Hey kids, today we’re going to talk about families. Raise your hand if you love your parents! Raise your hand if you love your family! And do you know what else? Jesus says your parents need to act more like kids! We need to take a look at that!

In the Gospel today, Jesus does something that I always like reading about. He turns the tables on an adversary, this time the Pharisees. It is pretty subtle… but important to understand… as he makes his point about the sacredness of family. 

We know that the Pharisees regularly try to corner Jesus into saying something that they can then use against him. In this passage, the Pharisees put a question to him about divorce hoping that his answer will position Jesus as opposed to them. Jesus sees right through this. Instead of taking sides about a rule or mandate that the Pharisees have, he turns the tables.

Jesus flips the discussion away from rules to family and love. Now kids, raise your hand if you think Jesus loves your family. That’s right he does.

Jesus cites a passage from Genesis, the very first book in the Bible, about why God created man and woman, and how his love and blessing of them, and ultimately of families, sets the standard for the Kingdom of God. The passage from Genesis says, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Jesus reminds the Pharisees and us that Adam and Eve were created out of love, and they became one. What God creates is good.

So, what are we to take from this today? Well, I see this as a reminder, and maybe a little table turning on us too. A reminder of what our families are to us and how important they are for a just and caring community. And we certainly need that reminder when society says family is not important or we need to care more about ourselves. Society can try to define who we should be but can’t define who we really are.

Sometimes when we think about who we are, we may think or identify ourselves by our job or profession, or maybe our accomplishments. That what society trains us to do. But if we ask Jesus who we are, he would identify us as a…

• Loving mother
• Loving daughter
• Loving husband or son

That’s how he thinks. That is, at our core, who he sees us as.

When our parents were married, God blessed that marriage. It was a sacramental marriage complete with a blessing from God and his grace bestowed on them. We were later born and became part of that family. Some of us went on to likewise get married and raise our own families while some of us didn’t get married or had marriages end. No matter the path, we are part of a family. As a marriage is sacred, so too is a family sacred, the one we were born into or the one we are part of now. And a marriage that ended doesn’t change the fact that the family is sacred.

The sacredness of families and children is more evident in the next four lines of the Gospel. Right after Jesus turns the tables and talks about the sanctity of marriage, he immediately shifts his attention to children, the sacred offspring of marriage. “And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you,whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.’ Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.”

Jesus reinforces the sanctity of marriage and our families. He goes so far as to say that if we don’t love like children, trust like children and depend on him like children, we won’t get into heaven. Children’s love and trust sets an example for us. Wow kids, Jesus says you are special and he’s telling your parents to be more like you!

It is interesting with this Gospel that Jesus first quotes Genesis, “And the two shall become one” which is frequently read at weddings, and the last four lines I read to you is often read at Baptisms. Marriage, baptisms… family. That’s why Jesus turned the tables, to change the focus to what he sees as important and holy. A good reminder of where our focus should be. A good reminder of how we should identify ourselves – a good reminder that we are all sacred and our families are sacred… just as God intended.