Brother and sister and mother
Credit to Author: Tempo Desk| Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2019 16:00:57 +0000
IN the Near East where kinship ties are very strong, it is customary to call cousins or close relatives as “brothers” or “sisters.” Affiliation to Jesus, however, goes beyond blood relations. Jesus presents a new dimension to be part of his new family – a relationship of faith. Anyone who listens to his words and acts on them will be called his “brother and sister and mother.” Obedience to God is at the heart of discipleship. Jesus obeys the Father, and anyone who listens to Jesus’ teachings and practices them belongs to the family of God.
Jesus will later lament the rejection to his teaching in his hometown Nazareth when he sighs: “A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and among his own kin and in his own house” (Mk 6:4). So he will not be able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He will be amazed at their lack of faith.
Acceptance of Jesus’ person and his teaching is key to belongingness in God’s family. As John puts it in his gospel prologue, “To those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God” (Jn 1:12-13).
Gospel: Mk 3:31-35
The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived. Standing outside they sent word to him and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2017” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: books@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.