"Children, obey your parents-in-the-Lord, for this is right."
-Ephesians 6:1
Jesus stepped down from His lofty throne in heaven and condescended into the cesspool of sin-riddled humanity. He'd been baptized by John in the Jordan to identify with us. He began preaching the Good News of the King and his kingdom to woo us from our sin into identifying exclusively with Him. He called a motley crew of fishermen, tax collectors, and social misfits to be His disciples. "Come! Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." And they did.
Jesus was on a tear. He was preaching, teaching and healing. He was fulfilling everything Hebrew Scripture said the long-anticipated Messiah would be and do. Many weren't happy about it in the least. The Pharisees and religious elite began to plot and scheme how they might entrap Jesus... how they might kill this low-life of questionable breeding from Nazareth. Jesus was a threat to the status quo and they were prepared to deal with it no matter the cost.
Word got back to Jesus' family about His exploits. They weren't happy either. Mary corraled up her skirt and rallied the other siblings. Jesus was on a tear. Again. This time there'd be a serious family "intervention."
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, His mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to Him. Someone told Him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to You.”
He replied to him, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” Pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” -Matthew 12:46-50
Culture tells us that biological parents are the end-all-be-all. Someone can be a complete deadbeat, yet our culture and courts readily affirm their "rights" as a parent. They can be verbally, emotionally, and even physically abusive to their spouse. They can be a moral disaster, commit adultery... repeatedly... and suffer no cultural consequences. They can voluntarily choose to abandon their spouse and children, repeatedly weasel out of legal obligations, and yet the courts and culture still uphold their "dad" status as if it were some unalienable divine right; as if being a sperm donor equates being a parent.
Jesus' biological mother, Mary, came with the clan to wrangle up the family blight and embarrassment that was Jesus. Without anger or malice, Jesus used it as a teaching moment... as a kingdom opportunity. Pointing to his disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus didn't turn the world upsidedown with His teaching. Jesus took the world we turned upsidedown in our sin and He turned it right-side-up again. Jesus revealed that - in our sin - we have zero God-ordained rights or privileges other than a self-imposed destination eternally separated from Him.
The world, culture, and courts tell us unborn children aren't people. They tell us it's okay to scramble them like eggs and shop-vac them out of their mother's protective womb. They also tell us crackhead mothers and deadbeat fathers have rights as parents.
Jesus ascribed no rights, no power, and no authority to biological parents - not even to Mary. He did this to reveal the insurmountable gap between our foolishness and folly, resulting in death, and His glorious truth, which leads to abundant and eternal life.
When the Apostle Paul wrote, "Children, obey your parents-in-the-Lord, for this is right," he was talking about the rights and roles of kingdom family.
Christ didn't come and turn the world upsidedown. Jesus took our way, which leads to death, and showed us something very different. He revealed Himself as The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He thought it was important enough to die so that you could enter into His kingdom family.
Blessings,
-Kevin M. Kelley
aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com
