Loving Our Own Siblings

Romans 9:5

Jeremiah 23:5-8

After reading through the New Testament, prophesies given in the Old Testament seem clear and obvious. Of course Jesus is the Son of God: it says He would be in Psalm 110:1. Of course He would suffer and die: Isaiah predicted as much in chapter 53. Of course He would be a descendant of Judah and rightful heir to the throne: anyone can see that clearly in Jeremiah 23. Yet all this comes from looking backwards. We see the fulfillment and so understand more fully the prophecy. That understanding increases our responsibility for how we respond to the information. We live in a society that doesn't care what family an individual belongs to. The group we belong to can be incredibly important in our culture, but a person can change groups: can abandon the group he/she was born into and choose to join another. During the first century, however, the family and the group an individual belonged to were one and the same. Since Jesus was in the Israelite family, a descendant of Judah, His importance elevates the importance of all His family. We have been adopted into that same family; how do we interact with our brothers and sisters? Are we loving toward them, both those adopted along with us and those born naturally into the family? Do we get along well with them? Or do we bicker and fight? Whether we agree with them or not, whether we are glad to be siblings or not, do we imitate our oldest brother Christ Jesus and His first disciples, including Paul, in the way we interact with the rest of the family?