Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 - Tuesday in the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
[Micah 7:14-15, 18-20 and Matthew 12:46-50]"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." [Matthew]
For the past couple of days I have been in the company of a large number of family members - the children, grandchildren and great grandchild of my deceased sister, Ann, and her husband, Jack. They gather each year for a week on the Gulf Coast. I celebrate Sunday Mass for them and spend the rest of the time relaxing and observing all the family "dynamics!" In any large family there are plenty of "dynamics" to observe! This is why today's gospel passage has an interesting "twist" to it. On one level, Jesus is pointing out the supreme importance of discipleship - more important, even, than one's family, clan or tribe. In the Middle East, membership in those primary groups is as important as our American individualism is to us, although we do try to give importance to family. Jesus takes the opportunity to note this scale of values when his family shows up at one of his gatherings. The reason they are there, however, is politely ignored, which is why there is a special family "twist" to this occasion. We are told elsewhere that Jesus' family thought he was out of his mind! They were coming to do an "intervention!" We know that the attempt was not successful, no matter how well-intentioned. Jesus does not disvalue the importance of family. He simply points out how important faith and discipleship are. We Americans have loosened the family bond so much that it is difficult to appreciate the power of Jesus' words on this. I am grateful that I've had the experience of the past weekend to remind me of the importance of BOTH family and discipleship. I hope I won't give them any reason to "intervene!" AMEN
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