FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA

Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth

 

Mother’s Day

May 13, 2007

 

The Jesus Family

 

Scripture:  Mark 6: 1, Luke 2: 41-52, John 10: 25-27

 

INTRODUCTION

 

In our Easter sermon just a month ago, I briefly mentioned the theological and archaeological controversy which most of you know has caused some commotion around this country and in other parts of the world.  On the front of our “Chimes” newsletter this past week I included an article which I hope many of you were able to read and this is what it said, quoting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in March:

 

“Despite widespread ridicule from scholars, ‘The Lost Tomb Of Jesus’ drew more than four million viewers when it aired on the Discovery Channel on March 4.  A companion book, ‘The Jesus Family Tomb,’ has rocketed to sixth place on the New York Times Nonfiction Best-Seller List.”

(From an article “Jesus Tomb Sows Doubt” by Matti Friedman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 14, 2007)

 

There wasn’t time in our Easter sermon to talk much about that controversy.  We simply and enthusiastically affirmed the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead – the greatest mystery of all!  But what caught my attention in this controversy was the fact that they referred to “The Jesus Family” and I thought that might make a good Mother’s Day sermon, because Jesus really did have a family.  He grew up with brothers and sisters and his mother Mary and Joseph as his stepfather.  And in that family, the content of his character was formed and the depth and love and direction of his life was shaped. Moreover, that’s how all of us have been able to find our way in the world today – through our families.

 

 

 

I

So, these three snapshots from the gospels give us insight into The Jesus Family and we begin with Luke, Chapter 2 where Jesus and his family went up to Jerusalem from their hometown of Nazareth for the Passover.  Jesus was twelve years old.  It was his first time to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem and after the feast was over and they all headed home, his parents discovered that Jesus was lost. 

 

William Barclay, the Bible commentator, reminds us that in those days when families traveled together, the women went first, together with the older members - they were the slowest - and then the men usually came at the end of the line.  So Joseph in the back thought Jesus was Mary and Mary in the front thought Jesus was Joseph and they left him behind in Jerusalem.  When they finally found him, he was in the Temple with the elders, and you’ll remember they were amazed by what they saw. 

 

It’s unlikely today that would happen today, that a child would get lost.  We almost always keep track of our sons and daughters, especially when there is a family trip and we’re going somewhere.

 

Our family grew up as you know in Sag Harbor, Long Island, way out on the tip by Montauk and we moved from there to New Jersey when I was twelve.  Not too long after we moved again to Pittsburgh and I did not want to go.  So my best friend, Dennis Drexler, and I made a secret pact – I would live in his attic for the rest of my life.  So we stocked up on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Hershey bars and a jar of grape juice, and on the day that the moving van came, I moved into Dennis Drexler’s attic.  When the time came for the moving van to head on to Pittsburgh, I was gone.  My parents knew exactly what to do.  They went to the Drexler home.  It was about four houses away from us and they found Mr. and Mrs. Drexler and Dennis and they interrogated him and he broke down and he betrayed me.  And I’ll never forget up there in the attic, it was so hot I could barely breathe, the door cracking open.  I was drinking grape juice, and there were my father and my mother peeking in.  They said, “George we’re about ready to go to Pittsburgh now and we’re not going without you.”  

 

That’s what happened in Jesus’ family.  They went to find him and there he was in the Temple with the Sanhedrin, the elders of the temple, and you remember what the gospel writer says - they were “astonished” at what they saw that day – Jesus was listening and conversing with those religious leaders and Mary said in so many words “Jesus where have you been?  We were worried sick about you?”  And He answered her, “Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?”  Let me tell you most twelve year olds would not get away with that.  But this was Jesus, the Son of God.  The Bible says that Mary treasured all these things in her heart as Jesus grew up in wisdom and stature in favor with God and with people. 

 

Do you see?  It was in Jesus’ family that His value system was formed.  It was in Jesus’ family that He learned about God.  It was in Jesus’ family that He literally was given the direction for the rest of his life.  And so it can be in all of our families today, where the faith is both taught and caught - taught by the parents, caught by the children and that is what we promised would happen when we baptized our little ones and promised to bring them up in the faith.  It’s our opportunity and it is also our responsibility in our families to see to it that our children grow up to know the Lord, and this church is aligned with every family here to help to see that that happens.

 

II.

