There were some interesting points raised in this discussion. Jesus seemed to have wrecked his own family before He was even born! After all, Mary was an unmarried virgin who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. If Joseph had not have agreed to marry her, I wonder what Mary's situation would have been like. Also, did Jesus know immediately that He was the son of God, or did He ever think that Joseph was his father? Secondly, He asked people to drop everything and follow him, causing the disciples to leave their families. The real message behind this could be that God comes first no matter what the situation. Here is an example of Jesus calling people to come and follow Him (although technically the person in the video calling them to baptism is John the Baptist).
Also, Jesus has homewrecking tendencies on modern day living. People could be further along in their faith than other family members, causing tension. But honestly, I would have to agree that Jesus was more of a home messer upper seeing as He talked to people that society deemed He "shouldn't," meaning tax collectors, criminals, lepers, and He even ate with sinners. This was just plain unheard of! This relates to one of the topics in our small group discussions: What are Jesus's Family Values? Some of the ones that our group came up with were love, acceptance, forgiveness, and support. Jesus loves us unconditionally and accepted the fact that we will always make mistakes and sin, but He will always forgive us because of His unconditional love. He also supports us, and everything that we have we owe to God.
The readings of last night's service were Mark 3:31-14, Ephesians 1:5-14, and Galatians 3:26-27, 4:4-7. I really liked the reading from Galatians. The last portion of the reading was, "And if you are a child, you're also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance." The fact that we are a child of God further enforces His unconditional love. It also means that we will all enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and this is why God sent His only son to die on the cross: He saved us because of His unconditional love for us.
The hymns that were sung were "The Church of Christ, in Every Age," "Go, My Children, with My Blessing," and the one that I indentify the most with, "My Hope is Built on Nothing Less." To me, this hymn described how Jesus is, metaphorically speaking, our "rock," meaning we can depend on Jesus. The line, "All the rest is sinking sand" means that Jesus is the
right path and everything else will just lead us astray. Sinking sand reminds me of quicksand, and when a person is engulfed by quicksand, they sink into the ground. This could be an allusion to hell. The hymn also relates back to the initial topic of Jesus being a homewrecker. The lyrics also mean that in our human life, we will encounter many things such as jobs, friends, creating a family, but only Christ is the true solid rock on which we can stand. If Jesus calls to us, we should listen, no matter what it means we have to leave behind.
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