THE CHILDREN’S BREAD
8th. August 2022
‘“Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”’
Mark 3:31-35, NIV.
Child of God, having read the above bible verses, there should be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that Jesus most certainly loved His immediate earthly family very much, but there must have been a genuine reason, why He had to tell the people what he told them; That whoever does the will of His Father is His brother, sister, and mother! Why did Jesus not also add a father as someone must have observed? Because He had no earthly father; He was the seed of the Holy Ghost!
Have you realized Child of God, that sometimes, it is easier for those outside to love you, and help you to birth the potentials within you, than those who are your immediate family, or very close friends? When we think about it from a layman perspective, under normal circumstances, I do not think there is anything evil about this phenomenon as these are the people, whom we have blood ties with, or people who are very close to us; With whom we spend most of our time, as a result, they have gotten so used to us and we to them, that most of us no longer see anything special in one another as opposed to those, with whom we do not spend much time. From my experience, in most cases, it is people who are far away, and who do not have any blood ties with you, that are the very ones, who are more open to giving you an ear, or just to give you a benefit of a doubt, although, we always have some bad apples everywhere. Nonetheless, it is those who you do not even have any close ties with, who are willing to help you, regardless of the fact ,that we may fall out with them every now and again as it is normal in every good or bad relationship. We are sometimes pushed to ask ourselves, what it is that makes some people, who are very close to us, not to see the good qualities in us. My personal opinion on this is, that I do not believe that they do not see it; They very well do, but most of them just decide to ignore it and pretend as though the kingdom of Heaven is not within you as not to point you to its existence, should you not already be aware of it. Okay, if that is the case, that they see it and still choose to ignore it, why is it so? Well, there are too many reasons that could possibly contribute to this; Most of the times, it is people who are very close to us, that know more about our hidden potentials than those who are far from us, and sometimes, even more than we do; Those who have such gifts, or potential within them! I do believe that most of them, who do not want you to know the talents that they notice in you, do so because they believe, that they should be the ones who should possess such talents or gifts as opposed to you. They believe that they are in better positions for such potentials as opposed to you, thus, they would rather not see it in you, or talk about it openly. What I have come to understand is, that in some cases, when people act like that towards you, it is an indication to the content of their hearts as it relates to you, thus, we are to be okay with the fact that they sometimes choose to be silent about you, which could be understood as the best way, that they know to contain their anger against you.
Let’s not forget what Jesus was doing prior to Him receiving the message that his family had arrived and were seeking for Him; He entered a house where a massive crowd followed Him into, and when His family heard it, the Scripture records that they came to take charge of Him, thus, I guess that they believed He had lost it completely (Mark 3:20-21). If we think about their actions from their perspectives, they may not have had ill intentions for coming to take charge of Jesus. On one hand, they felt that they were the only family that Jesus had, while on the other hand, Jesus sure knew that they were not the only family He had, as He came into the world to draw all men to Himself! This is also proof, that although they grew up with Jesus, lived with Him, dined and wined with Him, yet, they did not fully know Who He was all the while, which confirms the warning that Jesus gave us, that: A Prophet is not without honor, except in his own house, and country (Mark 6:4). Child of God Almighty, you see, there are many families who love it nice, orderly, and quite, where no one is meant to fall out of the line, or mess up the already existing protocols, and if a child who happens not to play according to the rules begins to act up, then,that is it- done! As a result, such children are termed as unruly, boat rockers, controversial, arsonists, or out of order – What we fail to take into consideration is, that if someone is anointed by the Holy Spirit, they mostly do not play according to the rhythm of everyone else around them; They are a bit different, and especially if they have indeed been called, and anointed to be mysteriously different- ODD. They may say yes, in a situation where everyone else, is singing no, and the next moment they turn around and say no, where everyone is saying yes!
What if the Holy Spirit is the very one making them not to fit in?
