Family Values – that’s something we hear a lot about – especially around election time.
Everybody is concerned about “family values”. More and more people blame the breakdown in family values for our growing list of social problems: for crime and unemployment, for lack of morals and mental illness. The family is where children learn values, people say.
If children don’t learn about honesty, hard work, responsibility, and faith from their mothers and fathers, chances are that no one else will be able to teach them these things. When families break down, values break down. And when values break down, families break down.
So what are we to make of the statement Jesus made in yesterday’s gospel reading? He said:
“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I come to bring division. From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three, they will be divided. Father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51-53)
We don’t mind if Jesus divides us from our enemies – as a matter of fact we would like it. But from our families? From our own parents and brothers and sisters and children? Those should be the very ones who teach and share the values of love and forgiveness with us.
Some of us come from families where unconditional love and forgiveness are part of everyday life. Some of us come from families that are so important to us that we almost worship them.
I think Jesus is saying to these families that maybe we need some accountability – that maybe we value family so much that we fail to identify areas of weakness that need some change. It’s here, perhaps that Jesus introduces division. We can’t avoid conflict, even in supportive families, if we are open to the message of Jesus for family values.
Thanks to Priscilla B. Durkin
Are there any areas of weakness in YOUR family that need some change?
GOD CREATED YOU TO DO MORE THAN SPEND YOUR WHOLE LIFE STARING AT A SCREEN!
Please share today’s message with a friend or a family member.
