Tuesday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s gospel relates how Jesus responds to the news that his mother and brothers are standing outside the place where he is speaking. Jesus appears to reject his natural family by saying that the people gathered inside and not his mother and brothers are his real family. He also seems to take his disciples to task for thinking that his mother and brothers are important to him. Is Jesus saying that we should neglect our families? Doesn’t Jesus think that families are important? Shouldn’t Jesus favor the needs of his family over those of strangers?
Jesus’ words point out that there are ties that are more important than the blood ties of families. It seems to me that Jesus is drawing attention to the greater importance of the family of believers compared with our natural families. When we are baptized, we become members of a new family. The church is a family that is united by love and belief in Jesus Christ. More specifically, the people in this family are united by their love for God and their willingness to do God’s will.
Despite the apparent harshness of Jesus’ words concerning his own family, Jesus is not denying the importance of families. Instead Jesus is leading us to consider the proper role of families in our lives as Christians. Many people have given up the right to have children by becoming vowed celibates. This is indeed one way to follow God’s will. Yet this is not the only way to be faithful to Jesus’ teaching in the gospel. Some laypeople are called to the vocation of marriage. Other laypeople remain unmarried. Yet, regardless of whether we have children and raise a family, we all have a family by being part of the family of Christian believers.
Jesus’ emphasis on the importance of the ties between Christian believers means that we are called to reach out beyond our natural families to those outside. We must ensure that our social interactions do not become insular and self-absorbed. This means reaching out not only to others in our circle of friends, colleagues, and family but also to those who may seem to have less in common with us but who like us have been baptized into Christ. In addition, we are called to develop the ability to regard all those people whom we encounter on a daily basis as created in God’s image and as loved by God. By cultivating hospitality towards and friendship with others, we follow Jesus’ command to do God’s will and to see other people as our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let us pray today for the grace to see ourselves in a new and deeper way as sisters and brothers in Christ.
Joel Schickel