The Gospel for this Sunday sees Jesus healing Peter’s mother in law (Mark 1:29-34). The fact that Peter was married and that Jesus was happy for him to take leave of his family, in order to become a disciple, suggests that Jesus’ attitude to family life is sharply different to the arch-sentimentality of our current age. In a society based on consumption rather than co-operation we want family life to provide us with all of the emotional fulfilment we need rather than to equip us to be followers of Christ. The parent has become the last truly romanticized relationship in our society. Therein lies both the challenge and the promise of our faith that puts the claims of discipleship over the ties of family. It means that our closest kinship will not be with those to whom we are related but with those with whom we share a faith in Christ.

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