In Mark 3:21, his family even went so far as to try to "seize him, for they were saying, 'He is out of his mind.'"
Was Jesus renouncing his physical family? No, but rather expanding it. Jesus was stating that, as we develop relationship with him, we expand our familial relationship to anyone else who is in relationship with him.
On the surface, this sounds very simple, and we have all heard this. "So-and-so is my brother/sister in Christ." We've all said that. But have we all become truly cognizant of what that means?
During my life, I have discovered that there are teachings in Eastern mystic religions that are worthy of consideration. Yes, they follow "gods" that are not gods. They have heretical teachings when it comes to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, there are some good points in their teachings on relationships and community.
I am becoming more convinced that, as a believer in Christ, I need to set self aside and focus on 1)Jesus and 2)my "family." I need to be more aware of "community."
In the book, The Red Sox and Philosophy (stop laughing, Diane!), a series of articles about the Red Sox and their fans, one article concentrates on the tenets of Confucianism. Sure we all know the jokes: "Confucious say, man who live in glass house should dress in basement." But it was/is a serious Eastern philosophy/religion, very heavy on community. The writer of the article, Chelsea C. Harry, says this: "According to this ideal, who someone is depends on the relationships he has with his community and not on what he thinks, produces, or does for self-promotion."
So, who am I? Who are you? It has nothing to do with how well I played that song last Sunday morning. It has nothing to do with my opinions that I so eagerly share with others (sometimes totally running roughshod over their own). It has nothing to do with how I promote myself.
It has everything to do with who I am related to. (I gave up trying to structure that sentence properly.) I am related to Jesus Christ. And, if you are related to Jesus Christ, then I am related to you. That is what defines who I am.
This goes against every grain of my Western-raised body and psyche. I am trained by my society to think, "MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME!!!" What about ME? What's in it for ME? What are YOU going to do for ME? In fact, in another article in the same book, Karolina Lewestam and Orla Richardson say, "We live in a society characterized by a form of rampant individualism that transcends personal history; an individualism that believes any loyalty can be forsaken." In that same article, they say that, in America, we believe that we have the freedom to walk away from anything we don't like at any time.
Is this why our divorce rate is so high? Is this why we have so many single-parent families? Is this why our children are becoming the most selfish race in existence today?
Perhaps.
However, my point today is that we, as Christians, have a chance to be different. It's kind of like being a Red Sox fan. We are loyal to the end, no matter how bad our team is playing. And if a player switches teams, especially if he goes to the Evil Empire, he is mostly dead to us.
We are brothers and sisters in Christ. We are loyal to the end, no matter how bad our "team is playing." We struggle through the heartbreaks. We rejoice with the victories. We cry, we laugh, we sing..."We sing together, and when we sing, we sing together...and not alone." (Thanks to Ritchie Blackmore for that line...) We are family. We are community. And even beyond that, it's not like we are individuals forming a group. It's more like we are a single organism. We ARE the body of Christ!
I'm challenging myself and all of you to live this way. It's going to be hard. It's going to be very hard. In fact, I'm a little afraid. I'm afraid, because I'm not sure what I'm going to have to "give up" to live this way. I'm certain I'm going to have to give up some "ME."
But that's ok...I'm a little bit tired of "ME."
Grace and peace, friends