Messy Family of the Church

One of the things I love about the stories of the biblical Patriarchs - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their families - is that the ‘founding fathers’ of God’s people were so messy. Instead of finding shining examples of nuclear families, we see a remarkable spectrum of human brokenness and sin:

• The pain of infertility: Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel

• Husbands not protecting their wives: Abraham and Isaac claiming their beautiful wives were their sisters, which exposed them to possible violation by Pharaoh and Abimelech.

• Wives undermining their husbands: Rebecca conspiring with Jacob to steal Isaac’s blessing from Esau

• Vulnerable single mothers: Hagar

• Inter-sibling rivalry: Jacob and Esau, Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery

• Inter-family exploitation: Jacob and Laban

• Favourite children: Isaac favoured Esau, Jacob favoured Joseph

There was even mess that we don’t really find today in the western world: infighting wives of polygamous husbands, and the disturbing way that Lot’s daughters got pregnant in Genesis 19 and Tamar got pregnant in Genesis 38.

God did not start his covenant people with anything resembling ideal families. Instead, God shows remarkable compassion to messy families. He showed favour to unloved Leah and conniving Jacob, and Hagar was given the honor of being the first person to name God (‘the living God who sees me’). In the same way, God desires to bless the world through the diverse and beautiful people of the church: through young and old, single mums, parents and those without children, and through singles and married couples.

This reflection introduces the Sunday teaching about church as family (and marriage) which was shared on 2nd May. You can listen to it below.