Child of God, I wouldn’t want us to misconstrue the analogy that I just gave, as it should be fully understood, that it is not everyone who behaves like that, is acting upon the unction of the Holy Spirit, but rather, many people who act like that, are more likely to be dealing with issues, which they need spiritual or physical help to resolve Therefore, thank God, that THE HOLY SPIRIT KNOWS WHO’S WHO!
I suppose, that as wonderful and loving as the siblings of our LORD Jesus must have been, the problem they might have had with Him, could have been, that they did not believe in Jesus, till after His death, and resurrection, when things finally became much clearer to them. Although, Mary His mother believed in Him, yet, as a mother and human, there must have been times that she allowed her other children to convince her that Jesus had lost His mind! Nonetheless, every now and again, she would remember how He was conceived, and all the miracles surrounding His birth, and as a result, she would yet again be strengthened by the godly memories of the Promise of God to her through Him, that He was the Savior of the world! His siblings did not have the visitation; They were not the ones, whom the Holy Angel Gabriel paid a visit to, in order to give one of the most powerful, as well as cultures, and tradition defying message, which their mother received! Thus, regardless of how many times she would have replayed it to them, there was absolutely no way, that they could have believed her account of His birth like she did!
By all accounts, I fully believe that Jesus must have been a very strong-willed Son and brother within His earthly immediate family, so much so, that the moment his earthly family heard about the controversy He seemed to have been causing in the city, that they were not shocked about it at all. That notwithstanding, I do believe, that one of the reasons that they rushed to where HE was teaching, was due to fear for their own lives, as well as their reputation. Thus, they had to rush to the scene in order to take charge of Him, but as they would also have anticipated, it greatly backfired on them – Publicly!
Child of God, when we think about what Jesus told His family, it sounds very disrespectful, and heartless, that a son or sibling would publicly make such a cruel statement concerning His own family, but what we also do not take into consideration from a third person’s perspective is, that He already knew about His family’s mindset as He must have been constantly confronted with the same kind of oppositions from within, but in another form.
We are to love our immediate families, nonetheless, we are to also make room for expansion as to accommodate those who are our brothers and sisters in faith. When I talk about brothers and sisters in faith, I would want to emphasize or highlight, that not all who are Christians are truly followers of THE CHRIST (Rom 9:6), therefore, you have to test all spirits as not to welcome those who mean you harm, rather than good. This is so because, on one hand, there are people, whom you have blood ties with, that are nonetheless better identified and treated as enemies rather than friends, by staying away from them, as they would stop at nothing to undermine you. On the other hand, there are those, who do not even have any blood ties with you, yet, would go out of their ways to see to it, that you become a better version of yourself (Proverbs 18:24). That being the case child of God, tell me if you can, who then amongst them should rightly be considered as a brother, sister, mother, and earthly father? Of course, those who genuinely have your back, thus, well-being in mind, isn’t it?
Jesus was not trying to castigate his family but to remind people that with God Almighty, there is no preferential treatment when it comes to His sheep, and lambs. I want us to remember, that the family of Jesus came to pull Him away from the people who were listening to His teaching with open hearts – This his family did, not because they were evil, but rather, to deter Him from offending the Pharisees, in whose flesh He had already become a very painful torn, regardless of how careful He tried to thread. As a result of being fully aware of their states of mind towards Him, He made it even clearer to His family, that regardless of how offended the Pharisees were, that the genuine children of God needed to be fed with the word of God, which was given to Him to deliver to them by His Holy Father, and nothing, and no one was going to stop Him from continuing in that part!
Jesus was fully aware of Who He was, as well as very confident in Himself, so much so, that He did not mind making His family know, that regardless of the opinion that they had about Him, or they perceived that others had about Him, He was going to keep on doing what He was doing, till the very end! After-all, it was not the first time He showed them this side of Himself; We remember when He remained in the synagogue asking questions while His mother and step-father were almost dying of heart failure as a result of his disappearance, thinking the worst could have happened to Him, but when they eventually found Him, instead of being excited, and happily falling into their arms, or at least give the kind of excuse for his behavior, which would make sense to any earthly being, He snapped back at His mother, saying to her in a paraphrased form: Why were you even looking for me, do you not know that I have to be about my Father’s business?! Think about that for a second; He was just twelve years of age! Let’s think about how such a very strong personality which he had at the age of 12 would have developed over the course of the many years, that we do not have the privilege to know what He did (wilderness years?).
