[AI translation] Dear brothers and sisters, in this scene that I have just read, which is about the relationship between Jesus and his closest relatives, we are given a very profound teaching about the essence of the family and the church and their relationship to each other. This is what I would like to talk about this Sunday morning.Family. Have you ever wondered, brothers and sisters, what a mystical word this is, what an extremely meaningful word this is? How much intimate warmth, protection, immunity, belonging is in this word! One of God's most precious gifts on this earth is precisely family. That is to say, that God used to give each person to a father and a mother. And that a person can have relatives: parents, brothers and sisters, a partner, children, grandchildren. There really is something quite mysterious about this relationship. The so-called "common blood" that runs through our veins is what binds people together in a family. When I first saw my first grandchild, at the age of half a year, I almost had the feeling that I had known this child for more than fifty years. And what was even stranger was that this little child, who had only known his parents and had been used to his parents, when he saw me, he came up to me and put his little head on my shoulder with an almost natural confidence and trust, as if he had known me for a very long time. "The word of blood," they say, and there is something to that, brothers and sisters. Or, for example, family members who may not have seen each other for a long time, years, decades, and then once they meet again, they can embrace each other with a joy and happiness so deep that it can almost be borne only by crying.
Well, family is indeed a very special and precious gift from God. It is often not so conscious of what a gift it is. Often family is a nuisance. One is burdened with the closeness of the other, or perhaps we complain about each other, but we only really begin to realise what a great gift we are to each other as a family when someone is missing from the family. Kirkegaard, that great Danish philosopher, poet and pastor, describes this idea in one of his books: 'To notice and see the beauty of our youth is like travelling on a train through a charmingly beautiful landscape, but with our backs turned. One notices the real beauty in it at the moment when it is just beginning to disappear from sight. Well, that's how we are with family. We begin to see the real beauty and the real good in it when the family is beginning to break up, when someone is leaving, when someone is going out of the house, or when someone is dying. Yes, brothers and sisters, it is a very precious and sacred bond that binds souls together within a family. Let us cherish it and rejoice while we still can!
Look, Jesus had a family too. The scripture we read speaks of just that. Jesus also had a mother, a foster father, brothers and sisters, sisters in law, with whom he played and grew up in the Nazarene home. The life of Jesus does not hover somewhere above the realities of our lives, but God so loved us that in Jesus, in this image of Him on earth, He came right into the reality of our lives, He came into our family life, and never forget - especially when there are problems in the family life - that God is as truly present in the family life as Jesus was truly present in the family life of Joseph and Mary.
But around Jesus another family community is formed: a great spiritual family, the family of God. For Jesus is, in the Bible's very beautiful expression, the only begotten Son of God. He came precisely to make His Father our Father, to make Himself our brother, and thus to include us in His own family heritage. So those who have become children of God with Jesus and through Jesus are truly like members of one big family. Frat brothers and sisters, and dear, intimate relatives of one another. In the family community around Jesus - a community of believers - a younger believer can indeed relate to an older believer as if he were his mother or father. And vice versa: the older one to the younger one as if he were his son or daughter. Indeed, we feel towards each other as if we were brothers and sisters. I too have fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, brothers, sons, daughters in this congregation, and I think you do too. And it is good that you have them too. Whoever belongs to Jesus cannot be alone: he has a family, he has a spiritual home, he has many, many relatives all over the world. And the bond that binds us together is not the common blood that flows through our veins, but the common Father, the one Lord. And the strength is not the word of blood, but the word of God, the living Word, Jesus. And that power, brothers and sisters, is the power that unites in one great family community, beyond all borders and beyond all differences of language and race, all those old and young, men and women, rich and poor, who, throughout the whole world, call upon God, "Our Father"!
