“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Mary is therefore twice his mother, for she says "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."" The Father makes us to be like Jesus so that he will be the firstborn of many brethren (cf. Rom. 8:29). And what does being like Jesus mean? It means doing the will of he who sent him (cf.Joh 6:39). Jesus and Mary show us what obedience to that will looks like. They show us how it is oriented to creating the family God intends.
The LORD's will is to save us. If we follow him- if we do not turn back- we will know his saving power in our lives. Eventually he will triumph over all of the oppression that we experience from sin and circumstance.
Thus the LORD saved Israel on that day
from the power of the Egyptians.
Ever since Adam and Eve the LORD has been raising a family. He increased it to a tribe with Abraham, to a nation with Moses, and to a kingdom with David. In Jesus he realizes it's full transnational potential as Church.
When the LORD leads us on a march through the desert it is because he can't stand to see his family enslaved in Egypt. He isn't content to leave Joseph imprisoned there. He isn't content to the leave the Israelites enslaved there. And he won't leave us imprisoned in sin.
Because of sin the terrain around us is scorched. The journey to the promised land is difficult. But we needn't fear. All that pursues us will be swept away by the waters of baptism. We will escape to the dry land of the kingdom.
When your wind blew, the sea covered them;
like lead they sank in the mighty waters.
The opposite of sonship is slavery. To do the will of God is freedom. This is today's paradox. But it isn't so difficult to understand if we think of human parents. Human parents try to discourage their children from addictive behaviors because they want them to have the full freedom God intends for them. Their will for their children is freedom. If their children obey this will they can experience that freedom. The only freedom they mustn't choose- the freedom opposed by their parents- is the freedom to throw away freedom itself. As Paul tells us in Romans:
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, Abba, Father!
The LORD wants to bring a free family to the promised land.
And you brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place where you made your seat, O LORD,
the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands established.
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