Family Ties ...

Imagine for a moment, what it must have been like for a childhood friend of Jesus.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem but was quickly moved to Egypt for His first seven years.  I wonder how many kids He might have remembered in His early days in Egypt, or if He learned to speak the language there having grown up in the shadow of the Nile.  On moving back to Israel, Joseph and Mary chose to settle in Nazareth, in the region of Galilee.  Perhaps Joseph feared that returning to Bethlehem may have inspired Herod’s successor into equally violent acts to kill the young child.  But for the remaining years from 7-8 all the way till He was nearly 30 years old, Jesus grew up and became a young man from Nazareth, in Galilee.  Given His loving disposition, He was bound to have made friends there.  There was that incident where at 12 years old, He taught in the Temple for three days while His earthly parents were in a panic on His location.  The Temple scholars were amazed at His doctrine, and in His Truth.  But outside of that single incident, we have no written documentation about His life from 8 to 30, though we might be able to imagine a “normal” life for Him.  Could it truly have been so?

To give it context, we will invent a friend for Jesus called Bob (yes, I realize Bob is hardly a normal Jewish name at the time; that is sort of the point, this is an imaginary friend only to illustrate a point).  Bob would have gone with Jesus at 12 and frankly every year to the Temple for Passover.  This was not a onetime event in the lives of practicing Jewish families, it was an annual one.  If Bob were the same age as Jesus, Bob would have been around when the brothers and sisters of Christ came into the world.  Keep in mind, Jesus was the first born and eldest in His own home, but decidedly NOT an only child.  John Mark will be providing more specifics on that shortly.  But if Bob and Jesus were friends and roughly the same age, they may have played together as younger children, and helped each other out taking care of younger brothers and sisters as they too began to grow up in Nazareth.  Bob would had to have noticed that Jesus was not like all his other friends.  Jesus was different.  He loved everybody.  He knew scriptures well enough to teach Temple scholars at the age of 12.  He never swore, or used foul language.  He ate simple healthy foods, not given to gluttony or excess.  He was in great physical shape, because He worked as a Carpenter’s apprentice.

Bob had to have been by Jesus’ side when Joseph died.  Bob would have been a pallbearer at Joseph’s funeral, helping carry and bury the body of Joseph, perhaps adding a stone for respect and commemoration.  While Jesus was deeply saddened over the loss of His earthly father, He did not grieve as others grieve, because He seemed to know something about death that nobody else could understand.  What a temptation it must have been for Jesus to raise Joseph in order to comfort Mary, and His brothers and sisters.  But it was not the will of His Father that His ministry begin this young.  So Joseph must remain in the grave. 

Bob would have noticed that Jesus did not seem to have a favorite toy, but would give away the toys He made to anyone who showed an interest in them.  Bob would have noticed that Jesus took over the family business, and taught His brothers how to carpenter, waiting until they were self-sufficient before He would leave to pursue a different career in Ministry.  For the life of him, Bob could not remember Jesus ever committing a single sin.  No one ever witnessed Jesus doing anything for Himself, only ever for others.  Truly this had to have been remarkable.  Bob’s other friends would be willing to get into mischief with him, but not Jesus.  Jesus loved Bob consistently, but would never be a part of anything that might have caused pain to another.

So if Bob, or you, could imagine knowing someone like this for more than 22 years, could you not come to “know” in your heart who He surely must be?  Looks like Bob missed the boat, more to the point, are we missing it was well?  Peter recalls to John Mark what should have been a triumphant return of Jesus to His home.  But there was no Bob to greet Him.  Instead what happened was truly remarkable, and so close to how we treat Jesus today.  John Mark transcribes Peter’s recollections beginning in the Gospel of Mark chapter Six and verse 1 saying … “And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. [verse 2] And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?”  Jesus had come home.  Perhaps the first thing He did was to check in with His mom and siblings and get settled in with the disciples.  Perhaps their home was not big enough to accommodate them and He went to stay with other friends He knew from back in the day.  But for wherever they settled down, Jesus went to the synagogue on Sabbath … to teach.

Jesus was no longer just a parishioner, He was now on a mission to teach the Truth.  His doctrines, as ever, were sound and irrefutable.  His Truth and message was powerful and moving.  His delivery was perfect.  And His reputation preceded Him.  The locals remembered Jesus, but hearing Him speak this way was blowing their minds.  When did Jesus become such a powerful preacher?  When did He have time to learn so many scriptures and speak more authoritatively than any Rabbi ever?  And how was it that He was performing so many miracles in His ministry?  He never did so many before.  The people who knew Jesus, and could not recall Him ever committing any act of sin (because He didn’t), could not connect the dots for who He was.  John Mark continues in verse 3 saying … “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”  The people knew Jesus not as a preacher, but as a carpenter.  They were offended at the idea of being taught by just another carpenter.  Joseph had been dead so long, they did not recall him as the father of Jesus, only citing His mother’s name.