You may remember when we had a group of Dutch visitors here twice this summer. We didn't know them, they didn't know us, we didn't understand their language, they didn't understand ours, and yet we felt at once that we were brothers and sisters, that we belonged to a large family community with each other, and they left this church with the happy feeling of being in a family circle. Brothers and sisters, it is truly a mystical brotherly community. It is a brotherly fellowship through sharing in the body and blood of Jesus, in the broken body and shed blood of Jesus. One big body, animated by a "spiritual circulation". And now, brothers and sisters, feel as if Jesus were reaching out his hand to you at this moment and pointing to you, just as in this scene he stretched out his hand to those sitting around him, pointing to them and saying: Who is my mother and who are my brothers and sisters? Those who do the will of my father are my brothers and sisters, and those are my mother, this is my family. The reality of this family community around Christ is witnessed by the fact that many times brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters in faith, understand each other better than brothers and sisters in the blood. Many times brothers and sisters in faith can come closer to each other in spirit than members of a family. In many cases, the bond between believing brothers and sisters is closer than that between parents, children, brothers and sisters in a family community.
And as we see in the Word, so it was in the family of Jesus. It is precisely what this account tells us that Jesus' closest relatives disagreed with him. We know from other accounts in the Gospels that they thought Jesus was a madman. And even now they went there to somehow keep him safe, so that he would not do many things that might become unpleasant for the family. They were somehow alien to the spirituality that Jesus lived in and that lived in Jesus. It is so very telling that Jesus' mother and His brothers and sisters stopped outside. Outside. And even when they came in, this is how the messenger lets Jesus know, "Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside. Outside: isn't it terrible that in here the church is together, the big family, and outside are the next of kin? Outside of the spiritual community, it is the family members who are on the outside, left out of the blessings that others, strangers, receive. They are left out of the atmosphere that binds others, strangers, into God's extended family. Those who would be closest to him in blood are the furthest from him in spirit. Almost as far away as his enemies. And his enemies also said that he casts out devils through the prince of devils, Beelzebub, so he is diabolical, not quite normal. They are standing outside, outside instead of sitting in here with the rest of them. I can imagine it must have been a great sadness for Jesus. For it is the burden that weighs heaviest on a man in his home. And the most painful is the pain that comes to you at home and from your home. I can imagine how good it would have been for Jesus to pray with his mother and his brothers and sisters, for example, but they lived in a very different world spiritually. Or how good it would have been for them to discuss the things of the kingdom of God, which were most important to Jesus, but which were not important to His family members. How good it would have been to have been spiritually united with those who were linked by blood, and how good it would have been, in the midst of the growing hostility, to have been able to reconcile in the intimacy of family, to rest and to draw strength from prayer together for the struggle ahead - but they were more likely to be with the enemy. They are outside. And when these "those outside" claim Jesus, when they call for him to come out, Jesus turns not to them but to those inside and says: "These are my mother and these are my brothers and sisters who are here, who hear my words, who want to do the things of my Father. Jesus placed this spiritual community almost above the blood relationship.
There is a comfort in that, but it is a bit of a bitter comfort. You know, if even in Jesus' family there could be such a rift between the immediate family, how much more so can it be in ours? Oh, there are so many examples, brothers and sisters, of how spiritually non-homogeneous a family community can be. A true mixed-religion family is not one in which one member is of one denomination and the other of another, but a true mixed-religion family is one in which one member of the family is on the outside and another is sitting on the inside, at the feet of Jesus. It is such a very sad thing when you have these two kinds of souls within the same family. And of course the outsiders do not understand the family member who wants to walk with Jesus. Of course they don't understand! And they can't be enthusiastic about it, and they can't give time, effort and money to what is most precious to them. They don't walk the same path, they don't breathe the same spiritual air, they don't want the same things, they don't strive for the same things - they live in two almost different worlds.
Of course, there are many reasons why one of the family members stops out there. It is a mysterious thing, brothers and sisters. Then what is really valid here is what is written in the Bible, "not to him that willeth, nor to him that runneth, but to God of mercy". Sometimes the child of believing, truly serious parents can stray so terribly far from the path of faith, and sometimes in a real 'family dump' faith can blossom into such beautiful flowers and fruits that one can only wonder how it is possible. So it is something that is ultimately beyond one's control. But let us not console ourselves too soon! Because, brothers and sisters, there is, or may be, another reason why one or another member of the family "stops out there". And it may be that the life and behaviour of the one who is "in" pushes the others away, discourages the others from entering, and the others say: if that's the way it is with those who are in, I'd rather stop outside. Just a few days ago I received a letter, and I will read a few lines from it, brothers and sisters, literally. An elderly mother writes: "I have completely lost my faith in believers - with respect to the exception - perhaps even in the Reformed religion; because of my believing son, who considers me an unbeliever. Wrong. Because I retreat, lock myself in my room and worship God in a way that doesn't draw everyone's attention, like my son, that he is a church and Bible study attendee, and yet he is worse than a heathen. He offends those around him with his behaviour." This is the wail of a mother. And at the same time she describes in the rest of the very long letter how this supposedly believing son treats her at home. Such a son should not be surprised if the mother "stops outside". Indeed, one might even ask which is really in there and which is really out there.
