We find this design of one family of God expressed throughout the Old Testament. God made covenants with His people “implying His Family.” Covenants involve a conjugal relationship between the Creator and His family and involve a blood seal as the sign of the family relationship. The Ten Commandments are summarized in love of God and love of neighbor meaning that we relate to God and to the neighbor as one family that is loyal to one another and loyal to the care of its member's well-being. Even when the people were imprisoned into slavery, the LORD did not save the faithful only, but gave a chance to His entire family and brought them out of Egypt. Even in the desert, God gave the manna not only to the faithful servants, but to all of His one family and gave them all a chance to survive and reform their lives. We see that model of one related family played out even with twelve tribes of Israel and large numbers; God wished them to be unified under one King as one family. God called Himself the Husband of His family to indicate the marital bond just as Adam brought the marital bond to life as forming one flesh, “For your husband is your Maker; the LORD of Hosts is His Name.” (Isiah 54:5).
God could have created human flesh from dirt (as He created Adam) and could have lived in that flesh as God. Rather, God made the incredible choice of begetting a Son directly from the one family lineage of God so that Christ relates to the family and God in His humanity and divinity. Matthew Chapter 1 and Luke Chapter 3 express the genealogy of Jesus Christ which shows the consistency of the Creator’s design in forming a family. Luke expresses this important design of the Creator to form one family related to one another and to the Creator as stated, “the Son of Adam, the Son of God.” (Luke 3:38).
As discussed, Eve was created out of Adam's ribs not to lessen her importance, but to abide by the vital importance of the Creator's design of one family. Otherwise, the first Adam would have more value than the last Adam, but not so. Christ is called the Last Adam not to lessen His importance in the lineage, but to emphasize the importance of remaining within the family to relate to the Creator even when you disagree with some of the family members, “The first man, Adam, became a living being,” the last Adam a Life-giving Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Just as the first Adam and the last Adam are the reflection of death and life, the first Eve and Mary, who is rightly called “the last Eve,” are the reflection of disobedience and obedience. The first Eve was deceived in reaching for the fruit of the tree of knowledge of right and wrong and gave death and suffering to her husband and her future children. However, the last Eve remained undeceived and invited Her children to the true fruit of knowledge, grace, and everlasting life. All the glory and honor is rightly Christ as the three wise men, “prostrated themselves and did him homage.” (Matthew 2:11). Yet, the LORD gave His Mother honor, just as a family shares in the honor of their children, announcing, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28). And the LORD compelled Elizabeth and the infant John the Baptizer (who Christ called “Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11)) to give honor to Christ's mother, “Most blessed are you among women...the mother of my LORD...For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:42-43).
We find that Christ’s parents understood the importance of keeping the one family design – they circumcised Christ and fulfilled all the one family mosaic authority; even though later, circumcision would no longer be required by the ruling of Christ's authority (invested in Peter) as described in Acts Chapter 15. We find that this design of one family related lineally to God and to one another is so important that Christ remained behind in the Temple for three days learning and listening to the established leaders of the one family of God, “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46). Christ answered His worried parents reminding them that He is in His one family house, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s House?” (Luke 2:49). Christ is stating that He is expected to always be found in His one family established Temple or Church, because He is obedient to the design of His Father. The One family has hierarchical authority not to undermine any individual, but to point to the ultimate image of the supreme authority of the Father God over the entire one family. Christ is obedient to the one family parental authority as demonstrated by Christ, “was obedient to them” (Luke 2:51) just as children are obedient to their family. The family of that culture honored the family business that was passed down the generations and even though Christ did not need the skill of the temporary carpentry, He was obedient to His earthly father; He learned and inherited His Father's carpentry.
Christ did not begin to preach and heal, calling people to follow the Creator directly as a new prophet calling for a new religion or dogma. Christ clarified His mission of continuing the one family design and warned us against an erroneous interpretation of His mission, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17). This important distinction implies that the LORD’s one family design will continue to be fulfilled. Therefore, the authoritative Mosaic priesthood with a human High priest would continue in the New Covenant Church with orders and hierarchical authority and with Christ as Her high priest. So God continued the one family design in Christ and His children as John the Baptizer came to prepare the way for Christ. Then Christ built His holy Church by calling upon “fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19). Therefore, Christ’s first step was establishing His Father's Household of One Holy Church as St. Paul explained,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the Capstone. Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a Temple sacred in the LORD. (Ephesians 2:20-21).
