Where are you from?

Studying abroad this is a question that I hear often and answer without thinking much about it.  I am from Canada.... and that is usually followed with, where about in Canada? I name the next largest category I can think of that won't get them entirely lost (such as Ontario) and if they are familiar with the region the process continues until it gets to the point that the other is adequately lost, which tends to be fairly early on.

We have a desire to place people and things in context to what we know. We understand things better when we see the connections that exist between people and places. There is a particular sense of excitement when you meet someone who knows your home turf and possibly has run into to some of the same people.

In the west we like to define ourselves by place. 'Where are you from?' is the question. In the East it is different it is not where are you from, but "Who are you from?" 'Who are you related to?' 'What is the family name?' because it  seems that in a culture that doesn't focus as much on the individual, but more on the community that it says more who you are related to then where you are from.

I feel that this concept isn't completely foreign. Growing up in a community that was strongly influenced by the Dutch there is a little 'game' called Dutch Bingo. Basically trying to figure out who is related to who and how so, and often figuring out a way that most people are related. (even if it is 5 times removed and through marriage twice)

The extent of this family based identity rather that of location based can be easily discovered using the well known tool of Google maps. West Jerusalem and the New City area is mostly made up of more westernized people. If you zoom in on the streets, you will see a tangled assortment of many different streets each with its own name. If you cross the dotted line into the West Bank and zoom in on the streets there, you will see a tangled assortment of streets mostly without any name at all.  Why - because in that culture families live together, your are defined by a family and leaving a family would be social suicide. There are parts of world were houses are built so that another floor may be added on top so that when the son marries, they may just add on another room (John 14:2)

However we tend to define who we are, whether it is a geographical location or genealogical place, it provides connections and belonging. The more I think about it, the more I realize that we are more than just an individual.

In the Bible it makes sense that they were a people who favored genealogical addresses. There are lots of them. And much like a scenario where if you were to ask someone where they are from, and they would answer 'Mars',  we tend to skip right over the 'addresses' of the people in the Bible. They tell us who the are based on the people that descend from, and we see that as just another genealogy.

So when Jesus starts talking about mothers and brothers, when Paul elaborates on being adopted as sons, and John uses the concept children of God, it isn't just fancy imagery and nice or effective metaphors. It is declaring that the lost have been found, that the exiles have a home, that the orphans have a family and that it is a place where we belong.