Family

Matthew 12:46-50 - While he was speaking to the crowd, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside asking to speak with him. But he replied to the man who told him, "Who are my mother and my brothers? The stretching his hand toward his disciples he said, "These are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father are my brother, and my sister, and my mother."

In Jesus' day in Israel the family was one's main source of meaning, support and survival. Only women changed families and only when they married. Ideally, anyway. This is important to recognize about this passage. Jesus' words here get watered down if one does not recognize the extreme importance of family and allegiance to it. In fact, if Joseph had already died, then Jesus would have been the head of the family. Knowing this, it is no surprise that his family shows up wanting to talk with him. He has not been carrying out his familial duties.

This is therefore, a radical statement to make in Ancient Israel - those who do the will of my Father are my family. When they (and we!) do the will of our Father we are Jesus' family too. He is our brother. This is meant to be an intimate association - as the use of familial language for their community highlights. He is creating a new kind of community - a new way of being in the world that rejects both the Jewish tradition and the Roman society in which he lived. This is one of the many radical statements he made.

So, what does this mean for us? We are very centered on the nuclear family today - which is organized differently and yet the power of the paternal and maternal tie (the myth of that power I should say) is strong. If our family was a good one and we grew up feeling loved - this would be a hard lesson, a hard thing to contemplate. The idea that we need to love God more than our families rather than showing our love of God through our love of families is still anathema to many. It is hard to walk away from one's family.

Yet, if one's family was not loving or was actually abusive, these are words of liberation. We can set out to find others who will do the will of our Father by loving others as much as they love God and themselves.
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