Christ constantly preached in the temple of the mosaic one family rather than ignoring them and starting anew. For example, He healed the man with leprosy and charged him to go to the authorized Mosaic priest, “See that you tell no one; but go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” (Matthew 8:4). Christ explained that He did not come to destroy the design of the one family, but to perfect it by injecting His divine life into it, “A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Therefore, Christ spent His mission establishing the authority of the one Holy Church. We read that Judas was authorized to keep the donated money, “Judas kept the money bag” (John 13:29). Christ gave Peter the authorized office over His Church exactly as He named Peter the holder of the Keys to the Kingdom, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16:19). Additionally, Christ gave the Apostles the authority to forgive sins, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” (John 20:23). Christ explains this one family relationship as branches connected to the vine tree all related to one another, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).
And this profound design of the one family Church related to the LORD is explained as sacrificial conjugal love forming one flesh, inseparable, as St. Paul explains,
because we are members of His Body. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:30-32).
Christ was incriminated and judged by His own one family. Christ died sacrificially for His one family so that His one family would have life abundantly. Therefore, Christ was incarnate, lived, died, and rose again in the one family, by His one family and for the salvation of His one family. Those who believe and abide by Christ should abide into His one family.
In fact, disobedience to the one family design is pride and self-deception – it is claiming to design wiser and better than the Creator, even when one is otherwise humble and obedient to the Creator in everything else. Because, any good action does not supersede the profound design of the Creator of abiding by one family unit that expresses the unbreakable unity of the Holy Trinity. For example, a child loves his parents in everything, but prefers to exchange his genetically brown eyes with someone else’s genetically blue eyes. Such a genetic exchange could lead to permanent death even when the intention is naive.
Therefore, we should expect that Christ formed one family with authority that the early Church fathers called “the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.” Christ who is the LORD can relate individually to everyone who believes in Him. One can argue that it is insignificant that the Creator made Eve out of Adam's ribs rather than directly from the dirt as He made Adam. Since Adam is spiritually related to the Creator, then a hypothetical Eve created from dirt would be spiritually related to the Creator. That would make Adam and the hypothetical Eve spiritually related to one another, but not physically related as the one family bond would make them. Therefore, as a human we would have to wait until we are raised in Heaven with a spiritual body to relate to the spiritual Creator. However, the Creator designed the one bonded family. Therefore, Christ chose to be incarnate from Mary who is a member of the one family of God. Christ established His authorized one family Church to grace us by His divine power to be born-again in Baptism. Therefore, by Christ authorizing Baptism, we the human can rightly be born anew on earth in a creation that would relate to the Creator as one family through relating to His Son before the life after death. Therefore, we should rejoice now and without delay, calling the Creator “Abba, Father” and now on earth calling one another brothers and sisters. For we are sons in the Son and Christ in the Christ. Therefore, Christ’s design and wish is our unity, “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in You” (John 17:21). Christ’s call for us to be one is not a call for everyone to choose his own denomination or to choose his own direct relationship with Christ independently. To do that is to throw away, even unintentionally, the Creator's design of one family beginning with Eve created out of the rib of Adam. Instead, we would redesign the spiritual family out of a second Eve made of dirt, the Incarnate Word made of dirt, and related to the Christ spiritually, directly, and independently. The closer the blood relationship to the parents, the closer the family relationship as exemplified by the relationship of children to their biological parents. Therefore, Christ established a strong family bond by allowing us to be born again in Baptism as children of God. Christ calls this intimate first-generation bond to the Father and one another as, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). Therefore, we have become not just relatives, but first-generation blood brothers and sisters even now on Earth. As a one family, every first-generation brother and sister is expected to cheerfully, eagerly, and unquestionably gather together as one family at the wedding feast of any brother. That is especially true for the older Brother, Christ, whom the Heavenly Father is celebrating as His Begotten Son with all His born-again sons, “Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who have been called to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These words are true; they come from God.” (Revelation 19:9). But, we do not wait for the wedding feast of Christ in Heaven to become one family, as we became brothers and sisters right now and here on Earth. Because, Christ made us share in His divine life here on earth; Christ gave us divine Food and Drink in the form of the consecrated divine Bread and Wine to nourish our born anew bodies in a one family feast celebration that is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
Therefore, this one family design of God is permanent and as Christ promised Peter, “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). Thus, it must be one family Church and all her children gathering together at the feast celebration of the Lamb. To relate fully to Christ and God, one should obediently and humbly relate to Christ in the one family that He designed and relate to the biological brothers spiritually. St. John encourages us to understand that in Baptism, we are now biological brothers and God's children, “Beloved, we are God’s children now.” (1 John3:1). Thus, we ought to express who we are in our minds, desires, choices, and responses right here and now and express ourselves profoundly and radically as one with Christ.
