is. “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother,” he says. Without shutting anyone out Jesus expands who belongs, who matters, who is connected. And in doing so he pushes the boundaries so far out that everyone’s expectations about how things should be are shattered.
That is really at the heart of all this
turmoil. Family, friends, and authorities, they all have their own ideas about
where lines should be drawn. What’s right and what’s wrong, what’s acceptable
and what’s not. When it comes to Jesus the expectations are along the lines of
traditional son, good hometown boy, obedient Jew. But Jesus is not having it.
That’s not why Jesus came. He’s not here to fulfill anyone’s vision of how he
should be - not theirs, not even ours. Rather he comes to give us a new
vision, God’s vision of life as we were created to live it.
Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. Now some may hear this as a way to earn entrance into Jesus’ family. As in, if I do the right things, the things that are deemed the will of God then, when I do them, I will be accepted, I will belong, I will have value. But nothing could be further from the truth. We don’t earn our way into God’s good graces no matter how good we are. God’s grace, God’s love, God’s acceptance is generous and it is free. Which explains why Jesus calls those around him his family, his brothers and mother. They aren’t doing anything special to earn that status. All they’re doing is sitting with Jesus and being present to love.
Because it always comes down to love. That’s the will of God - love - encountering it, recognizing it, sharing it. God is the source of all love - everything and everyone begins from there. But Jesus’ call to do the will of God is not just to feel the love and remain seated. Because if that’s all we do we miss out. In order to experience God’s love most fully and connect with that love most deeply we must give it away. For as we love in ways that enable others to know and feel that they too are loved, everyone wins. We all thrive. No one is left out. Together we are family. Connected in love. That is God’s vision for us all.
God’s love makes us all more. It expands who we are. Although sometimes that expanding can make us uncomfortable. It certainly made Jesus’ family, friends, and religious authorities uncomfortable - and, really, we are no different than they are. Because God’s love is so vast, so broad, so all encompassing, of course our limits will bump up against the limitless love of God and push us. So the next time you are feeling uncomfortable because something or someone seems a bit out of bounds, before you dismiss it out of hand, consider it as an opportunity to get curious about how you might expand your generosity of being. How might the situation be calling you to be more gracious, more forgiving, more understanding? Is your circle of care growing? Is your family getting bigger? That’s what doing God’s will is all about.
Jesus’ family is an open one. And because that is so, because we are all included it means that, guaranteed, it will be complicated. Even the holiest of families has its challenges.But Jesus will have it no other way. Regardless of the state of your earthly family, God’s family is where all of us belong, all of us matter, all of us are truly loved.
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