It was about 9 years ago. I was sitting in the floor of our den, surrounded by our house church family, and one little boy from our neighborhood who had started to join us, along with his even younger brother and sister.
His name was Parker, and he was six years old, going on 26. Smarter and sharper and more clever than any other six-year-old I had ever met before.
The first person to greet us when we had moved to this new house, and this brand-new neighborhood, was Parker. He was standing in the driveway when I opened the door to the moving truck and he followed me all day long, and into the evening, as we sat around with our friends eating pizza, surrounded by boxes and moving dollies.
One thing I always loved about Parker was his ability to cut through the nonsense and get straight to the point about everything.
That particular Sunday, he was asking me rapid-fire questions about God, the Bible, Jesus and pretty much anything that we started to talk about. Not to be disruptive – at least I really don’t believe so – but out of a sincere child-like curiosity.
We were talking about Creation, for some reason, and Parker started asking about Adam and Eve. “So, are you saying that every person on Earth came from the same two people?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s what the story tells us,” I explained.
He only paused for a quick second and then he said, “Then that means that every single person alive is all from the same family!”
I smiled. “Yeah, that’s right, Parker. We’re all one big family. But we don’t act like it, do we?”
Parker thought about it a bit longer and then he said, “Maybe people just don’t know about this. I mean, I didn’t know until you just told me!”
In that moment, I really wanted to hug him so hard. I wished that more people could grasp this simple, yet profound truth the way Parker just did.
Out of nowhere, I said, “Once you know who your Father is, you can never forget who your brothers and your sisters are.”
So, then I started to tell Parker the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He got it right away. I didn’t have to explain anything to him. “So, that Samaritan knew that this man on the road was his brother. That’s why he stopped to help. Those other guys didn’t know about it, but he did.”
This is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these and that, unless we come to Him as little children, we will never enter the Kingdom of God.
We are all one big family. There is no “them.” There is only “us.”
I wish more people understood this the way my friend Parker did that day.
Sometimes it’s really good to be reminded of it, even if you thought you already knew it already.
At least, I think that’s true.
Don’t you?
**
Keith Giles was formerly a licensed and ordained minister who walked away from organized church 11 years ago, to start a home fellowship that gave away 100% of the offering to the poor in the community.
His new book “Jesus Unbound: Liberating the Word of God from the Bible”, is available now on Amazon and features a Foreword by author Brian Zahnd.
He is also the author of the Amazon best-seller, “Jesus Untangled: Crucifying Our Politics To Pledge Allegiance To The Lamb” with a Foreword by Greg Boyd.
Keith also co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast on iTunes and Podbean. He and his wife live in Meridian, Idaho, awaiting their next adventure.
BONUS: Want to unlock exclusive content including blog articles, short stories, music, podcasts, videos and more? Visit my Patreon page.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In