Cramped Corners                                                                                                                          E - 2

 

I grew up and lived in an industrial part of a huge Midwestern city.  There were four kids and we could afford only a small bungalow.  My parents had bedroom #1, my two oldest sisters had bedroom #2, and the third sister (six years older than me) was stuck with me (her younger brother) in bedroom #3.  And this arrangement lasted until I was 13 years old and my sister/roommate was 19!

Make sure you picture this: an 8^th grade girl with a brother in 2^nd grade, sharing a cramped small bedroom; later, a senior high school girl with a 6^th grade brother …. and so on.  These days that arrangement might be called some form of abuse (especially from my sister’s point of view!!!).  Ask your kids these days for them to have this sort of arrangement, and then duck.  They would be immediately Googling to find a good lawyer.

We could be friends, then enemies, then friends, all in the space of a day, but the one constant was that we knew each other extremely well.  Too bad that in those days, I knew nothing about friendship between siblings.  And I knew nothing about how to communicate!  Today it’s been decades since that living arrangement ended, but we still remember each other’s quirks, likes and dislikes.  We really did walk in each other’s shoes.

At the end of Matthew’s Gospel, we read Jesus saying the following just after his resurrection: “Do not be afraid.  Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Jesus often chose the words “brothers, sisters” to describe his friends.  Not “servants“, not “creatures” he made, not “sinners”, but brothers and sisters!  Not quite a distant, aloof, disinterested God, but rather a God who knows us and wants us to know him, as much as a brother and sister growing up together!  Jesus has indeed walked in our shoes!  Isn’t this an unbelievably exciting truth?

 

1) What might be the single most important action God would want from us?  Might it be obedience, prayer, purity?  Or might it also be good communication, an ability to talk with each other? 

2) Probably the most common phrase in the Bible is something like: “Don’t be afraid.”  Why is this message used so much?  How well does our Father know us? 

3) How important is it for us to know that Jesus calls us brother or sister? 

4) How important is it for us to know that Jesus calls you brother or sister? 

5) Isn’t it true that brothers and sisters know each other well?  How do we do that with God?  Is it complicated or easy? 

6) Friendship and communication are basic building blocks of a marriage, and also building a relationship with our Brother, Jesus.  Does God want this to happen?  Do you?