My two dads

       The Evangelical Christian community often rants and goes on about the traditional family. I have to say though that after reading just the book of Genesis, the concept of what a family is does not quite measure up with what these self righteous religious zealots claim it to be. There is sex with concubines , slaves, rape of a father (Lot ) by his two daughters and even Sarah and Abraham were half brother and sister which later on in Leviticus would have them being stoned to death. Reading scripture is not for the faint of heart and making judgments out of context or from a single line of scripture is just flat out wrong.

          But today we have a snippet of Scripture that speaks to several versions of what family is.  Of course there is Mary, Jesus and Joseph. There is the 'biological' Dad in the Holy Spirit. After all, Joseph is the step dad in the family. Note too that Jesus had brothers and I do not believe for one second that the passage is speaking of spiritual brothers in the Apostles or something like that. Who is to say Mary and Joseph did not have children of their own?

       Then there is another version of family portrayed here. Jesus says ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’  That is an astounding statement but one of such importance that it cannot be at all dismissed. Who is your family?

        One of the problems I have encountered as a preacher is trying to use the symbol of Father as a standard. God the Father loves you!  But what if your father is a drunken lush and a real bastard who beats you , your siblings and your mom? Not a good symbol for me to use in that case although there is no mal intent.  There are countless people from dysfunctional families that find that friends and other people in their life are more of family than biologicals.

        This scenario has played out again and again in divorces and especially in the LGBTQ community where owning who you are is sometimes met with chastisement, derision and disownment. This is a major fear that keeps so many people in the closet and bifurcated.  But to those who can and do come out, the ones that fail us ( especially our immediate family ) are balanced by those that step up to the plate and offer astounding and overwhelming love.  Many in the LGBTQ community find the concept of family is perhaps a bit different than what they originally experienced in life. And there are countless families who are made of LGBTQ community members who have recreated the Holy family of their own and it is more loving, more accepting and more stable than the ones many have been turned out of.

         When we think of the Holy family, we think of love and perhaps that wonderful Jewish mom, Mary, who loved her Son to the moon and back. Mary stood by her son as he was taken into custody, beaten, whipped, paraded and hung on a cross.  She never abandoned her Son.  As humans were are not always as enlightened, loving or open to God's call. Jesus, I think, made it abundantly clear that family is a concept born entirely of love and the will of God which is love.

        Let us not be so arrogant or ignorant to define what we want a family to be but let it be freely defined by the love and mercy of God.

Mark 3:19-35

and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’