Daily Reading 10/26

Identity. Who do we say we are? Who are we really? How do we relate to everyone around us? How do our experiences shape the ways we see the world? How does being a Christian fit in with our identity?

I ask these questions because today's Gospel reading seems (to me) to be bringing us face to face with the issue of Christian identity. The passage is Matthew 12:43-50. There are two things happening here, and I'm interested in the 2nd part (the first part is about demons coming and taking over your soul-it's important but I'll save that for another time). The verses we'll think about here are 46-50. The Message version reads:

46-47 While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you."
48-50 Jesus didn't respond directly, but said, "Who do you think my mother and brothers are?" He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. "Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father's will is my brother and sister and mother."

It's a pretty tricky passage, because it seems Jesus is rejecting his earthly family in favor of his heavenly family, if we think of the heavenly family as those who obey God. Imagine how much this must have stung his mother-all she and Joseph had to go through in order to bring Jesus into the world, and keep him safe (the scandal of a young, unmarried, pregnant girl-the exile into Egypt-these were no small things!). And one of the major values of this time period, and one could say still lingers, was respecting one's parents. Jesus seems to do the opposite here, and says these people here are my mother and brothers-implying that those folks over there (who were related biologically) just might not be.

What does this mean about identity? Well, it means that Jesus is calling us to remember that our identity as followers of God-and followers of Jesus-is the central part of who we are. It informs everything about how we approach the world. It shapes everything about us. We are Christians first and everything else second.

The implications of this are pretty staggering when you think about it. Our call to be Christians comes before our call to do anything else.

But it's not all bad. Remember that our call to be Christian does NOT negate our family and friend relationships. In fact, it will often enhance all of our relationships because we strive to see Christ in every person when we live out our Christian identity. Jesus sometimes used more extreme measures to make his point, however. In this case, he is striving to help people understand that your relationship with (and thus your identity) God takes priority over your relationship with a family. Or, to put it another way, in a time and a place where familial heritage was important, Jesus was making the point that it wasn't the most important thing in the world. You could be a nobody-but if you were in relationship with God, your family heritage became unimportant.

So-How do we live our identities as Christians first in our own lives? How does this shape our approach to the world? Does it at all?

What do you think?