 

And then, we don’t know what happened.  For eighteen years, there’s nothing said about Jesus from the age of twelve to thirty – we assume those eighteen years were the time He grew to become a man and worked with His hands and prepared Himself for the plan that  God had in store for Jesus’ life.  In Mark 6, we pick up the story.  He is teaching and preaching in the region called the Galilee, and He goes back home to the town of Nazareth.  And again, it says that the people were astounded as He taught in the synagogue.  They said, “Where did this man get all this from?  What is this wisdom that has been given to Him?   Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon and are not His sisters here with us?” 

 

Well, what’s so remarkable about this passage from Mark is that Joseph is not mentioned.  Joseph is gone, probably had died, and that’s why they referred to Jesus as the carpenter, because more than likely He had to take over the family business.  It’s also important to remember that Jesus’ siblings are actually listed here – four brothers and at least two sisters.  He belonged to a large family and that’s where He learned to share and to care and to love and to live as a member of the family in that household. 

 

Mary was a single parent now.  She had her hands full and she counted on her first born son Jesus to help her raise those siblings.  And so it was that Jesus learned about help and support and about how to work for a living and how to produce income for the family and how to help his mother by assuming a position of responsibility.  Now did they all get along perfectly?  I don’t think so.  All of those personalities under one roof are bound to produce at least a little bit of conflict.  And so it is in our families as well.  It reminds me of another family, and this came in an article by Ann Landers, rest her soul.  It was a letter from Lucille in St. Louis, Missouri.  Please listen:

 

Dear Ann,

 

Both my husband and I were determined that competition would not separate our two children when they grew up.  And so, when their adolescent bickering turned into a full blown battle at the dinner table one night, I became angry.  I said, “You two must become better friends because God willing, you’ll both live a long time and some day your father and I will be gone and the two of you will be left and you will alone remember what it was like to grow up in this family.  Nobody else is going to remember the Christmases that we had, the tree house that you built, the day you learned to ride a bike, the fun you had trick-or-treating, the teacher you loved in the third grade and the kittens that were born in the laundry room.  It will just be the two of you and you had better learn to love one another and become friends soon because sixty years down the road only you will be able to share those things together well.”  Lucille from St. Louis says that “Both of my children became very quiet.  I thought maybe they were too young to understand but it must have made an impression, because all these years later, today they are the best of friends and they love one another.” 

 

Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers is that kind of love and forgiveness alive in your family today?  If it is you have cause to celebrate.  But if you’re struggling right now, then remember this:  life is too short to build walls where bridges belong.  And if you need to be reconciled with someone, with anyone in the circle of your family, get down on your knees and pray today that God will help you do it and then reach out in the spirit of reconciliation and love. 

III.

 

That’s what happens in our final text today from the Gospel of John, the 19th chapter.  This is the final scene of Jesus’ physical life on earth.  He’s probably thirty-three and He was betrayed by one of His friends, He was arrested by His enemies, He was abandoned by most of His disciples and family, was accused of blasphemy and then they crucified Him on a cross.  Hanging there in that last scene with the last gasps of breath that were still left in Him, He looked down at Mary his mother and at John His disciple and brother in the faith and He gave them to one another.  He said from the cross “Woman here’s your son.”  And He said to his disciple John, “Here is your mother.” And John says from that hour the disciple took her, Mary, into his own home.

 

Dying on the cross Jesus gave birth to something that now includes you and me.  It’s called The Jesus Family on earth, also known as the church, where we can become sisters and brothers and fathers and mothers and aunts and uncles one to another here in this family of faith – The Jesus Family.  And as you know, it’s now a worldwide family – two billion Christians living on this planet today from every race and nation and color and ethnic origin.  And because The Jesus Family, the church, was called into being and brought together by our Savior on the cross, He is counting on us now to love one another, to live in peace as sisters and brothers, and to show the world what real family relationships look like.

 

We caught a glimpse of it this past Wednesday.  This article in the Atlanta

Journal-Constitution – two men are actually laughing together and the headline reads “Former Foes Join To Run Northern Ireland.”  This man is Ian Paisley, the Protestant leader.  He’s a Presbyterian minister.  This man is Martin McGuinness and he’s a Catholic leader, and for the first time in more than two generations, they have formed a government and now are beginning to live together in peace.  But if you really want to know what the family looks like today, look in this mirror, because you, all of you are The Jesus Family on earth now and He is counting on us to show the world what real family relationships look like. 

 

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.