Gospel Delights!

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Ezr 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20; Lk 8:19-21

Today’s gospel is a lesson on growing as a Christian community thanks to the faith we all share. 

The passage has gone through occasional misinterpretations in the past. Taking the gesture of Jesus as contempt toward his family, some suggested renouncing family ties in the name of Christian discipleship. 

If Jesus had disrespected his mother (and brothers), why would he care for her at the point of his death? If Mother Mary was subject to humiliation, why would she care to lead the Church from the front in his absence? 

In what looks like Jesus’ indifference toward his family, what we find at its depth is Jesus shifting the emphasis toward the new-found community as Christians rather than prioritizing his family members and kinship. 

To demonstrate the significance of the believing community, Jesus could go so far as to ‘disown’ (not that he did!) his own family. 

If not for Jesus’ emphasis, we would not be declaring from the altar and the pulpit, ‘My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus!’ Jesus extends the familial relationship and bond to the entire believing community by choosing to discourage individual family ties. 

It is no wonder that we are all related just because of our Christian identity. That is the uniqueness of Jesus’ teaching. 

To be a Christian is not to narrow down one’s circle of relationships, but to widen it to address everyone ‘brother and sister’ with no bias, discrimination, or prejudice. 

Let us pray that the real sense of ‘Christian Community’ takes root in us so that we find our true family of brothers and sisters in the entire believing community, as Jesus himself did! 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar