When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home (John 19:25-27).

COVID has messed with so many aspects of our lives.  Now, as we are just beginning to slowly and carefully emerge from the pandemic’s shadows, we have an opportunity to review and recalibrate those lives.  What matters most, and why?  What should I move towards in the days ahead?  Are there some things I should move away from?

And where does “church” fit in to all of this?

As we head towards Mother’s Day, we’re looking at a gospel passage that is both heart-breaking and heart-warming.  Jesus hangs on the cross; his death is very near.  He sees his mother Mary, standing with “the beloved disciple” who is usually identified as John, the author of the fourth Gospel.

Mary appears to have no family.  None are mentioned here.  So what Jesus does, from the Cross, is to speak a new family, a new community and a new kind of community, into existence.  To Mary, he says, “Dear woman, behold your son”; to John, “Here is your mother.”  And John adds, “from that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

John and Mary, unrelated “by blood” become related in an even deeper way than “blood” can accomplish.

And this poignant scene is hardly the first time Jesus has been “messing with” the word family.  “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me … Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 10:37; 12:48-50).

The Gospel creates a new family, a new community.  It does not ignore or downgrade biological family — see how Jesus cares for Mary while he is dying! — but it does not give primacy to that understanding of “family.”  God’s kingdom both acknowledges and honors what we normally think of as “family” while at the same time explosively expanding our understanding of the word.

According to Jesus, my true family is wider and broader than I might think!

“Family” is about many things.  Jesus focuses his definition on our mutual responsibilities to and for each other within his family, the “church.”  In Christ’s new family, his new community, we do not share parentage and DNA, we do not share common ethnicity, history, culture.  We do share a common call to love one another as we have been loved by Christ.

Imagine what might happen, as we begin to regather in person, or even if we continue to do some things online, if each time we saw one other’s faces, heard each other’s voices, we also heard the voice of Jesus: “Here is your mother, your sister, your father, your brother.”

What are some ways you think God is calling you to focus/refocus on your “spiritual siblings” in Chatham Community Church in the days and weeks ahead?