Gleanings – Family vs Biology and Institution
Matthew 12:43-50
“Here are my mother and my brothers.”
All of us are created in the image of God. But those adopted by grace become sons and daughters or children of God. And children of God are members of the family of God. So much so that we all, the believing and redeemed, call God Father, even Abba.
This means for us a massive expansion of family. Even if we come from a big family, it became infinitely bigger when we first believed.
This is such a huge consolation to those deprived of family, especially orphans. God had made provision for the orphaned and otherwise abandoned to be loved as they should have been loved in their family and home of origin. It likewise ministers to those who know their biological parents but weren’t blessed by them. This happens more than we know or are willing to admit. Some parents, probably due to a void in their own youth, cannot love or bless rightly or sufficiently for the needs of those they have produced. Some even despise and curse. God gives the children a do over, a second crack at being loved as designed.
For all who see this passage for what it says, we are burdened to honor the family of God, aka the church. Our own lives should be ordered accordingly. We necessarily play our part or fulfill our obligations or responsibilities. When we don’t, the family is strained. We must avoid insisting on our own way without regard for all others. When we don’t, the family is broken. The same dysfunctional behavior that wrecks a home wrecks the church. Institutionalizing the church mitigates some of the dysfunction but simultaneously robs us of the blessings of a loving family. God means for us to be family, His family, and to work on relationships to make that a reality.