Day 17

Genesis 34:1-35:29; Matthew 12:46-13:17; Psalm 10:1-11

The big theme that has been going through our readings over the last couple of days (and in fact we find it throughout the Bible) is what happens when people fail to put God first (or indeed anywhere).

In the Gospel reading it seems as though Jesus is having a bit of a dig at his family, almost denying them but in reality, the emphasis is on the second half of that passage – all people are my family if they do the will of my father. Elsewhere Paul talks of us being heirs with Christ (Romans 8) in that we are part of the heavenly family and we rank alongside Christ in that inheritance. Now when it comes to inheritance, Jacob knows a lot about that.

And those who put God first, those “who do the will of the father”, they are Jesus’ family, they carry his name. And there is a lot in a name. Jacob is given the name Israel, a name that is going to carry a lot of history with it. He is given an inheritance, that was given to Abraham and it now given to him, that a land, a whole nation will be given to him and that nations will spring forth from there. 

And the names continue to have significance, Gen 35:23-26 lists the names of the twelve sons and it is these names that are given to the twelve tribes of Israel, names that we will follow in big ways through the Old Testament.

There is a reasonably old fashioned phrase that is still used when it comes to weddings. When the girl gets married and changes her surname to that of the husband, we often say she has taken his name. She has chosen to bear the name of the husband. Here Jesus is offering us his family name, the family of God. If we have talked about putting God back in the middle of things, are you willing to take his name?