February 24, 2013

…and looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.”

Mark 3:34

Ouch! Any parent who has watched a child choose friends over family (or been asked to please not get out of the car when dropping him or her off) can feel Mary’s pain upon hearing these words from her son. In this reference to his mother and brothers, Jesus, of course, isn’t talking about Mary, Joses and James, but instead appears instead to be claiming kinship with his followers.

This was a radical statement on the part of Jesus, one that flew in the face of the culture into which he had been born. To whom you belonged meant everything at that time; it was how one was identified. People were known as the children of their fathers; Jesus was the son of Joseph, and James and John were the sons of Zebedee. So, when Jesus stated that no, Mary and Joses and James weren’t his family, his followers were his family, it was bound to raise some eyebrows. Yet he wasn’t being a rebellious son; he was, as he so often was, simply defying expectations. The new world he was ushering in would play by different rules. As his kingdom comes, old boundaries are erased and we belong not to families or countries or political parties, but to the body of Christ.

Paul is trying to tell the Corinthians the same thing in his letter. Because they already thought in terms of community, it was a bit easier for the early Christian church than for us. Their centuries of waiting for a Messiah were in expectation of a Savior who would come for the salvation of Israel, not for personal salvation. (A first century Christian wouldn’t even have understood the question if asked if he had accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.) In verses 16 and 17, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy and you are that temple,” the Greek word used for you is plural, not singular. Paul’s challenge was to convince them that the “you” he was referring to was not defined by their nationality, their families or even their religious practices. They were, and we are, holy, because they were and we are the body of Christ.

Hear Paul’s words to a community struggling to adjust to a changing world and an uncertain future: ^“So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”  His words remain true today and for our community; for all things are ours, whether Gordon or Rich or Karen or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to us, and we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. Truly this is good news.

- Robin Carlo