Home for the Holidays

A devotion written for our church to complement the Sunday sermon 

Home for the Holidays

Mark 3:31-35 

As I listened to the Sunday sermon, I thought Pastor Jason made a brilliant point about Jesus and the healing of the leper (Mark 1:40-45). The man was “homeless” in the sense that his disease made him isolated from sympathetic people. When Jesus healed him, the man went and told everyone, contrary to Jesus’ instructions. But I had never thought (until Pastor Jason talked about it) that the man changed Jesus’ sense of home! Jesus could no longer go into town without being mobbed by people needing to see him and to be healed. Jesus’ identity was out and big news!  

Now, as the leper had done, Jesus was obliged to stay in lonely places (although, unlike the leper, his problem was popularity rather than quarantine). One assumes that Jesus missed how things used to be. 

All of us have holiday memories of “home.” When I was growing up over in south-central Illinois, we had cousins who lived in Dutchtown and who subsequently moved out to Crestwood. We exchanged visits throughout the year, but I remember Christmastime visits in particular. My great-aunt Jean liked to do what my mother called a “lightning tour” of visits to her several relatives in the area. My parents usually hosted them, and then we all met out at my grandmother’s farmhouse. 

Aunt Jean died in 1971 when I was 14, and my grandma died the following year. The cousins subsequently moved to Florida--to the chagrin of my parents. I think the cousins extolled the virtues of Florida so frequently that my parents didn't feel very missed. 

But that’s how life is! People move away, and the relationship is no longer the same. Our loved ones die, and we must process their loss. Events intervene to change our sense of home—but we miss how things used to be. We feel those changes keenly during the holiday season. Even the annoying things (like Aunt Jean’s sense of matriarchy) take on a Christmas shine when remembered. 

Another scripture from Mark can help us tremendously, though. In Mark 3:31-35, we read, 

“Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’” 

It's best not to focus on Jesus’ seeming neglect of his family. Maybe he went out to see them after he told this to his followers, after all. But Jesus is telling them (and us) that anyone who does God’s will is Jesus’ family. 

Pastor Jason also talked about Jesus’ call for us to bring healing and help to the world. Many are lonely and even homeless during the holidays. There are many millions of people throughout the world who are refugees from their home countries. None of us can solve the world's problems but, in Jesus’ name, we can serve where we can. In doing God’s will, we’re members of Jesus’ family who can bring others into the comfort of God’s fold. 

Our relationship with Jesus does change over time---because we change, and have new experiences. We grow and regress and return to faith. But Jesus is always faithful. He doesn’t move away and forgets to write. Advent is always a beautiful reminder of his continual, familial presence. 

Prayer, during this Advent season, welcome us into your family in new and deeper ways. Amen.