Matthew 12: 46-50
While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Chosen as Family
Today’s reading is not about Jesus disowning his family. His mother, after all, heroically heard and did the will of God. Rather, this is about Jesus opening his arms wide to accept us as brothers and sisters when we love God.
Have you ever been accepted into a family? Have you had someone who was once a stranger think of you, treat you, or call you a brother or sister, a son or daughter?
In many places St. Paul calls us adopted children of God. This is not a distancing. To be known and chosen as family is one of the most beautiful, warm and powerful loves we can experience, and what a brother we gain in Jesus.
—David J. M. Herr, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic teaching philosophy at Xavier University in Cincinnati.
Prayer
Jesus,
Give me clarity to discern God’s will,
and courage to act out your love,
so that in stepping forward on God’s path,
I walk into your arms receiving me as brother.
Amen
—David J. M. Herr, SJ