S: Mark 3:31-35 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them. There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, “Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.” Jesus replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
O: I used to think, "How rude of Jesus! His family came to see him and he ignored them" before the Jesus film pointed it out to me that it's quite likely that he took the opportunity to make this a teaching moment before he got up to go see his family.
Given that, what was Jesus trying to teach here? Our family is no longer only our biological family. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are also our family. That's why the early Christians started the tradition of calling each other brother and sister, to the point that the Romans, when persecuting Christians, accused us of incest — because they misunderstood when a "brother" and a "sister" were husband and wife.
A: Being family, we ought to love one another and help one another like family should. "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." (I Corinthians 12:26)
P: That's why the early Christians in Jerusalem lived communally like a family and shared everything. (Acts 2:44-45, Acts 4:32-37) Of course, as the body of believers grew, this became impractical. They had to deal with the fact that there would be people who sought to take advantage of the system (Acts 5:1-11) and just the fact that with a large number of people, someone could fall through the cracks (Acts 6:1-7) However, the spirit of all of us being adopted into God's family remained and the idea that we should look out for each other like family remained, e.g. believers outside Judea gathering money to support the believers in Judea due to the famine. (1 Corinthians 16:1–4; 2 Corinthians 8:1–9:15; Romans 15:14–32)
So, we should likewise not only be concerned for ourselves and our own biological family, but also for our brothers & sisters in Christ. "If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad." (1 Corinthians 12:26).
P: Father, help me to be sensitive to the needs of others and not just be concerned for myself. In Jesus' name, amen.
Note: this is using the SOAP method. For more information, see this page (not written by me.)
No comments:
Post a Comment