Tuesday 22nd September
“My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God.”
Luke 8:19-21
The encounter of Jesus with his mother and brothers in this passage needs some clarification. It is often misinterpreted as Jesus having brothers. In Eastern cultures, it is customary to refer to cousins or others as brothers or sisters. At first glance, too, it may seem to us like Jesus is rejecting his link or connection to his biological family. Jesus instead is broadening and highlighting a new dimension of “relationship”. Namely, how our faith and obedience to God our Father connect us intimately to one another as brothers and sisters and as part of the family of God.
Indeed, when we do God’s will we become a brother and sister and mother of Jesus. We become so intimately connected to God and with one another. We live out in a practical way the “our Father.” God is our Father, and we are all brothers and sisters of one another. The question is: Do we follow God’s will or our own?