CHILD OF GOD
Now, to you Child of God, should you be going through such an ordeal within your family, or those who you call family, I would love to encourage you to look, and go within yourself through prayers, as that is where the solutions that you are looking for lies. Therefore,
- I want you to know that as long as God sees you, and believe this truth; He does. As a result, He will make those who are truly your brothers and sister to be attracted to you because of HIM in you!
- I want you to remember Joseph, who was wickedly and relentlessly mocked and viciously treated by his own siblings, thus, mocked as “THE DREAMER”, since he is a typical example of this same struggle, which you may be going through, or may get to go through some day, as long as you have been called and chosen according to the purpose of God Almighty!
Talking about Joseph, you see child of God, he neither threw in the towel, nor did he kill himself or another while going through. On the contrary, he waited patiently for the LORD while he lived his life; Believing that since his portion is in the hands of God, if it comes to pass just like he was promised, perfect, but if it does not come to pass like that, as long as his life and portion is in God’s hands – It’s all good to the glory of God!
Q: Sister Susan, how could Joseph have gone through so much and yet never gave up?
A: Child of God, it is because he heard God very well, and he fully understood, that regardless of the ungodly oppositions, as well as his personal folly, when God Almighty has spoken, it is so!
Another fact to be noted with regards to Joseph and those who are truly called by God Almighty, is that he also did not kill his siblings when the opportunity presented itself, but rather, he came to the full understanding that when our faithful God, Who is forever true to His Promise and nature, speaks, that it is indeed so. As a result, He will always use and make all things, that has been done against us, or that is being done against us, for our good (Rom 8:28). Joseph would have understood that one of the reasons why God brought His siblings to Him, after all they had done to undermine his destiny, was for him to see, that no one can ever stop the word of God from coming to pass, not even the very people who fought hardest against it, but rather, that in some cases if not most, they are the very ones He would use if they like it or not, to make sure that the Promise which God specially made to him, to be fulfilled – Which means, that since they have vowed that it will not come to pass, then, the LORD God Almighty, by His mighty hand, Omniscient power, thus, in whichever way, shape or form He deems appropriate, will see to it, that they submit to His word, which they are fighting against. Consequently, they will get to bow to the word, authority, sovereignty, and name of our holy God Almighty (Philippians 2:10) – Amen!
Precious one of God, You must know this, that if you are called according to God’s purpose, you may be angry with the wicked, with regards to the wickedness they did to you, yet, you will never seek to take revenge on your own, in cases were there are genuine reasons for revenge, but rather, you will get to learn to put all things in God’s hands because most of the times, He uses everything that you are going through to make you become whom He has called or made you to be, which unbeknownst to you, has been laying dormant within you, and would never be made manifest if you are surrounded by people who are constantly praising, and worshipping you. Sometimes, it is good for people not to appreciate us, in order for us to find God in us, and to be used by Him to help others to find Him within themselves, including those who refused to appreciate you for whom God has made, called, and chosen you to be.
Jesus did not allow His siblings to stop Him from His purpose and assignment. Child of God, if Jesus did not allow the Pharisees to intimidate Him into ungodly submission by not relinquishing to them, the authority, power, position, and assignment, which God the Holy Father had clearly conferred on Him, neither should we allow those who are very close to us, anyone at all, or anything to stop us from loving and serving God Almighty, following Christ and doing His will.
So, child of God, I hope you stay encouraged, and understand, that you are not alone in your struggle, but like many before you, who have held on till the very end, you too precious one, will see the salvation of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, to Whom you truly belong, amen!
Never forget this Child of God:
- In Christ we move and in Him we have our being!
- For Christ we live – For Christ and in Christ, we die!
Amen!
Child of God, stay blessed, and happy!
Jesus loves you!
Written by Susan Ikeokwu