HE who reflected the deepest, purest love ever manifested on earth, who with the tenderness of motherhood would have gathered all humanity under the protecting care of divine Love, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; indeed, he whose life was love, even Christ Jesus declared, "I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." Not only this did he say in connection with human relationships, but he also promised that those who for his sake and the gospel's should forsake home and family ties should receive an hundredfold. What startling statements! Could the estrangement of human relationships be the purpose of a perfect love? Was the upbuilding influence of the family circle to be forsaken? No. Certainly, "the only begotten Son," who through the Father's great love came to save the world, would not and could not set at variance the enduring qualities of true kinship, but would rather release them from whatever might cause grief or enslavement.
Hence, what the gentle Master came to set at variance, and what he commanded us to forsake, could not have been the personnel of families, but rather the erroneous elements of human nature bringing discord to family life. The pride of ancestry, the clannish, gregarious instincts, the monopolistic clutching hold of idolatrous affections for those whom we call our own; the domination, the oppression, of family ties and false dependence on them— is not all this at variance with the Principle of universal love? So long as the possessive belief that one person belongs to another animates human relationships, the vexations and dissensions of personal feelings will be rife.
We demand much of those we call our own. We expect them to measure up to our ideals. We assume the right to correct or excuse their faults. We bind them in our own concepts of them, and then either condemn or justify the characteristics we ourselves have helped to fasten upon them. In taking autocratic control of our loved ones, we attempt to usurp their individuality and impose unjust obligations upon them. Indeed, some members of families yield so readily to the opinions and wishes of relatives as to submerge their own individuality, thus becoming personally obeisant and dependent. Because we are often acquainted only with their personal characteristics, we frequently fail to recognize the spiritual individuality of those of our own household. Ever since the tragedy of Cain and Abel, the jealousy of Joseph's brothers, the ambitions of the mother who desired for her two sons the first place beside the Master, family ties have all too often been marred by the selfish elements of human nature that produce petty disturbances, feuds, and even tragedy. Indeed, where a selfish sense of "mine" predominates in human relationships, how can the healing graces of unselfed love animate and enrich family life? Assuredly, with awakening vision, we arise through prayer to liberate ourselves from the bondage of a personal sense of relationship.
