Preached at Grace and Canadochly on June 10, 2018
Scripture Readings: Genesis 3:8-15, Mark 3:20-35
Some years ago, in an effort to rebrand themselves, a lot of Christian groups and businesses began to refer to themselves as “family” organizations. You have “Focus on the Family.” You have the FRC, the “Family Research Council.” You had (and maybe still have) Zondervan Family Bookstores. It was a way to say “Christian” (specifically conservative evangelical Christian) without all the baggage that often goes with that.
This was a reaction to changes in our society that have taken place over the past 60-70 years. It’s no secret to most of us that these groups’ interpretation of the word “family” is rather traditional and narrow. Husband, wife, 2.5 kids, various house pets, all living in a nice suburban (re: white) neighborhood. But that’s the very definition of family that’s been so challenged by the changes in our world. Now, families look like all kinds of different things. You have interracial couples. Parents with children adopted from other countries. Single parents. Cohabitating couples who aren’t married. LGBT couples with kids. Multigenerational families, with grandparents and grandchildren and everything in between under one roof.
I remember when our entertainment began to reflect these changes. One of my favorite TV shows as a kid was Different Strokes. An older white man, a widower, raising two orphaned black boys. The Jeffersons had neighbors who were an interracial couple. One Day at a Time was a divorced woman raising two daughters. Punky Brewster was an old widower raising a young girl. All different configurations being seen on the TV in the late 70s and early 80s. And this is part of what our more conservative brethren were so aghast at, because it was different. It wasn’t the tradition. It wasn’t what they thought was right.
I wonder then what they would think of Jesus’ definition of family.
Human beings are essentially tribal. We create social groups based around common needs and interests as well as other similarities. We are Americans. We are Christians. We are white folk. We live in Central PA, York county. Those are our tribes and they often overlap with one another. One tribe to which we all belong is our own family. I’m a Schwarz. I’m the descendant of Schwarz’s and Faulstichs and Morris’s and Whitakers. That’s my family tribe. That’s who I am.
None of that is wrong in and of itself. In fact, anthropologists would probably argue that without that unity that tribal identity creates, the human race would not have survived long. We work together. We help each other out. That’s the good thing about a tribe.
But there is a bad thing too. When two tribes meet, one of two things happens. They either unite and form a greater whole or they fight and try to destroy one another. Our impulse, in large part because of our sin, is the latter.
The ancient storytellers who put together the story we know from Genesis as the “Fall” understood this. They also understood that it was wrong. Eve has taken the apple from the tree, persuaded by the serpent that it would grant her her greatest desire, eaten it, and given it to Adam to also eat. This was not a trick as we’ve so often been taught. Adam and Eve knew exactly what they wanted; they wanted to be like God so they ate readily and eagerly. Their ambition was their downfall and the effects of it are seen immediately.
God comes into their midst and asks what is going on. The very first words out of Adam’s mouth are blame. “The woman YOU gave to me gave me some and I ate.” The very first words out of Eve’s mouth are blame. “The serpent tricked me and I ate.” It’s your fault. It’s her fault. It’s the serpent’s fault. It’s NEVER my fault. And because of this blaming, human relationship has been broken ever since. Tribe vs. tribe. Nation vs. nation. Family vs. family.
And we see that today. White vs. black. Gay vs. straight. Men vs. women. Americans vs. foreigners. Christians vs. Muslims/atheists/Jews/etc. Conservatives vs. liberals. Rich vs. poor. And it seems to be getting more and more hostile by the minute. Tribe vs. tribe. Nation vs. nation. Family vs. family. All one big powder keg ready to blow.
And yet none of it is new. We humans have been like this for forever. Wars, genocides, slaughter on mass scale has been our legacy throughout the generations. Nowhere do you see the impact of sin more than in our never ending desire to murder one another. And over what? You talk different. Your skin color is different. You live in a different part of the world. You love the wrong kind of people. What stupid reasons.
Jesus’ day was no different. It was Romans vs. Jews. Rich vs. poor. Pharisees vs. Sadducees. Jews vs. Samaritans. Romans vs. Parthians. The lines were drawn all over the place. Everybody hating everybody else.
But as we are so often reminded, Jesus came for the sake of the whole world. He was not here to rescue one part of humanity and not another. No, he came for EVERYONE. All tribes, all languages, all nations, all families. In fact, I find it most interesting that the covenant given to Abraham in ancient days, the one that Jesus fulfilled, was a promise from God to “bless all the FAMILIES of the earth.” Somehow, I don’t think that language was unintentional.
Thus, when the question of family is put to Jesus, he turns it on its head, aligning family not with tribe or origin, but with God’s universal love. Who is my family but those who do the will of my father? They are my true family. Jesus’ goal is clear. He’s trying to redefine family, redefine the tribe, to be all of God’s children.
Who is our family? Yes, those bound to us by blood and adoption. But not them alone. No, our brothers and sisters are here in our midst. And they are out there on the streets of this city, this country, this world. For we are all children of God. These divisions between us are of our own making, the result of sin making us distrust and dislike one another. But that’s not the way it’s meant to be. Christ came to make us one, united in the love of a God who sent his son into this world to die and rise again. That’s how far his love goes for his children. And we are called to love like that as well. Can we? If we can, if we can see all of humanity as one big tribe, one big family, then just maybe we can stop the bloodshed and make a better world. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment