The primacy of the family unit has been a focal point in the world of the evangelical church. The formation and existence of the family unit is, of course, not sinful. It can and should be a beautiful place for the practice and expression of God’s love between people. It should be a place of safety, nurturing, identify, and development.
But…it is certainly not the be-all-end-all phenomenon that it is often made out to be. There is nothing eternal about the family unit. And it is not the primary locus for Christian love and relationship.1
The Church is.
Jesus makes this clear more than once, including in today’s passage.2
Matthew 12:46-50
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers stood outside trying to speak with him. Someone said to him, “Look, your mother and brothers are outside wanting to speak with you.”
Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” He stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my brother, sister, and mother.”
Prayer
God,
Thank you for my family. My parents, my brother and sister, my wife, my children. I have been blessed immensely by their presence in my life. I have come to know who you are, what your love is, and what it is to love because of them. I look forward to all these relationships will continue to bring me each and every day.
But God, let me not miss out on your will for my life and through my life because of my family. Let me not miss the members of your family to which I am called to relationship. Do not let my family become an excuse to shirk my responsibility to the world.
And I pray for those for whom the family experience is totally unlike my own. The proximity of family has potential for both beautiful expression of love and terrible abuse and tragedy. Give me eyes of wisdom and a mind to act and respond to my brothers and sisters in such situations.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.
Neither is the marital relationship.
Remember also what we read in Matthew 5:46-48: “If you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore, just as your heavenly Father is complete in showing love to everyone, so also you must be complete.”
Tough one