"While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I come from a strong family and that passage always bothered me. I've got a good mom and a good dad and I've got two kids of my own. Family is very important to me, but as we get closer to this Mother's Day, I'm thinking of some of my friends who really, really struggle with this holiday who probably won't tune into church this Sunday because they think that the message will be about Mother's Day.
I'm thinking of one friend in particular that just didn't have the best upbringing and doesn't have the best story. I also have another friend who suffered over 12 miscarriages while another friend of mine recently lost their mother. I'm thinking of my own mother who lost her mother back in September and even though my grandma was 101 years old, that still does not remove or take away the sting from the grief that we've felt. If anything, it makes it worse.
However, one of the things that Jesus did was he turned everything upside down. You want to be the greatest, you gotta be a slave. It's those who mourn who are the blessed ones and who are my mother and my brothers. Those who love me, who obey my commands, they are my mother and brothers. What I've come to learn in my 45 years on this planet is that empty wounds should never mean empty arms. An empty nest should never mean an empty table because the blood of Christ is stronger than our DNA. The family we have on Earth is really just a shadow, a foreshadowing, pointing to the true and better family we already have in Christ.
Matthew 12:46-50 says:
"While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I come from a strong family and that passage always bothered me. I've got a good mom and a good dad and I've got two kids of my own. Family is very important to me, but as we get closer to this Mother's Day, I'm thinking of some of my friends who really, really struggle with this holiday who probably won't tune into church this Sunday because they think that the message will be about Mother's Day.
I'm thinking of one friend in particular that just didn't have the best upbringing and doesn't have the best story. I also have another friend who suffered over 12 miscarriages while another friend of mine recently lost their mother. I'm thinking of my own mother who lost her mother back in September and even though my grandma was 101 years old, that still does not remove or take away the sting from the grief that we've felt. If anything, it makes it worse.
However, one of the things that Jesus did was he turned everything upside down. You want to be the greatest, you gotta be a slave. It's those who mourn who are the blessed ones and who are my mother and my brothers. Those who love me, who obey my commands, they are my mother and brothers. What I've come to learn in my 45 years on this planet is that empty wounds should never mean empty arms. An empty nest should never mean an empty table because the blood of Christ is stronger than our DNA. The family we have on Earth is really just a shadow, a foreshadowing, pointing to the true and better family we already have in Christ.
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