In response to Lily O'Neill's post "Tearing the Family Apart" (March 22, 2012):
In Jesus' time, the structure of the family was not the same as it typically is in modern-day America. The hierarchy was far more pronounced, in keeping with the patriarchal nature of the society. As such, the relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and between siblings were far less amiable than they may have been in the families of many of us bloggers. Furthermore, there was little or no legal regulation on how to treat family members; as such, when abuse of power occurred, the victimised party or parties would have had much less ability to change their situations.
Even today, abuse of power within family structure persists, albeit in a rather stealthier form, due to the laws affecting treatment of family members. Without a far more substantial sample than simply one's own experiences with family structure, it is probably unwise to support the sort of hierarchy that even modern families usually contain. Jesus was almost certainly aware that not all heads of families abused their power; his objection to family structures was therefore likely based on the potential for such abuse. By destroying the framework that made the problems possible, he probably hoped to eliminate the problems. If it is still difficult to understand his rationale, consider; no matter how good a job your parents or parent may have done at raising you, what would have happened if they had used their authority (as sanctioned by society and, to some extent, by the law) to treat you in an overall negative fashion?
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