Word to the Wise
Tuesday, January 29, 2019 - Tuesday in the 3rd Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 10:1-10 and 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." [Mark]
On Saturday we read that Jesus' family "set out to seize him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'" The large crowds that he was attracting and his disputes with the scribes and Pharisees must have alarmed his family in Nazareth. The point being made by the Gospel According to Mark is that the people who should have recognized Jesus' power, such as his family and the scribes and Pharisees, were rejecting him, whereas the ordinary folks were flocking to him. One might argue that a family "intervention" is not exactly a rejection, but in this case it is a matter of recognition and not just blood kinship. Jesus' reply to the announcement that his family had arrived and wanted to talk to him makes it clear that his mission and purpose transcend family ties.
In my pastoral experience, I have encountered situations where religious commitment has resulted in a breaking of family ties. Jesus himself acknowledges this in Matthew 10:21 when he speaks of family members turning one another in to the authorities. It is a terrible thing. Parents and children and grandchildren refuse to have anything to do with each other because of religious beliefs. My hope in such situations is that all the parties can find a way to dialogue about their differences and at least find a level of acceptance that acknowledges the obligations of love that ordinary kinship naturally imposes. The fact that things like this will occur does not remove from us the obligation to try and overcome them. AMEN