Acting Like Family

A family birthday celebration. 

Scripture:

Luke 8:19   Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. ²⁰ And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” ²¹ But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Observation:

Jesus continues to teach and mentor those who are a part of his inner circle. At this point, it does not seem to include his family members, some of whom will later become crucial to the on-going ministry. The language used here is unique to Luke, and it gives you the impression that the mothers and brothers “came to him” — but it really means more like they stumbled upon him — that they were out and about their business when saw what was happening and came to him. In the other gospels this story is couched more as an intervention, but not so by Luke. For him this is more of a casual appearance of his family, which Jesus uses to illustrate what he has been teaching. 

One can only imagine what it must have been like for Jesus’ mother and brothers to see the huge crowds gathering around this brother and son. I can see a brother being especially dumb-struck that anyone would want to listen to their big brother! Far too often in the family, we continue to see people through the eyes of our childhood and we fail to let our siblings grow up. 

Jesus is told that his family members are waiting for him outside. He uses this moment to cement his teaching on discipleship and life within the kingdom of God. He has been preaching about the good soil — those who hear well, and about the light that goes out into the darkness. Those who now bear the family resemblance, those who reflect the image of God, are those who “hear the word of God and do it.” Physical descent is no longer the grounds for kinship, but becoming hearers and doers of the word of God. 

Application:

Last evening I attending the Total Life Church in the urban core of Kansas City. Pastor Jenee Noriega shared her testimony with the young people who were present. Yesterday was her physical birthday, but the previous day was the 16th anniversary of what she calls her real birthday — the day that she became born again. She called the anniversary of her salvation the most important birthday of her life — when she became a part of the family of God. 

Having been born to a 15 year old alcoholic mother, and a 16 year old boy who would lead a lifetime of violence, Jenee was deserted on her second day home from the hospital. She was left at the home of her paternal grandmother who would take her in to raise her, but could not adopt her because Jenee’s mother was native American and the Lakota people would not let her be adopted outside the tribe. By the time she was ten she was out of control and her grandmother asked her father to come from California to get her. He arrived and took her away in his van, which became their home, but also a place of extreme abuse and violence. She was removed from him by authorities when she was in middle school, but ran away, for fear he would find her and kill her. She became a child of the streets for another two decades, in and out of prison, often high, and constantly in trouble. 

I can’t do her story justice, but God’s prevenient grace was at work in her life. Somehow, God kept sending people into her life that brought a little bit of light. It was through the tenacity of a group of people at a Nazarene church in New Mexico that Jenee eventually gave her life to Christ. Not only was she saved, but she was entirely sanctified. She had gotten her GED during one of her jail stints, and now went on to get a couple of associate degrees, finally a bachelor’s degree, and has now graduated with a Master’s from Nazarene Theological Seminary. 

As we gathered last evening, the church community had brought cupcakes, balloons and flowers to celebrate Pastor Jenee’s birthday. The only physical, or biological family present, included her husband and four children. However, God has given her a huge new family — those who are a part of the family of God. Her biological family failed her in many ways, but she is now part of something entirely new and her family includes all of those who are a part of her church family, and very specifically the young people who also needed a new life and have found it in Christ. 

So what does it mean to act like family? The family of God is supposed to provide us a new and healthy environment in which we can live as shining examples of the work of God in and through us. Who knows what kind of a biological family we may have come from, there is hope for new life in and through Christ. The call is for all of us to become hearers and doers of the word of God, and thereby reflect our true family, and our true kinship. We are God’s children, and we are to act like this is our real family. 

Prayer:

Lord, may I live as your child in the world today. Amen.