To begin the message, the phrase “Blood is thicker than water” is indelibly etched into modern culture.
What it says is that those who are related to us are more important than those who are not. Essentially, if two people ask us for money, and one is related, and the other is not, we will give the money to the one with blood ties.
This is not always a good thing. Take the gangsters of the Roaring Twenties. They called up favors by the means of family relationships. There may have been five major “families” in New York’s Italian Mafia, but in Chicago alone, by the mid-1920s, there were an estimated 1,300 gangs spread throughout the city. Many of these were made up of brothers, fathers, and others who carried blood ties.
Outside of Chicago, we recognize these names: Bonnie and Clyde, killed in May 1934 in Texas; and “Doc” and “Ma” Barker and her son Fred, killed in Florida in January 1935.
In Columbia, Juan Pablo Escobar and “Uncle” Joe Ochoa ran Medellin’s criminal side with an iron fist. The Kray brothers of London mixed with Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Diana Dors. They also spread intimidation, leading their gang in armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, and decidedly vicious murders.
Let’s look at two groups in the Bible to see how family ties brought about some similar results.
Acts 4:6 lists the members of a highly placed Family.
“With Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family.”
Family. Blood. John 18:13 reveals that Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. These are the ties that bind a group together and cause them to make decisions that they might not otherwise make. At this point in history, those ties were about to initiate intimidation and a robbery.
The Family causes intimidation:
Matthew 26:47 is set in the garden of Gethsemane.
“While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people.”
The chief priests and elders sent this mob, consisting of men carrying swords and clubs, to strike fear into the disciples’ hearts. If they had wanted Jesus, they could have taken him at any time. Instead, they wanted their fist to be felt among those who knew Jesus best. Then, his followers would crumble when Jesus was crushed.
The Family sparks robbery:
Matthew 27:3-5 reveals the story of a life stolen for mere greed.
“Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ They said, ‘What is that to us? See to it yourself.’ And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.”
Whatever we may think of Judas, he was distraught at the outcome of his actions. The Family didn’t care. Their concern was for their ultimate goal, which was control over their perceived domain. By their callous response, they robbed Judas of a life that could have been made new by the forgiving hand of the Almighty God.
Yet there was another Family who had power, and they were banded together to protect their own. Let’s see how their tight-knit hold on power brought about a protection racket and a decidedly vicious murder.
The Family sells protection:
John 18:31 is the Jews’ safety net.
“Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.’ The Jews said to him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.’ ”
The Family placed the blame for Jesus’ crucifixion on the Romans' shoulders, rather than accept it on their own. They thought they were providing spiritual protection for the entire Jewish race. In spite of their undercover machinations, in John 19:11, Jesus places the blame squarely where it belongs, telling Pilate that the Jews shoulder the entire blame, no matter who orders his death.
The Family promotes murder:
Mark 15:25 tells us about the day that brought eternal infamy upon the Jews.
“And it was the third hour when they crucified him.”
Jesus could have been set free. We know from the written Word that this was not the plan of God, but the Family had it in their power. Instead, they chose to take out their opposition, insisting that he be plastered to a cross and left to die underneath a cruel sky. It was vicious murder at the very worst level.
Blood is thicker than water. It is the tie that binds. That is exactly why Jesus had to die on that long-ago cross. His shed blood makes us one with him, and in his death and resurrection, we are now part of his family. What he asks of us, we readily give. When he needs us to go, we do not question. We trust him in all things, and nothing else takes precedence over our relationship with him.
Becoming part of Jesus’ family gives us power and authority that surpasses that of the world.
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Code: FGO.J.02.14.vp