If you ever feel as if your family is holding you back, rest assured: most of the time, it’s only because they love you and want to keep you safe.
Jesus experienced this. If you don’t remember, he spent the first 30 years of his life in obscurity. The only thing we know about him after his birth is the story of a trip to Jerusalem when he was 12 years old. Chance are, up until age 30 he had simply been a carpenter.
So when he started on this whole ministry thing, his family thought he had lost his mind and tried to protect him from the authorities, who were getting mighty upset with him.
Jesus entered a house. A crowd gathered again so that it was impossible for him and his followers even to eat. When his family heard what was happening, they came to take control of him. They were saying, “He’s out of his mind!”
The legal experts came down from Jerusalem. Over and over they charged, “He’s possessed by Beelzebul. He throws out demons with the authority of the ruler of demons.”
His mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside and sent word to him, calling for him. A crowd was seated around him, and those sent to him said, “Look, your mother, brothers, and sisters are outside looking for you.”
He replied, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Looking around at those seated around him in a circle, he said, “Look, here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God’s will is my brother, sister, and mother.” (Mark 3:20-22, 31-35 CEB)
It is interesting that this Scripture comes up in the lectionary in between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day (on the US calendar). Sometimes people look at this and think his family didn’t support him. Even Mary, who knew the experiences around his birth, may have worried about him. But they weren’t fighting him.
Maybe his brothers and sisters thought, “Oh, there he goes! He’s always been the weird family member.” John 7:2-5 tells us his brothers made fun of him. This occurred probably about six months before the crucifixion of Jesus, so he had already been in his ministry for at least two years, had performed many miracles including healings and walking on water, but his own brothers still didn’t believe him.
But then came the event recorded in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7.
I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ….
I can only imagine how that conversation might have gone. “So, brother, what to do you think now?”
James became a believer, a leader of the church in Jerusalem with the nickname “Old Camel Knees” because he spent so much time on his knees in prayer.
If your family holds you back from pursuing something of central importance to you, understand that it may come out of love. They just want to keep you safe.
But safe isn’t what Jesus has in mind, for himself or for us.