Once again, the good bishop stirs the pot.
___
On the
cross, Jesus gets into it with his mother. "Woman, behold thy son," he says to
her. Mary, look at the child you are losing, the son that you are giving over
for the sins of the world. Maternal love is that love that loves in order to
give away. In Mary's case, it was particularly so. When Jesus was born, old
Simeon had predicted, "A sword will also pierce your heart." From the first, it
was not easy to be the mother of the Son of God. And now, even from the cross,
Jesus is busy ripping apart families and breaking the hearts of mothers. Because
he was obedient to the will of God, because Jesus did not waver from his
God-ordained mission, he is a great pain to his family. "Woman, behold thy son."
In
that day, in that part of the world, there were no social attachments as rigid
or determinative as that of the family. Family origin determined your whole
life, your complete identity, your entire future. So one of the most
countercultural, revolutionary acts of Jesus was his sustained attack upon the
family.
In a
culture like our own, dominated by "family values," where we have nothing better
to command our allegiance to than our own blood relatives, this is one of the
good things the church does for many of us. In baptism, we are rescued from our
family. Our families, as good as they are, are too narrow, too restricted. So in
baptism we are adopted into a family large enough to make our lives more
interesting.
___
You can read the rest of Bishop Willimon's post here.
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