Unfortunately, over the generations and due to the deception of Satan, one may be satisfied to break from the one family and either design another family or just be content to relate to Christ directly. However, families have certain rules that should be obeyed so that the children will be pleasing to their father. Thus, if the children want the blessings of their father, the wishes and desires of the father cannot be abolished or replaced without permission from the father. Such family rules are important and especially so to the one family designed by the Creator Himself. When the Father wants to celebrate His older Son's wedding feast, He celebrates it in His one home and expects all the sons and daughters to be present to celebrate together. The one family home of God in Heaven can host all His children celebrating at the same time.
On earth, the Father assigned the home of the authorized son to host the ongoing wedding feast celebration until we gather together in Heaven. However, due to earthly limitations, the authorized son can and is expected to assign the wedding feast celebrations to other sons' homes, but to remain respectful to the Father's wishes, the celebrations should be delegated and supervised by the authorized son on Earth. After Adam and Eve, God choose His one family to be headed by the Jewish priests, prophets, and kings. The Jewish became the assigned brother in charge to host the Father's celebration on earth. In a family, specific rules govern inheritance of the Father's authority similar to a King's dynasty – the King assigns his successors. God the Father is our King and His words of assigning a successor are nonnegotiable. Christ came to His one Jewish family and preached constantly in their midst calling them over and over to follow Him. Although Christ called everyone, the first Apostle leaders of the one family Church that He designed were from His own one Jewish family. Christ died by His own one family and was rejected by His own one family as written, “He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.” (John 1:11). After the resurrection of Christ, false rumors were instigated by the Jewish chief priests to falsify the resurrection as recorded, “The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present day.” (Matthew 28:15). After Christ's resurrection, even the Apostles went back and preached to their one family until they were killed or persecuted or fled to other nations. As such, only God the Father would sanction His successive authority to be given to another rather than the first designated successor. Therefore, it was Christ who authorized Peter to lead His established new One family made of the Father' s children, as expressed by His blessing given singularly to Peter alone when He handed Peter the Keys of the one family kingdom,
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16: 17-19)
We find a similar transition of authority by giving the Father's blessing in Genesis chapter 27. Genesis Chapter 27 discusses that the father Isaac wanted to give his blessing for his successive authority before his death to his firstborn son Esau. However, the father Isaac mistakenly gave his blessing to Jacob and that successive authority was final and nonnegotiable. “Isaac replied to Esau: “I have already appointed him your master, and I have assigned to him all his kindred as his servants; besides, I have sustained him with grain and wine.” (Genesis 27:37).
Christ has done what appears to be similar to Isaac’s blessing of Jacob instead of the first son of the Jewish successive priesthood. Moreover, just as Isaac sustained Jacob with grain and wine, Christ sustained the one catholic family Church with divine consecrated Bread and Wine – His own Flesh and Blood. Just as the people over the centuries, I find two main reasons for such seriousness and nonnegotiable successive dynasty. The first reason is that God's words and blessings cannot return to Him empty,
So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what pleases me, achieving the end for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11).
