FAMILY!

It’s always a joy to be with loved ones. This time was no different. As you can probably tell, I’m having a good time with my father and brother and his family in SC. Outside of the obligatory gastronomic celebrations in festive Indian fashion (Thanks, Susan!), we just hung around, took in some sights on S. Carolina’s Atlantic coast, ate out, saw a movie, and generally vegetated (conserving innumerable precious heartbeats in the process, of course).

Article 16 (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly of the U.N.) says: The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

This kindred unit called family is a strange thing, isn’t it? The Bible recognizes the family as special. While proceeding to give his benediction in the middle of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul throws in a cryptic little “aside”…

… the Father [patera],
from whom every family [patria]
in heaven and on earth
derives its name ….
Ephesians 3:14

Clearly those key words are similar. But one would suppose that Paul’s interest in the matter was more than etymological. The family, he seems to suggest, has its basis in the Fatherhood of God, and thus in the very concept of the Trinity. The family is special? You bet! And then Jesus radically expanded the boundaries of this earthly kindred, making it even more special in character, when He declared, looking around at His followers …

“For whoever
does the will of God,
he is My brother
and sister and mother.”
Mark 3:35

For those who have taken the first step in doing the will of God by placing their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior, that momentous step of faith has brought them into a new family relationship. This one is not anthropological, biological, or sociological. This one is spiritual!

For by one Spirit
we were all baptized
into one body ….
1 Corinthians 12:13

The Holy Spirit that indwells every believer is the DNA, so to speak, that links us all in unity. And just as (ideally) we are to go through the experience of life with our biological families, the Bible assumes as a norm that we live our spiritual lives only in communion with our spiritual families, the body of Christ. For instance, that same benediction of Paul in Ephesians 3 exhorts us ….

… to comprehend
with all the saints
what is the breadth and length
and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ
which surpasses knowledge ….
Ephesians 3:18–19

With all the saints. It might not be too far off to say that a believer cannot experience the love of Christ in its plenitude outside of the family of God, without all the saints. Such an understanding commits us as members of that family to depict to one another the love of Christ in the magnitude of its breadth and length and height and depth! What an overwhelming responsibility we have towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Experiencing Christ’s love. Showing Christ’s love. The function of family!

This is His commandment,
that we believe in the name
of His Son Jesus Christ,
and love one another,
just as He commanded us.
1 John 3:23

Bear one another's burdens,
and thereby fulfill
the law of Christ.
Galatians 6:2

So then, while we have opportunity,
let us do good to all people,
and especially to those
who are of the household
of the faith.
Galatians 6:10