“In the first-century world of the New Testament, the most important societal bond was between siblings.””
The brother who vanished in front of me
There is a growing awareness of a phenomenon called, “Vanished Twin Syndrome.” During a pregnancy, a twin — either fraternal or identical — dies because it is unable to receive the nutrients it needs. It literally shrinks and vanishes. The twin that survives leaves the womb psychologically imprinted with guilt, fear and longing.
As womb-twin survivor expert, Althea Hayton tells us, womb twin survivors are constantly looking for “wholeness in others.” You can guess why. Imagine playing with, sleeping next to, and eating with your sibling who is only inches across from you; then watching them — feeling them — die in front of you. Taken by malnutrition. You are helpless to do anything while the one person who would implicitly “get you” and understand your experience, is wasting away. Then they are no more.
Unexplainable Absence
Unaware of what happened in the womb, you spend your years unconsciously searching for a twin who you have only a fuzzy sense of; an ache that haunts you beyond your conscious awareness. You seek your departed sibling — who felt so much like you —while suffering from an unexplainable Absence.
What I discovered
Through multiple people, over multiple years, I discovered that I indeed have an identical twin (a brother) who vanished while we were both in-utero. Ongoing prayer, therapy, and healthy connections have begun to help; but I am missing the carbon-copy of myself, the mirrored-soul who left me behind.
“...but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”
Closer than my Twin
The reason Jesus becomes that “friend who sticks closer than a brother” is because space and distance are non-factors for him. Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, isn’t encumbered by time, space or distance. This makes Jesus immediately accessible to us. Within us. A permanently-secured Sibling. In union with Christ, I gain a relentlessly present Brother; one who cannot be absent from me. As I bond with him, I retrieve my own sense of “myself” — finding “wholeness in another.”
You have new siblings
The phrase, “brother and sisters,” describing Jesus’ followers, occurs over 100 times in the New Testament; indicating that God takes quite seriously this idea of shared-life as sacred siblings. Siblings who, as Jay Kim indicates, were “saved into,” not opted-in to this shared bond — A familial bond secured by placement in Jesus’ bloodline.
As sacred siblings, not spiritual consumers, compassion and connection are driven by uncommon loyalty.
“We are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”