Mark 3.20-35- Who is my mother or brother
Jesus said some amazing things when he was on earth. Some of them inspired, and drew 100s and 1000s of people to come and to hear him speak hope, for many of the people living in those regions then, living under Roman oppression and tussled between different factions of religious expectations, had no hope at all. Then, at other times, the things Jesus said prompted alarm and concern.
He was truly an inspiring and shocking figure, the kind of person we might find magnetic, and yet difficult to be with in equal measure. He never quite fitted anyone’s expectations. He never seemed to care about those expectations either. He did exactly what he saw his Heavenly parent doing, and that didn’t always please everyone around him.
People labelled him, and tried to categorise him to try and understand his outlook. They didn’t succeed. They even called him mad, as a way to not have to listen to him anymore. But he had inspired hope in too many people for that to succeed.
I wonder what kind of person you would have been if you had been there? Would you be one of those spell-bound, listening to every word, finding something new and fresh to help sustain your daily life? Or would you be one of those feeling the need to dismiss him as a crank, his words too uncouth to inspire hope, and his actions too surprising to bring joy for you.
However you may think of Jesus yourself, spare a thought for his earthly family. They had the social responsibility of responding to any complaint about one of their own if it occurred. And here, it has occurred.
I have to admit I used to live in anxiety that I might one day have to answer for my own children’s actions from someone arriving on my doorstep about something. Maybe a window broken by a wayward football, or a crash of their bike with a passer-by. If anything happened it would be up to the parents to smooth the trouble. I’m sure many of us may have experienced a similar anxiety. Thankfully, dwelling in the forests of St Martins as we do, we don’t worry about that so much these days.
But it is exactly that that Jesus’ family members were doing when they came to see him. They were asking themselves what trouble had happened and they felt anxious about making things socially peaceful again. Being this side of history and part of a well established organised religion, we do not get just how subjective the convictions of Jesus must have been like for his other family members. Jesus’ sense of his own truth must have seemed totally wayward and off to his brothers and possibly even his mother. It’s something I find occurring time and time again as I listen to transgender youths struggling for acceptance from their families, and the similarities in experience are, I think, quite striking. Although we don’t know what happened next with Jesus’ family, we do know that Jesus turned it into an opportunity to teach and inspire his listeners further.
He said, we are his family if we are doing the will of God.undefined
‘Wow! To be part of God’s family, that’s great isn’t it? To be able to call God my parent, and Jesus my brother... it would be great, it’d be like having a tv star for a family member!...
‘Ah, but what if... what if Jesus wants to do something here in Cheriton that was a bit... you know... a bit different; odd; something unexpected, like he did back in his home town? What if Jesus’ words in the bible challenge someone and they... they come to me about it?
‘If I’m his family... it would be up to me, and my brothers and sisters, to come and... well to do something about it.
‘With Jesus being so famous for his healings, and hope and joy; and so famous for doing the unexpected and challenging authority....
Could I, do that... could I handle the inevitable knock on the door and someone saying “Oy! About your family member...”’ Could I do that? Can you do that?
We are Jesus’ family.
We come here to say that we love him, and we accept him, no matter what he may bring our way in the future, no matter how unusually different and challenging he is to our neighbours. Jesus is our responsibility and our joy.
He certainly makes us answer for our faith from time to time, just like a child will make us answer for our family from time to time with the occasional wayward football or fight in the school yard, and that’s a responsibility we Christians will always carry. And it may sometimes feel a bit odd to stand up for and be accepting of such a different family member.
But as well as family responsibility, there is also family likeness.
And just as we and our children can become more alike, as we spend more time together (and maybe that alone can stop wayward footballs, who knows!), as we spend time with Jesus, our likeness and his likeness comes closer together too.
You might be able to reach into that ‘earthen pot’, as Paul calls our human nature, and from the inside be surprised at the Christ-like things we can pull out from time to time. Things looking like love, and peace, and acceptance and embracing... and many many more besides.
The crowd that sat around Jesus; he called them his mothers, his brothers, and his sisters. Why? Why would he call them that when his actual mother and brothers are stood outside?
It’s quite simple. It’s because they’re the ones spending the time with him, accepting him and seeing him as he really is, no matter how outlandish he could be. They were the one’s who would become more like him over time, and be willing to carry the responsibility for the things he would say.
And what about you?
Would you take responsibility for things he would do and say in and around your world? Can you be his family member, and yet also sit with him, and be excited about the hope of life he invites us to?