I know very well, dear brothers and sisters, that it is most difficult for every believer to live his faith at home, among his family, because it is easy to appear gentle, kind, loving, patient in front of those with whom one only meets from time to time, and then preferably "spiritually well-groomed" and within the framework of social customs and manners. It is very easy. But, as they say, we really get to know each other in our homes. At home, where we are known intimately, where we are seen intimately and therefore really known. Home, where we are our true selves, where we are who we are without all the pretence and disguise. And isn't there a half-heartedness in your family home, too, because you who go here, who are known to read the Bible and pray and fellowship with Christ, are perhaps not living authentically enough what you talk about at home, or what is known about you at home? Perhaps you are not representing the life of faith in an attractive enough way to your family members. Are you not the reason your sister or sister-in-law or mother is left out?
When Jesus puts spiritual ties above blood ties, it does not mean that he wants to loosen or even break family ties, but the other way round: he wants to deepen and sanctify family ties. He is precisely saying that the family bond is only truly strong, precious and holy when it becomes a sacred bond in the Lord. For the power of sin is so terrible, brothers and sisters, that the common blood, the common descent, the memory of a common childhood, the common name that they bear, the family home, are not enough to hold family members together, for remember: the very first murder on this earth was fratricide. So as powerful as the word blood is, it is even more powerful than sin. It has the power to loosen the strongest ties in life, where people are primarily dependent on each other: within the family circle. And it can turn fathers, sons, partners, brothers, sisters, children against each other and alienate them from each other. Tensions arise in its wake, and the tension turns into disconnection, and the disconnection into bitterness, and this bitterness may turn into hatred. Has not sin a terrible power to make Cain raise his fist to Abel? And it can turn the one place where something of the peace and serenity of lost paradisiacal bliss might have remained, that is, family life, into hell!
Here, then, there is really only one help. And that only help is really Jesus. Here it is no use to summon up all one's strength, to bring out one's better self, to study a bunch of ethics books or whatever, here the only help is Jesus. You see, what happened in Jesus' family - and this is the very comforting thing about the whole thing - is that Jesus did win over the members of His family, the closest members of His family, after all. In the description of the events after His ascension, we also read that "they were all engaged in prayer and supplication with one heart and mind, together with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and His brothers". So that the mother of Jesus and His brethren are now no longer outside, but are sitting inside, together with the others. The little family has been incorporated into the big family of the church, and this is a great encouragement to all of us that it can be different for us than it is.
But, brothers and sisters, I would like to emphasize here that the first mission field for every believer should be his or her home. And as Jesus says when he speaks of the candle, that it is not lit to be put under a bushel, but to be put in the candlestick and to shine for all... For whom? Those who are in the house. Those in the house: at home. Not somewhere outside, but in the house, and for those with whom this "candle" lives in the house. So the very first blessing of your walk with Jesus is to be spread at home. And, above all, may faces be lifted and tensions be released at home under the influence of the powers that God is working in you through His grace. And, above all, let your home be filled with the air you breathe in the Word, in reading and listening to the Bible, in prayer and in communion with Christ. Because, brothers and sisters, we are all responsible first and foremost for those who are closest to us by blood.
If the church is nothing more than a large family formed around Jesus, then let the family be a small church formed around Jesus. That is, a community where mere blood ties are sanctified and deepened by the spiritual bond of belonging to Jesus.
Let us respond to the Word with hymn 395.
Resting on the heart of God, let our hearts be one,
Let the arms of faith embrace our sweet Saviour.
He is our head, we are his members, He is the light, we are his colours;
We are his servants, he is our master, He is ours, we are his.
(Canto 395, verse 1)
Amen.
Date: 25 October 1967.