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Gospel: Matthew 12: 46-50
While Jesus was speaking to the crowds,
his mother and his brothers appeared outside,
wishing to speak with him.
Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
asking to speak with you.”
But he said in reply to the one who told him,
“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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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There’s an old Chinese proverb, “Not one family can put a sign outside of their home with the words, ‘No problems here.’”
Every family – even the Holy Family – experiences tension.
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We see such tension unfolding in today’s Gospel while Jesus is found preaching inside someone’s home. Suddenly, Mary and a few other family members show up asking to speak with him.
They haven’t come to ask him if he’ll be home for dinner; they’ve come to silence him. Mark tells us, some of his family thought he was, “Out of his mind!”
They knew the Lord’s teachings were revolutionary, so they feared Jesus might disturb the civil and religious authorities. In their minds, silencing him would be an act of mercy, keeping him from throwing his life away.
Although his family cared for him, they didn’t always understand him.
The fact they are standing outside not only speaks to their physical separation, but also their distance in mind and heart.
If they are to become members of his divine family – the Church – then they must enter the home, where they’ll be invited to, “hear the Word of God and observe it.”
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So, it is for us.
In baptism, each of us is welcomed into the “home” of the Church, where the Lord instructs us by his Word and Sacraments. Our mission is to remain inside this home, in good standing, in a state of grace.
What has been my experience of life in the Church? Do I feel at home? Welcome? Or, at times, do I disagree?
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“Not one family can put a sign outside of their home with the words, ‘No problems here.’”
There is tension in every family – even this divine family, the Church. But nothing should separate us. As Saint Paul reminds us, “We are one body, the body of Christ on earth.”
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Image credits: (1) iStock (2) Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Johannes Vermeer (3) Nickel Designs Custom Doormats