The second reason is that the Father’s constant design is to keep one biological family that reflects physically the bond of Christ and the Holy Spirit to the Father to form one, as evidenced by what Christ expressed in His blessing and desire, “so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17: 21). While we live on earth, our Father desires to celebrate the wedding feast of His son with His one family gathering His children at the authorized son's home, which throughout history has been and will continue to be the One Catholic Church led by the Pope. Certainly, some baptized brothers and sisters find disagreement with the Catholic brothers and the Pope’s leadership that unfortunately leads to celebrating the feast in their homes. Although the brothers and sisters are separated, they will always remain our biological brothers and sisters, because our bond in Baptism is bloody and biological. However, as one would expect, although the separated sons are celebrating the Father's feast genuinely and with great enthusiasm, unfortunately it will always inherently be a celebration that is not designed by the Father. That is so even when they have legitimate excuses as Esau had and they would reply to Christ just as in the words of the first son Esau, “Have you only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!” and Esau wept aloud.” (Genesis 27: 38). I find that Esau's reply and distress, and the reply of our separated brothers, are legitimate, but lack understanding of the two reasons I discussed for the Father's blessing. Furthermore, the reply of Isaac to Esau's weeping aloud wanting the promised blessing clarifies the answer that we should seriously ponder if we find contentment in celebrating separately from the home Christ authorized,
See, far from the fertile Earth will be your dwelling; far from the dew of the heavens above! By your sword you will live, and your brother you will serve; But when you become restless, you will throw off his yoke from your neck. (Genesis 27: 39-40).
Furthermore, in his dream of the stairway from heaven, Jacob saw and heard God blessing him just as Christ promised Peter that “the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” (Matthew 16:18). Similarly, God promised Jacob, “I will never leave you until I have done what I promised you.” (Genesis 27: 15). Notice the similarity of the dream of Jacob to Christ's words to Peter about giving Peter the keys as the gate to the heaven and Earth, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 16: 19). Then ponder the similarities in Jacob's saying, “How awesome this place is! This is nothing else but the house of God, the gateway to heaven!” (Genesis 27: 17). Furthermore, just as Christ renamed Simon to Peter (which means the Rock), notice how Jacob used the rock under his head as the pillar to the House of God and even changed the place's name to Bethel, “Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a sacred pillar.” (Genesis 27:18). Furthermore, St. Paul writes to Timothy instructing Him that the Church which Christ found and authorized Peter to lead is the sacred pillar of truth, “the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” (1 Timothy 3: 15).
The point is that the action of the separated brothers to celebrate the wedding feast outside the house of the assigned and authorized successive brother and earthly fatherly figure is good and most likely pleasing to the Heavenly Father. At the same time, the separation brings pain and displeasure to the Heavenly Father as the action is a division rather than a reflection of One Family. Celebrating separately from the assigned authorized House of God (Church) is less good than gathering, dining, and celebrating in the house of the one authorized successive fatherly figure son as one family. Choosing a good action is a sin when the doer avoids the opportunity of choosing a better action. That issue is often neglected, but is vitally important in our spiritual growth. If Christ called us to worship the Heavenly Father and live a decent life, then just about any decent faith, and honest and kind living becomes acceptable. But, God's Design is building one connected first generation blood family. Furthermore, when seeking a life totally surrendered to the desire of God and Christ, I believe the discussed issues become important in such a journey. Although the celebration outside of the authorized Church maybe unintentional, it is disrespectful to the Father's design and Christ's wish, “that they may all be one.” (John 17:21).
Unfortunately, the deeper issue in divisions of the biological one family is lawlessness as “sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3: 4). And the root of lawlessness among brothers of one family is an expression of lack of love as St. John expressed, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.” (1 John 3: 15). Rather, St. John reminds the divided brothers that Christ calls for the highest form of love that is sacrificial love. And that would rush the separated brothers to quickly return and unite with their biological one family and biological brothers, “so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:16). The way to become Christ's disciple, is to love sacrificially and to celebrate and abide with the one family even when the disagreements hurt. For, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13).
Rejoice and dare to forgive everyone; love those whom love you; and love abundantly those whom betray and persecute you; for you are not only a Christian but Christ.