The modern American experience nearly ensures every person’s first-hand knowledge of problems within the family.  Divorce, abuse, abandonment, conflict, nearly every family experiences at least one of these things first hand.  The hurt and broken lives which come parceled with family problems is of inestimable cost in every measurable, and immeasurable way.  We are intimate with this truth in this day.

[picapp align=”center” wrap=”false” link=”term=nativity+scene&iid=2936283″ src=”3/4/c/7/d5.jpg?adImageId=7939855&imageId=2936283″ width=”380″ height=”253″ /]So often we think Jesus immune to family problems, after all wasn’t he the chubby little infant nestled cozily in the straw-filled manger while his handsomely dressed parents, the nicely groomed animals, the well-kept shepherds and an angel or two looked serenely down upon Jesus’ cherubic face?

How many times have we considered that the announcement of Jesus’ birth caused fear, not celebration, more often than not? How many times have we stopped to consider that Jesus’ earthly parents nearly divorced before Jesus was even born?  How many times do we remember that Jesus’ parents were technically homeless on his birth day and then subsequently were refugees in a country foreign to them before Jesus was out of his toddler years? Should we remember the Bible records Jesus’ parents were angry with him? Should we recall the argument between Jesus, his brothers and his mother?  Didn’t his own hometown ask the question, “Isn’t this not Joseph’s son?”  I can almost see the self-justified sneer behind the lips of those who spoke from first-hand knowledge of Jesus’ “family problems.”

The modern American experience nearly ensures every person’s first-hand knowledge of problems within the family.  Divorce, abuse, abandonment, conflict, nearly every family experiences at least one of these things first hand.  The hurt and broken lives which come parceled with family problems is of inestimable cost in every measurable, and immeasurable way.  We are intimate with this truth in this day.

So often we think Jesus immune to family problems, after all wasn’t he the chubby little infant nestled cozily in the straw-filled manger while his handsomely dressed parents, the nicely groomed animals, the well-kept shepherds and an angel or two looked serenely down upon Jesus’ cherubic face?

How many times have we considered that the announcement of Jesus’ birth caused fear, not celebration, more often than not? How many times have we stopped to consider that Jesus’ earthly parents nearly divorced before Jesus was even born?  How many times do we remember that Jesus’ parents were technically homeless on his birth day and then subsequently were refugees in a country foreign to them before Jesus was out of his toddler years? Should we remember the Bible records Jesus’ parents were angry with him? Should we recall the argument between Jesus, his brothers and his mother?  Didn’t his own hometown ask the question, “Isn’t this not Joseph’s son?”  I can almost see the self-justified sneer behind the lips of those who spoke from first-hand knowledge of Jesus’ “family problems.”

My friends at Main Street will gather this upcoming Sunday to worship the one who suffered from “A Family Problem.”