Mark 3:19b-21,
31-35
“…looking at those
who sat around him, he said, “Here are
my mother and my brothers!”
(Mark 3:34)
In Robert Frost’s powerful poem, “The
Death of a Hired Man,” Warren and his wife, Mary, debate the return of their
prodigal hired hand, Silas. In discussing the relationship they share,
Warren declares,
“Home is the place where, when
you have to go there,
they have to take you in.”
Families are
like that…often made up of people in different relationships with sometimes
widely varying perspectives. Even in their differences, there is often a deep connection that rallies
them to welcome, care for, and protect their own, no matter
what.
In today’s
text, Jesus’ family seeks to exercise their claim over him as brother and son,
wanting to protect him from the crowds and himself.
Jesus, however, redefines family as more than flesh
and blood. “Here are my mother and brothers,” he says in looking around
him. He wasn’t denying his
mother and siblings, but rather expanding family to include any who would do
God’s will.
You and I
would do well to recognize and celebrate the bond we share with brothers and
sisters in Christ as our Lenten journey leads us to the
cross.
Prayer: Thank
you, Lord, for the reminder that we exist within family, connected by faith in
the living Christ.
Jim
Abernathy
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