While he was still 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 Word in other words
When the highly-contested race for the 2014 NBA MVP was still raging between LeBron James and Kevin Durant, both tried to remove the pressure from each other. Kevin would say: "Let's just sit back and judge basketball as we play it; not just LeBron and myself. Just enjoy it." James for his part would have said: "I don't play for what people expect for me to do anymore. Just want to play well and be the best. That's my mindset."
Jesus faced during his earthly mission many cultural mindsets and expectations. One of them was the pressure of a closely-knit family and clan. They were expected to be always together. Since this must have impeded him many times and even disallowed him to enjoy the love of his heavenly Father, he tried to break away from that tight box. And to drive home the point of the importance of doing the will of his heavenly Father, he built on and around his family ties and raised it to another level. He did this by extending the scope of his family and clan. His larger circle of brother, sister and mother would now be all those who do the will of his heavenly Father.
How refreshing it is to experience that God's family can be defined as the band of persons who consider themselves as brothers because they rally around one common cause. I experienced this while in Madrid during the height of the outpouring of aid for the typhoon Haiyan victims. During a radio interview where the Madrilenos tried to experience their concern and assured us of their help, the radio commentator said emphatically: "Hoy, todos somos Filipinas!"(Today, we are the Philippines!) That was a moment when more than even we transcended blood ties and understood the larger scope of our common humanity.
Widen your circle of brothers and sisters and you would have done the heavenly Father's will, too.
- Fr. Jun Castro, SVD (Madrid, Spain)
