I'm not going to lie, the Gospel reading today has always bothered me a little bit. I mean, here we see Jesus sitting amongst a crowd, and when He is told His mother and relatives are there to see him, he appears to dismiss them.
What I am growing and learning to discover is that Jesus wasn't diminishing who they were or His relationship with them, He was building us and our relationship up! Think about the mother who has more than one child. She doesn't love one less in order to love the other more, right? In my brain, this is what Jesus is doing here. He is not minimizing His relationship with them, he is just showing an increased love for us. He is building us up, not tearing them down.
Jesus is teaching us about so much in this short text. He is teaching us that real family is more than flesh and blood. He is telling us that the most important relationship we must have is with God. As we grow in our relationship with God, our other relationships can flourish! God is Love. God teaches us how to love. He teaches us faith, hope, mercy and grace. He teaches us about patience, integrity and compassion.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 1 John 4:16b
By doing God's will we are demonstrating that we know and love God. When we know and love God we enter into relationship with Jesus. We become part of a bigger family than just our parents, siblings, cousins and so on. We enter into our eternal family!
I pray you have a blessed Tuesday and that you Go out and love God and do His will and start living the amazing and abundant life He has for you!
What I am growing and learning to discover is that Jesus wasn't diminishing who they were or His relationship with them, He was building us and our relationship up! Think about the mother who has more than one child. She doesn't love one less in order to love the other more, right? In my brain, this is what Jesus is doing here. He is not minimizing His relationship with them, he is just showing an increased love for us. He is building us up, not tearing them down.
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Matthew 12:49-50
Jesus is teaching us about so much in this short text. He is teaching us that real family is more than flesh and blood. He is telling us that the most important relationship we must have is with God. As we grow in our relationship with God, our other relationships can flourish! God is Love. God teaches us how to love. He teaches us faith, hope, mercy and grace. He teaches us about patience, integrity and compassion.
God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 1 John 4:16b
By doing God's will we are demonstrating that we know and love God. When we know and love God we enter into relationship with Jesus. We become part of a bigger family than just our parents, siblings, cousins and so on. We enter into our eternal family!
I pray you have a blessed Tuesday and that you Go out and love God and do His will and start living the amazing and abundant life He has for you!
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