Family tensions – Jesus knew it firsthand.
‘I have come to bring division.’ Luke 12:51
Love and care within a family is vital. Think of how many times that theme is explored in movies or stories. As we all know, we don’t always get it right in our families. Jesus experienced that as well. In Mark 3:21 his family want to restrain him and stop him preaching, teaching and healing. They were listening to the people around saying he was mad, or worse still, he was controlled by an evil spirit. Jesus rejected their attempt to constrain him. “Who are my mother and my brothers? Those who her the word of God and keep it.”
For Jesus, family meant being true to his heavenly Father, at the cost of getting on well with his mother and brothers and just doing what they wanted for him. For Jesus there was the deeper call – to go to the cross, and to give his life up as a sacrifice that takes away our sin. There may be times in our own lives when being true to who we are in Christ means that we can’t or won’t do exactly what our family demands or wants from us. The faithful, deep work of Jesus who went to the cross for us brings us into a new family – the family of God.
His own family had to learn to see him differently. They had to learn that he wasn’t just their son or brother – he was also the Son of God. There are times in our own families when we learn to see our family members differently. Perhaps they have outgrown our ideas of who they are and what they can or can’t do, and we need to relate to them in a new way that accepts the change or maturity in them. Perhaps we need to learn to say no when it is needed, and not feel so bad. Perhaps we need to actually listen, rather than jump straight in with a solution or judgement. Showing that we have heard and understood the other person by telling them back what we have heard them say and why will allow the conversation to move forward in a more helpful way.
Jesus’ family did learn to love him and trust that he really was from God. Acts 1:14 tells us that they were with the disciples and other believers, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Thye had learned to hear the word of God and keep it, by trusting that Jesus truly was their Saviour.
