Jesus Behaving Badly by Mark L. Strauss

Author:Mark L. Strauss [Strauss, Mark L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2015-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Resolving the Paradox: True Family in the Kingdom of God

Jesus’ affirmation of the family. So was Jesus opposed to the traditional family unit? Did he dismiss the importance of family loyalty? Did he repudiate marriage? There is certainly evidence to the contrary. Jesus extolled faithfulness to the marriage covenant and spoke against divorce, which broke this covenant relationship. As we have seen, he condemned the religious leaders for finding ways around caring for their aging parents. He exalted the status of children and encouraged his followers to welcome them.

Yet we must not soft-pedal Jesus’ statements about where true loyalties lie. As we have done throughout this book, we need to understand Jesus’ teaching about family in the context of his central message: the coming of the kingdom of God.

True family loyalty in God’s kingdom. By proclaiming the arrival of God’s kingdom through his own words and actions, Jesus was declaring war. It was a spiritual war against Satan, sin, death and all the results of evil in the world. His exorcisms, healings and conflicts with the religious leaders were all skirmishes in this war. It is impossible to stay neutral in war. As Jesus himself said, “Whoever is not with me is against me” (Mt 12:30//Lk 11:23). There is no neutral ground.

And wars often turn brother against brother. The American Civil War saw fathers, sons, brothers, uncles and cousins facing each other on the field of battle. Wars demand a decision related to allegiance. Was it family first or nation first? When the command came to attack, family allegiances often dissolved and brother raised weapon against brother.

Jesus said he came to bring fire to the earth—the purging presence of the Spirit of God. This fire would purify and refine the righteous, but it would burn up and destroy the wicked. When Jesus commissioned his twelve disciples and sent them out to preach, he warned them of the danger of family betrayal: “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. . . . Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by every­­one because of me” (Mt 10:16, 21-22; cf. Mk 13:12; Lk 21:16).

Being hated by family and friends may seem harsh and extreme, but it has been the experience of many Christians whose newfound faith has put them at odds with their own culture and with those they love. While this kind of family hatred may be rare in the West, it is more common around the world.

Consider the story of Mohammed, a Nigerian Muslim from the Fulani people, who was excelling at a young age in his study of the Qur’an.5 Since he was a star pupil, his father sent him away to several elite schools for advanced studies in Islam. At the age of twenty-two, as Mohammed was making plans to go to Saudi Arabia for further studies, he began having disturbing dreams about demons. His father took

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