In this week's gospel (Mark 3:20-35, RCL), Jesus “redefines” family. And that’s important for the
church to understand, because local churches often think of themselves in
familial terms without actually making it clear that we are a different kind of
family; that lack of clarity is risky. For people wounded by their families of
origin, or by divorce or abandonment, the idea of church as family can be very
off-putting. For people whose families were havens of comfort and a refuge from
the world, the idea of church as family can create expectations that the church
was not created to meet. For those reasons I’m very careful how I describe the
church, and family is not a word I use often. Christ’s church must always be a place where all are
welcome, and where those who commit to following Christ become brothers and
sisters regardless of how little else they may have in common. “Blood is
thicker than water”, we say. That may be true of ordinary water; but blood is
never thicker than the waters of baptism, where we all who desire to follow
Christ and do the will of God become part of the household of God.
