"Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."(Mark 3:35)
A few years ago at our Diocesan Convention a friend and fellow priest was leading the hearing on Clergy Compensation. I was waiting my turn to speak against the formula, for reasons I won't get into here. The Bishop asked me if I wished to speak. My friend said "I believe my brother wishes to speak on the next topic." I relied "My sister is correct."
A little later another priest got up to speak on the same topic and said I don't what Christmas' were like at the Zelley house..... He had assumed that my friend and I were biologically brother and sister, which we are not.
I have a sister, and I have a mother and a father. To the best of my knowledge they follow God's will for their lives. But that isn't what makes us brother, sister and parents.
In the body of Christ I have brothers and sisters who I am not related to. Our shared faith in Jesus and doing the will of God as we perceive it creates that relationship.
Jesus wasn't casting aside his actual family, he was just expanding the definition beyond shared DNA.
I'm glad to have an extensive group of friends who I have brotherly and sisterly affection for. And I also love dearly my nuclear family.
Blessings,
Ed
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