Oh, here we go. “If you want to follow me, hate your family… carry your cross…. get your act together… give up all your possessions.” (Luke 14:25-33) Jesus could have used a good PR rep to massage these messages a little.
On the other hand, it’s 2,016 years and counting (give or take a miscalculation here or there), and Jesus still has more followers than Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter feed, and his book remains an all-time bestseller many centuries after publication – so maybe He’s doing all right. Maybe we can take in these harsh-sounding messages and find our way into the love at the heart of them.
On the surface, they don’t seem so loving. Let’s start with Jesus’ spin on family values: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Did Jesus really say that? This was the man who, when told that his mother and brothers were waiting for him, mortified at the spectacle he was becoming, said, “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mt 12:50) This is the man whose followers left their homes and families to travel with him, checking in now and then, but committing themselves to a bigger, messier family.
Remember, Jesus’ teaching radically undermines how human nature and culture lead us to think and act. Our earthly families can be great blessings – and they are among the “things that are passing away.” In the perspective of eternity, they pale in importance to our membership in the family of God. We are invited to walk a fine line in loving and nurturing our human families and not let our love for them distract us from cultivating our relationship of love with God.
We can do that best as we prize our human family members as gifts from God given in trust to us to nurture and help grow, not to possess or cling to. We don’t have to love our families less – we are invited to love our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, sisters and brothers in the household of God more. That will enable us to be even more loving to those in our human families.
Today, let’s give thanks for our families of origin – the gifts, the challenges, the truth.
If your experience of family is painful, can you invite the living water of healing into those wounds?
Now reflect on who you’ve come to know and love in your “God-family” – grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins in the faith. Who comes to mind? What has she or he brought to your life?
And who are your “children” in faith – people whom you’ve mentored and supported in their faith life?
Finally, who do you know who could use a new family, whom you might bring into the household of God?
Jesus has better than a good PR person. He has the best network of promoters on the planet – as we expand our circles of love and healing to include ever more brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews.
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