But in their response is enumerated for us, the beauty of family.  In this day, men were counted and valued, women were not.  Jesus had four brothers; James, Joses, Juda, and Simon.  In addition Jesus had sisters.  I would so bet there were three of them J (of course that is me personally just liking the number 7).  Mary was not a perpetual virgin as our Catholic friends would like to believe, perpetuating a myth of pagan lore.  Mary was a wife and mother, a real wife and mother, who loved her husband and without benefit of birth control, gave birth to at least 6 more children (note the tense of the female siblings as sisters not sister).  Perhaps some of these brothers or sisters were born in Egypt.  The rest were born and or raised in Nazareth with Jesus.  His family was known there.  Bob would have known Him.  Other had to as well.  The locals had a family context for Jesus, and the remainder of His family were ALL normal people.  His brothers, sisters, and mother were not perfect, they were just like us.  So by association, if His family was not perfect, He could not be either.

John Mark continues in verse 4 saying … “But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”  Jesus points out a truth of human nature both then and now.  Those who should have known Him for who He is and was, did not.  Those who had spent years knowing Him, being around Him, listening to Him, talking to Him, and watching His life, did not really know who He was at all.  How like us.  Christians who have been in the church for years, talking to Jesus, talking about Jesus, claiming the name of Jesus … but having no clue who He really is.  We associate with each other, like our Pharisee forefathers.  We do not go to those in need, and give them our time, our love, and our means.  Instead we collect into groups of like-minded believers, and share Jesus in conversation with each other, feeling good that we did so afterwards.  But isolating our conversations to those who already believe as we do, taking no risks of rejection or ridicule, and showing no real love to anyone in need.

Yet we like Bob, and like those who grew up with Christ, have no idea who He really is.  We worship a God fashioned after our own desires, instead of a God who can remake what we want.  We pray to Him to “do” things for us, get off our knees, and “do” nothing for others.  Our knowledge of Jesus is one way, from Him to us, never finding Him when it is we who do for another.  We who have known Jesus for more than 20 years, and still know so little about who He truly is.  We, like our imaginary Bob, should be ashamed.  We can recall no time when Jesus did not show us how much He loves us.  The love of Jesus for us is always constant.  Yet our own love of each other is sporadic, temperamental, and often one sided.  Our hearts reflect a priority centered on self, and demonstrate that we have yet to be fully transformed by His power.  When our hearts are transformed through surrender to this same Jesus we may have talked about for 20 years, but never really surrendered to, we find we love differently.  Our love for others becomes a driving passion in our lives that cannot keep silent.  And for the first time, we begin to know the minister, instead of the carpenter.  We begin to know who Christ really is, instead of what we thought He was.  We begin to know what it really means to be saved from ourselves, instead of steeped in our embrace of sin.

John Mark continues in verse 5 … “And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. [verse 6] And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.”  Not only did those who should have known Him, refuse to accept who He was, their lack of faith prevented Him from doing for them, what He came to do for them.  Here the parallels in our day are terrifying.  Do we as nominal Christians, so lack faith in Christ, that we actually prevent Him from healing us, transforming us, and pouring out His power upon us?  In a further terrifying assessment statement, Jesus “marveled” at their unbelief.  Jesus is literally amazed at how little belief those who should know Him best, actually have.  Does He also marvel at us?  Are we like our predecessors, able to talk about Jesus, but completely lack a real faith in His ability to actually change who we are, and how we live?  Are we still bound in sins, we should have long been made free of, but are not, because our lack of faith prevents Him from doing the great and mighty works He would love to do for us?

Despite their lack of faith, those in need were still able to benefit from His healing touch.  Perhaps those in deep need were willing to accept a different picture of who Jesus was?  Perhaps their need drove them to this.  Does it take this kind of tragedy to drive us to see Jesus differently?  Or can we like simple villagers in the surrounding towns, accept the teachings of Jesus who thought it important to visit small communities and reach the unreached.  Jesus went to Nazareth first, but Nazareth was not having Him.  Jesus went to Israel first, but the Jewish religion was not having Him.  But the ministry of Jesus was not reserved ONLY to those He encounters first, but to all mankind.  It is the loss of Nazareth in how they responded to Christ, as it was for the Jewish faith.  But any who would hear, who would believe, would find that Christ has flung open the doors to His family, will find that all are welcomed there.  Being a blood brother or sister of Christ may have provided a level of more time spent with Him.  Being a friend who grew up with Christ, may have afforded a lifetime of getting to talk to Him and know Him.  But to really know who Jesus is, we must look beyond the Carpenter, and find the Savior.

To truly embrace the family of Christ, we must learn to love all of its members, with a love that is reflected through us from Him, not attempted to originate within us.  We are not the source of love, we are only its vessel.  We can carry His love to others, relying on His strength to do so.  But only as we surrender who we are to Him.  We must put our desires on His altar.  We must allow Him to change how we think about loving others.  A change in the core of us, will produce a harvest in the feet of us.  Our actions will follow our transformed hearts, and our motives will become what they were intended to be, instead of what we try to force them to be.  To truly become a brother or sister to Christ, we do not need to share the blood of Mary, but the blood of Christ with the world around us.  Our family ties to Christ by choice, and by surrender to His transforming power, are stronger than a genetic linkage that serves no other purpose.