The Gospel according to Matthew (12:46-50)
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,
his mother and his brothers appeared outside,
wishing to speak with him.
Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.”
But he said in reply to the one who told him,
“Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?”
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father
is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Reflection:
The words that Jesus uses in today’s Gospel are hard for us to hear. How could Jesus seem to cast aside His family, and especially His Mother? It does not seem like the loving, charitable Lord that we are accustomed to when we think of Jesus, right?
It makes me think of the danger that exists in strict literal interpretation of Scripture. Unless we recognize that what we have now as the Bible is, in fact, a group of works, written at different times, to specific audiences, and with a particular societal framework in mind, we will be most likely to get off on the wrong track.
I mean, think of this saying “don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” Now you and I know that is a a figure of speech, an analogy to teach us not to jump to unreasonable conclusions. We are not being told to possibly consider actually throwing a real live baby out with bath water, right? But, to someone who is less familiar with that analogy, it may seem less clear.
The Bible came to us through centuries, and contain works written from as much as a thousand years before the time of Jesus, all the way to perhaps a hundred years after Jesus’ death. It was written by authors inspired by the Holy Spirit to be sure, but they wrote to communities and peoples whose culture was very different from our own.
We can ponder what Jesus may have meant by these seemingly harsh words for His Mother and His relatives. But, instead, may we see the truth within, namely, that we have the opportunity to be a part of Jesus’ eternal family, provided that we do the will of the heavenly Father. How do we do that? We do it by trying to follow the example of Jesus – loving as He did, extending His mercy to those in our lives, and being a source of light and hope to those around us. That’s a journey of a lifetime!
Action for the Day:
Ask our Lord to show you how you can extend His Kingdom today through your prayers and through your kind actions toward another. Listen for God to speak to you, telling you what He wants you to do. And, then, take those words to heart and go and change the world for the better with that one kind act!
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