Regarding this, the first scenario we see a little bit of familiarity with the Anointed one and His yoke-breaking anointing was at the wedding in Cana. Mary — probably having seen some miraculous by younger Jesus — quickly told the wedding servants to do whatever Jesus commanded.
She clearly overlooked Jesus’ reason: Mine hour is not yet come.
Whatever that meant, it wasn’t respected.
What comes to mind is what I discussed a few blogs ago, The Appointed Time. In there, we realize that Joseph’s delay in the prison was God-ordained. If he left the prison earlier, he would have missed the Pharaoh when he dreamt two years later.
Just because we are family to men of God who have wrought wondrous things, we shouldn’t expect them to be puppeteered every now and then every time we wish. There ought to be some boundaries set. Even if they are very generous, don’t think their money is out there, slumbering in their accounts, waiting for your need and emergencies to come up then show up to your aid — hastily at that.
Rich or generous, let’s know when enough is enough.
In Matthew 12, verses 46-50, Jesus reacted rather differently to the familiarity. The Bible says ‘while He was yet still speaking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”’
Please notice that He was speaking to a crowd. Picture this man speaking to a hundred people, or maybe it was another five thousand men like that time when he fed the same. Imagine He is at a crusade of 150,000 people, and while at the pulpit someone skulks up as if to say “Your family wants to say hi, because they have to rush for a function somewhere.”
It’d be insulting or silly, or selfish. So should the preaching stop because you want to exchange pleasantries!?
This could go another way; maybe you are the family. Maybe you are Mary, and this one time, Jesus forgets to recognize your presence publicly. Maybe He did it last time, and now you feel offended — causing you not to even pay attention for the word coming…
Ah,
Jesus even made it worse by replying with a new definition of family.
“Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
This must have blown up on the present family. He’d as though renounced them just like that.
It’d have been worse if Jesus was African. The entire clan would have heard of it! 🤣
But the truth is, God owns these ministers first of all. Of course we are grateful you were a great parent or sibling or friend to them, but apply wisdom in your judgements or dealing with them. The master is in need of them like that colt. You can’t for example say you’d like to see them at a time you know they are to be preaching.
If the man of God is to be ministering on a Wednesday or Thursday evening, you can’t request to see him (or her, for the Kathyrn Kuhlmans) in that very time. Putting up functions or weddings on a Sunday duration where you well know they are not available won’t judge in your favor when they don’t show up.
The folly is some of us make them ‘guests of honor’ in such times, which provokes conflicting loyalty in them. When they send representatives, some of us boil with indignation.
Same goes for the workplace. If your spouse holds a great position in an organization, don’t be calling him or her randomly hoping they will prioritize you. What if they are in a critical shareholders’ meeting? And if they don’t respond quickly, many of us start with the threats, and curses.
The devil whispers, and we take the bait…
I am not of course advocating for poor communication from the other party. This is a call to the party on the other side of the seesaw. We always point fingers at the in-availability of them, never noticing the misunderstanding of us. We point at the sinner with a prayer for mercy, and we end up being the pharisee who states that he is righteous fully in God’s eyes.
Ah,
God help us. God help us all.
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