[CrimsonTide4]

Your True Family

It may surprise you to know that Jesus had a difficult family. Mark quoted Jesus' hometown critics as 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?
If your family doesn't appreciate you, take heart-neither did Jesus' brothers appreciate him. "A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house"

Jesus had gone to the synagogue, where he was asked to speak. The people were proud that this hometown boy had done well-until they heard what he said. He referred to himself as the Messiah, the one to fulfill prophecy.

Their response? This is no Messiah! He's the kid from down the street. He's the accountant on the third floor. He's the construction worker who used to date my sister.

One minute he was a hero, the next a heretic. Then they "led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way"

What an ugly moment! Jesus' neighborhood friends tried to kill him. But even uglier than what we see is what we don't see. Notice what is missing. Does the text go on to say, "They planned to push him over the cliff, but Jesus' brothers came and stood up for him"?

We'd like to read that, but that's not what happened. When Jesus was in trouble, his family was nowhere to be found.

If Jesus himself couldn't force his family to share his convictions, what makes you think you can force yours? We have to move beyond the naive expectation that if we do everything right, our family will respond the way we want them to. They may, or they may not. If your father is a jerk, you could be the world's best daughter, but he still wouldn't tell you so. If your mother doesn't like your career, you could change jobs a dozen times and still never satisfy her. If your sister is always complaining about what you got and she didn't, you could give her everything, and she still might not change.