Reading
Matthew 12:46-50
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Comment
While Jesus is surrounded by the crowd, his mother and brothers try to talk to him, probably to warn him against acting recklessly. However, it should be noted that the relatives of Jesus "stood outside" (v. 46); they are far from him, they are not there to hear his preaching, but they claim "possession" of him.
With his answer, Jesus does not want to denigrate or diminish family ties at all, but only to value the spiritual ones, which are deeper. The superiority of the spiritual family over the physical one is a concept developed also in the Old Testament (cf. Dt 33:9).
Jesus is the "new Adam", the Son of God who in the Incarnation took upon himself the whole of human nature, making each one capable of being intimately united with him. Thus we read in Luke: "a woman raised her voice in the crowd and said," 'Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast from which you took milk!' "But he said,"“Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”" (Lk 11:27-28).
It is not legitimate for us to think that we have a privileged bond with God through a formal belonging to him, even if it were the baptism and the incorporation into the Church. The relationship of familiarity with him, of fraternal and even "maternal" familiarity, capable of generating him in our souls, passes through humble listening to his Word and exercising the will of the Father.
The "being outside" of the relatives of Jesus also becomes an image of those family ties that in our life can generate estrangement, loneliness, and conflict. So we ask ourselves "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? Who do I belong to?". But in Christ, we discover that we are part of the great family of God, capable of exchanging crumbs of that love that he has given us without measure.
Prayer
No loneliness, o Lord, is filled until we know you; enable us to find you through your word and your working with the father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
