Family

 Family

June 1, 2025

Matthew 12:46-50

Changed Relationships

46 While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 47Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” 48 But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

The problem with a family vacation is family. They are the people that know you best, they know all of your faults and foibles, which can lead to problems. Even Jesus had issues with his family from time to time. In the story in Matthew the implication is that Jesus’ family had come to take him away, “speak with him”, because they thought he was making a spectacle of himself. You know what it means when your mother wants to “speak with you”! Then there was the time when he gave His first sermon at his home synagogue in Nazareth when his closest friends and family tried to throw Him off of a cliff. Talk about rejection! Anyway, sometimes it is those closest to you who resist you the most. 

But in the end, they are also your best supporters. James the brother of Jesus became the bishop of the church in Jerusalem and turned into a pillar of the church once he saw who Jesus really is. And of course, his Mother Mary, stuck with him through everything and was present at the crucifixion, which had to be extremely painful for her to watch. 

Bottom line is that family is your family, and you only get one! You support one another, even as you fight with each other. You all know how brothers fight with one another, but if an outsider picks on one, the others all pitch in to defend him. So cherish your family and do your best to get along and support one another. One day you begin to see them pass away and you don’t want to have regrets about things that you didn’t say that you should have. You want to have good memories of the times you spent together and fond images of places you have gone together. My immediate family is all gone now, but I remember the summers we spent in Colorado visiting family and exploring the mountains with our cousins. Those were good times that built up strong relationships. Now that they are gone I still have those memories to hold on to to know that I had a good family and that I was loved. Much of what I am today is the result of what my mother and father taught me and what my sister and brother-in-law poured into my life. So I am grateful and appreciate the times that I have with my own family now, even when they get on my nerves, they are still my family, and i love them.