Clothesline - Edition 213

By Rev. Elizabeth L. Nelson, Pastor

August 14, 2024  

When you hear the word family, what comes to mind?

Blood relatives, of course, but what about close friends and your church family? Could they be called family? What does the Bible have to say about family?

The concept of family was important to God as it is to us and references to family are throughout Scripture. The words family or families appear over 250 times in the Bible, and the first time it’s mentioned, it refers to animals, not persons! In Genesis 8:19, when Noah and his family exit the ark after the flood, it reads “and every animal…went out of the ark by families.” Now that sounds a little different. Then there’s Abraham and God’s promise that he would have “as many children as there are stars in the sky.” But God made it clear that only one child was destined to be part of His plan in the new land. So while Abraham had a son with Sarai’s handmaiden, that child was eventually driven out from the family. Such an unusual way to treat a son…

The baby Moses would have never survived, floating down the river in a basket, if an Egyptian princess hadn’t taken him into her house and raised him like her own son, only to have him eventually leave her to rejoin his people the Hebrews. Her heart was surely broken. Sometimes things like that do happen in families…

In Genesis 37, we find a tragic story of a family that’s filled with jealousy, deceit, cruelty; it’s the story of Joseph and his brothers. Some got along; some didn’t. Sadly, we can relate…

Then there’s the beautiful story of Ruth, who is so devoted to her mother-in-law that she chooses to stay with her rather than move on and find a new life after the death of her husband. Blood isn’t the only thing that can bind persons together…

As I looked on for more references, I found the very one that changes the entire idea of family, and it comes from Jesus Himself. Jesus is preaching in the Temple and someone comes to Jesus and says, “Jesus, your mother and brothers are outside.” And Jesus’ response? “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And 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” (Matt. 12:48-50).

When I was younger I used to think this was a very disrespectful comment…until I understood it. Jesus is telling us that family extends beyond blood lines, reach into places we might not expect, shatters borders that might shock us. We will missed church family as much as we will miss blood families, but Jesus makes it pretty clear: “Anyone who does the will of my Father…is my brother, my sister, my mother.”

As Christians, worshipping together, we share an unbreakable bond that holds us together. As Christians we are…at our core…connected because we hold close the same truths, the same Creed, the same Father. We are all connected by the blood of Jesus which was shed to make us all one family in Christ.