Jesus, The Pattern Breaker

Brokenness is our lot in life, especially in the family.

I know this first-hand, having watched my parents divorce when I was 11. The startling thing has been the recent revelation that this brokenness was passed down to me. I have a good marriage to a wonderful wife, though we, like everyone, have our struggles. But, I have caught myself following some of the patterns that I thought I would never repeat. My dad disengaged prior to the divorce, and it was only accentuated afterwards. It has been a source of pain in my past.

So it was surprising to me that one day, I felt God confronting my own pattern of disengaging with my kids who wanted me to engage with them. It was a reminder of what we see happening in Genesis 4. Adam’s and Eve’s sin passed along a pattern of brokenness that expanded and worsened to their kids and the kids after them.

Thankfully, we also have a pattern-breaker in Jesus, whom we get a glimpse of in the birth of Seth (Genesis 4:25-26) and in the birth of a second “Lamech” in Genesis 5:28-29 (a good “Lamech” to replace the bad one in Genesis 4:19-24.) The life of Christ in overcoming brokenness in our families is one of both recognition of what we are negatively affected by, but also what has the potential to change and transform us into new people!!