Mark 3:31-35

Mark 3:31-35

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.

Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus 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.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I seek to do your will always. Your will is my food. Your will is holy and will bring me to everlasting happiness and beatitude. Help me to discern your will each day in prayer so that I may act as your faithful child.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The New Family of God: In the Gospel, Jesus establishes the new family of God. No longer is membership in the people of God dictated by physical or genealogical descent from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Becoming a member of God’s new family is accomplished through faith and baptism. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus “is establishing a new family, the family of God, whose members are united around Jesus in a bond of love, familiarity, and loyalty far stronger than any blood relationships (see John 1:12; Romans 8:29; Ephesians 2:19; Hebrews 2:10-11). In doing so, he is not rejecting his earthly family; rather, he is establishing a new basis for their claim on him. That his brothers did eventually accept this new basis for kinship with Jesus is shown by the active presence in the early Church (Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5; Galatians 1:19)” (Healy, The Gospel of Mark, 80). In fact, both James and Simon, who were cousins of Jesus, were the first two bishops of Jerusalem (see Pitre, Jesus and the Jewish Roots of Mary, 124-126). 

2. Life in Family: Much of our lives are lived in family. For better or for worse, we are shaped by our childhood spent in a family. And then we begin our own families. Hopefully, we don’t repeat the mistakes our parents made raising us, and hopefully, we strive to live out and imitate all the good we learned from them and from our brothers and sisters! But Jesus invites us to elevate our thinking about our family. When we attend mass or meet fellow Christians, we are encountering our spiritual family. Baptized Christians in the world currently number around 2.4 billion. All of them are our brothers and sisters in Christ. All of them have received the forgiveness of sins through baptism and are called to spread the Gospel and live according to the New Law of charity. The next time we are at mass, we can look around and see not strangers, but the brothers and sisters of Christ – my brothers and sisters who are all called to do the will of the Father.

3. The Will of God: When we hear the phrase, “will of God,” we have to approach this with a great deal of humility, as we are dealing with a very deep mystery. We shouldn’t think of God’s will as an arbitrary imposition or as a command of a master given to a servant. The word “will” in Hebrew (ratzon) means something like “goodwill,” “delight,” “acceptance,” “pleasure,” or “favor.” In Biblical Greek, the word “thelema” is used to refer to God’s sovereign and gracious plan for creation and human beings. God’s will, then, is a loving and gracious will that wills to bring the human beings he has created to share in his divine life. That is why Jesus teaches that we become part of God’s family – we become his brothers and sisters – and share in his life by doing his Father’s holy and divine will. Instead of sinning and working against God’s plan and rejecting God’s love and mercy, the one who accomplishes God’s will is the one who attentively listens to the Word of God, meditates on it in prayer, and puts it into practice. There is a healthy and creative discernment that goes into doing “God’s will.” To do God’s will, we need to bring all that we are into prayerful conversation with God. We need the help of good and holy spiritual guides, as well as the example and teaching of the Church’s saints who have gone before us.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I thank you for bringing me into your divine family. Help me to be an obedient child of the Father. Direct my thoughts to think as you do. Pour out your Spirit into my heart and help me cry, “Abba, Father.”

Living the Word of God: What does it mean to me to be a part of God’s family? Do I see God as my Father, Mary as my mother, and Jesus as my brother? When I look at those around me at mass on Sunday, do I relate to them as my siblings? How can I live this mystery of the Family of God better?