They're where we're from. All of us. They affect what we're like - how we grow up. Hard to escape their influence - whether they're there or not.
We have them.
For millennia they've been around. Perhaps in different forms. But they've been there. In fact, we can't see recorded history without somewhere along the way encountering them -
- families, I mean.

That social group into which we are born - parents, siblings, other relations. Joined by blood, common heritage and experience.
For some of us the word "family" brings good vibes, warm memories. Family was, is, safe and nurturing space. We were, or are, able to grow and explore and play and live - happily.
For others of us the word "family" makes our stomachs go into a knot. Memories of home are framed in black. Sweet dreams?..... not! Terrors, more like it.

Family.
One of God's basic building blocks for society - a network where grownup people create little people, and then raise them, train them so that they can go out on their own as grownup people.

Family - that group to which individuals can return and belong, home space.

Mother's Day brings us face to face with issues of family. And we acknowledge that.
We acknowledge moments of pain for people on this day:
- those for whom motherhood is desired but elusive, for whatever reason
- those who face this day with a huge empty spot in their hearts & lives

That said, this day for most is a day of grateful joy. We give thanks for the love of mothers, their patience, their sacrifice, their care. We pray God's rich blessings on them.

Motherhood, family - we stand on good foundation for valuing it, a biblical foundation. From the very first pages, where God walked the first bride down the aisle in the Garden of Eden, through the Old Testament nation building time of Israel, to the days of Jesus and in the letters of the New Testament, motherhood and home life is celebrated, honoured and protected.
Check out Proverbs 31 for one of the greatest songs ever celebrating enterprising motherhood.

And so..... woe to the one who would dare say anything against mothers, or family for that matter, on this day.
This is their day.
Wonder how long I'd keep my job if today's sermon was anti-mom, anti-family? Would I make it out of the building?

Which also sort of makes me wonder how loud the collective gasp would have been when people in the days of Jesus heard him say the words we're about to read together.
I wonder how deafening the silence was?

Please join me in reading:

I'm not sure if you caught the setting. The scene was sort of a madhouse - people crowding round Jesus, many demands made on him, long hours teaching, conversing, healing, interacting. Scarcely a moment to breathe, let alone time to replenish. Not everyone accepting, either. There are the religious officials sitting like vultures on the sidelines, waiting for a weak moment when they could swoop in; just looking for an opportunity to tear Jesus to bits.
Pressure cooker may not be a bad way to describe things.
Tough for the best of people, but for an ordinary boy from a small country town........

Well, Jesus' family watches from the sidelines. They tolerate it. Don't really understand it. But tolerate it. At least for a while. Comes a point, though, when they begin to wonder about Jesus' well-being.
You know how it is - sometimes people on the outside can see things with a little more clarity than those of us who are caught up in a particular moment.
Jesus, it seemed, was too caught up in his work.
While those Pharisees accusing him of being hooked into and even possessed by Satan was all a little much......
.....still.....
perhaps he didn't have all his rivets fully tightened.
 
 

So off they go. Time to fetch him home for a rest. If he won't make the time, they'll make it for him. For his own good, after all.

To the place where he's staying. Crowded. So send in the word.

Now, Jesus may have been in his early 30's and all. He may well have been a grown man out on his own. But nevertheless, family conduct and honour in Israel was huge. One cared for one's parents! That's simply the way it was.
The family unit was very significant.
It was a core part of life as a covenant-based community.
There was simply no other option.
Didn't even think of it.

So Jesus' rather abrupt answer.......
Wow!
Shock value? Big time.
I can just imagine the buzz around the house as word is whispered back of what he said.
"He's not going. He's leaving them out there. He won't respond."
 
 

Before we go any further, I think we'd better clear one option right off the table. And that's the possibility that Jesus was, in fact, neglecting his family or pushing his mother to the side, ignoring her. If you're wondering about that, I'll ask you to read John 19: 26-27. It's the story of Jesus' crucifixion, and in his dying moments he performs one of the most important tasks an eldest son can do for his mother - ensure that someone takes her in and cares for her. He asks his best friend John to treat Mary as a step-mother, provide for her in her old age.
His mother remained important to him.

No - scandal option aside, there's something far bigger being said in the few key verses of Matthew 12.46-50. It's like a painting with two sides, a story with two parts.
There is challenge in these words - perhaps what some would even see as rather abrupt challenge.
There is also comfort and hope in these words.

It is challenge and comfort that settles right into our midst here this morning at Calvin church. Very close to home. Very relevant.

