Rejected Within Family

Devotional Reflection, Friday, February 4, 2022

The week of the fourth Sunday after Epiphany

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

2Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. 3So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; 4for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ 5(For not even his brothers believed in him.)

You will find the full text of today’s Gospel at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 947)

AM Psalm 69:1-23(24-30)31-38; PM Psalm 73

Gen. 24:1-27; Heb. 12:3-11; John 7:1-13

Today we celebrate the Feast of  the Presentation. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

Sir Lawrence Olivier was quoted by his wife on a television talk show as having said, "Behind every family's front door there is a slaughterhouse."    What a graphic hyperbole, but within it lurks some measure of reality. Family may not be the friendliest or emotionally safest place.  Those closest to us have more power to wound us, because we are more vulnerable to them.

Jesus had four brothers (see Mark 6 where they are named) and several unnamed sisters, and today’s Gospel makes it clear that the brothers did not believe in him.  They were challenging him to put his life at risk by going openly to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, sort of an “I dare you!”  In our childhood we usually hurled that challenge at someone in whom we didn’t have confidence, someone we didn’t believe would be able or inclined to meet the challenge we had in mind for them.  (The narrator whispers in our ear that Jesus did not wish to go about publicly in Judea because the Jewish religious leaders were plotting to put him to death.)

It is especially painful to know that those closest to you lack faith in you and do not understand you.  Can you feel beneath the taunts of Jesus’ brothers an aura of contempt?  Their sarcasm must have felt like emotional tooth marks in his psyche.  They had grown up together, eaten together, played together, and worshipped together.  But, in this moment togetherness was absent.

Today’s feast celebrates Jesus’ presentation in the Temple by his parents. But, today’s Gospel sounds a note of dissonance with that act of devotion with the infant Jesus. Jesus’ family was a mixed blessing. Presenting him as an infant in the Temple evidences their devotion to God, but devotion doesn’t always make a difference in family relationships.

Jesus consistently experienced the resistance and unbelief of his family.  Even his mother at one point shared in the belief that he was mentally unbalanced and attempted with his brothers to seclude him at home (Mark 3).  His brother James, who became a leader in the Jerusalem church, probably was not converted until Jesus appeared to him after the resurrection (see 1 Corinthians 15). According to Mark 3, with Jesus’ family hovering at the door thinking he was beside himself, Jesus rebuffed them in the presence of a group of followers and declared that those who did the will of God were his true family.

Most of us share Jesus’ sense of estrangement from some members of our biological families.  Thank God for Jesus, our brother, who feels with us the unique loneliness of that estrangement.  And, thank God for friends, especially for fellow believers in Christ, who understand and value us and who function like mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles in our lives.

At this point in my journey, almost all of my biological family has died. Other than my paternal grandparents and some of my cousins, my family did not “get it” about my faith journey when they were alive. That has made my spiritual kinships all the more important. Thank God for that cluster of friends who share my faith and my journey and who “get it” about who I am.

Please be encouraged by these musings to take note of your spiritual kin and to be intentional about nurturing those relationships. If you have biological family who share your sense of commitment, be encouraged to celebrate that and to keep nurturing those bonds.

Collect of the Day, Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 215)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Purification.htm

Collect of the Feast of the Presentation

Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for Fridays

Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen.  (BCP, 123)

A Collect for Quiet Confidence

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 832)

In the Evening

O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen.  (BCP, 833)

A Collect for Mission

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.  (BCP, 280)

Daily Office Gospel, John 7:1-13

7:1After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him. 2Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. 3So his brothers said to him, ‘Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; 4for no one who wants to be widely known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.’ 5(For not even his brothers believed in him.) 6Jesus said to them, ‘My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. 7The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil. 8Go to the festival yourselves. I am not going to this festival, for my time has not yet fully come.’ 9After saying this, he remained in Galilee. 10But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. 11The Jews were looking for him at the festival and saying, ‘Where is he?’ 12And there was considerable complaining about him among the crowds. While some were saying, ‘He is a good man,’ others were saying, ‘No, he is deceiving the crowd.’ 13Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews.

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer