Matthew 12:46-50 (ESV)
While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
One of the most difficult tensions in the Christian life if the relationship between how much we love Christ and how much we love our family and our children. As the saying goes, “God, Family, Country.” This cliche seems to indicate we put God before family and family before country. The above passage might, at least, indicate the God before family part of this adage. The difficult is not in the philosophy or belief of this saying. The challenge is the practice of it. When Jesus was in the midst of teaching they came and told Him that his family was waiting for Him, or wanted him or was inquiring to talk to Him. But, He was “speaking.” Instead of telling them to wait He redefines what the term “family” means to Him. Instead of leaving His ministry of teaching, He actually moves His family to a lesser priority. Today’s Christian has a hard time even attending church to hear God’s teaching because of family gathers, children’s sport’s responsibilities, and/or obligations to work to “provide” for our families. Jesus doesn’t stop His teaching about the Kingdom of God and, in fact, “that same day went out of the house and sate beside the sea and began to teach more (the next verse in 13:1). He begins to teach the multitudes about the Kingdom of God. In Jesus’ Kingdom, He indicates that His disciples are more important than His own family. We do not think this way in modern day Christianity. Notice what Jesus will say in another passage about this same subject:
Luke 14:25-26 (ESV)
Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
The word “hate” here is probably best understood as to a comparison thought. Jesus is not telling His followers to “hate” their family. He is saying that our love for Him, in comparisons to our love for our family is not even close. As we love Jesus to the extent we are supposed to, our love for family will look so far less and by comparison, seem as hate. This has more to do with priority than with emotion. Jesus’ family wanted Him to stop His working the Family of God to do something with them in regard to family of men. There is NO comparison. Yet, we make it all the time. How many times do we stop fellowshipping with the Family of God in preference for the family of man? Notice another passage Jesus stated in this realm. Again from Luke’s gospel:
Luke 12:51-53 (ESV)
Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
We are to prioritize Christ over all. We might better move away from the “totem pole” mentality of God-Family-Country, to more of the “axle-spoke” word picture. Jesus Christ is in the center of the “axle” and all the “spokes” run from it. So, whatever I am doing (family, country, work, sports, etc) first and foremost fall in priority of Christ. We should not let anything move us from prioritizing Christ over everything.
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