Challenge?
Well, the challenge comes particularly to those who have a secure, comfortable and close home life. Many of us do, and for that we can be tremendously grateful. Please don't ever take a loving spouse for granted. If you have parents who care for you - even care enough to say "No" sometimes - please don't treat that casually. Having brothers and sisters with whom you can live in peace and harmony - don't be flippant about it.
It's worth gold!
An enormous blessing.

BUT -
Ah, isn't there always a but?
Ever notice how the things that are the greatest strengths, the greatest blessings, can also quickly become our greatest weakness? Our achilles heel?
It's true of money, business prowess, good looks, ability to talk.
Those can take over and dominate us.
We can become obsessed with these things. Overly preoccupied.
Bible's more candid - says such things can become idols. They can become more important in our life than the Lord. In which case they have to go.

Family - I fear that in some corners of the Canadian Christian community the modern nuclear family unit has become a bit of an idol. I don't know how it is - but I think probably worth a bit of an inventory for many of us. Worth peeking at, anyway.
Idolizing family happens when everything else takes second place to the wants and desires of the family. When taking others into your home, expanding your circle to include those who are alone, is simply not done. You don't consider having a lonely person in for Christmas or Easter dinner. Weekends are off limits for anyone to come over. When volunteer hours are requested, the answer is always, "No, I'm spending time with the family." When community needs are raised they have to be turned aside because the time is filled with sports, outings, evenings in the home circle.
I can't point to any specific point where all these things - like vacations, and quiet family meals, and moments at home together -- all these very good things become too dominant. It's one of those things that we often don't realize until we look back and see that we're over the line.

Let us hear the prophetic words of Jesus in a culture where family was everything.
No, says Jesus. It's not everything.
Blood ties are not the ultimate ties that God measures.
The ties of faith. That's the deepest relationship. Eternally deep.
When we come to stand in the holy eternal presence of God, the question won't be - "What was your last name?" It will be, "Are you of the family of faith?"

Which is something that the New Testament picks up on. Paul calls members of the church, "my children." (e.g. 1 Cor 4.14; Gal 4.9). On a practical level, Christians opened their homes up to each other. When they were in need they shared their material goods freely. They began to speak of each other as "brother" and "sister" (1 Thes 1.4,6).
You could count on this family.
You were accepted into this family.
There was always a place for you.
Your presence was valued.
You shaped this family, and this family shaped you, supported you, walked with you through life.
In this family you need never be alone.

Meaning that for some of us there may have to be a bit of a conference when we get home this morning. Perhaps we need to ask each other how often we open our homes to welcome strangers. Perhaps we need to wonder together about whether some of our precious time together needs to be shared with others - our nuclear family's gift to the bigger family of faith.

That's the challenge.

For others these words of Jesus are amazing good news. For people who live in or come from a biological family that isn't all that terribly healthy. That demanded too much and sucked them dry. Held them in bondage. Or hurt them deeply.
Or for those who have no biological family.

We're in a world where a lot of people are very lonely. Go downtown, go into any high school, and you'll be confronted by seas of people. Many of them are disconnected from meaningful relationships with anyone else. No one to talk to. No one to listen to them. No one who cares - to laugh with, cry with.

If that's you, there is good news here -
a wonderfully huge family is waiting for you.

Brother Russell -
You've formally joined into a new family today. Suddenly you've just received a whole wack of new brothers and sisters. And together with us, you have the most amazing Father, the Heavenly Father.
What a treat, eh?

Connected with something stronger, thicker than blood.
That's faith in Jesus Christ.
So strong is that bond that it links us forever to heaven. God is our Father. Jesus our brother. And we people set to inherit the greatest riches imaginable when we join brother Harry, whose body we will lay to rest tomorrow, in glory before the Great Throne.

Implications are huge - challenging, rewarding, and huge.
It means that church isn't just simply some buffet table that we can nibble from and run when and how we feel like. It calls for commitment. It means, like any family, that it's a community where we can get but must also give. It means that everyone counts, all are equally special. It means we work hard on making time for each other. We become deliberate about paying attention to each other, and caring for each other.

And when we do this,
realizing that like any other family there will be times of friction, and times when we need to acknowledge wrongs and seek forgiveness, and that there is always room for improvement, and no room for standing back and taking grudge-filled pot shots,
We will receive great blessings.
For the endeavour is not some mere human enterprise.
We are following the call of Jesus. One that may seem out of step with broader Canadian social values. But in step with heavenly values.
And as with other things, the bible's promise is that our labours done in and for the Lord are not ever in vain.