Tuesday in the 25th Week of Ordinary Time, September 26, 2023

Luke 8, 19-21

The Mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.” He said to them in reply, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”

“The Mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him.”  These words of St. Luke recall for us words that Jesus himself said: “No one can come to me, unless the Father, who has sent me, draw him” (John 6, 44).  Even the Virgin Mother was “drawn” to him.  The message of the Archangel Gabriel drew her to welcome the Holy Spirit in the conception of her Son.  Here, his Mother Mary and some of his male relatives from Nazareth had come to him at Capernaum.  His Mother came in order to follow him, giving up Nazareth entirely.  The motive for his brethren coming is less pious.  St, Mark records in his account of this visit, “And when his family had heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him. For they said: He is become mad” (Mark 3, 21).  Literally, “those of him”: the Greek text is not precise as to who is meant but seems to indicate members of his extended family since they came with Mary.  Now, a few of the Apostles such as James, the son of Alphaeus were related to him.  (We know that this James was related because he was called “the brother of the Lord”).  But St. John’s sad comment applies to the bulk of them: “For neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7, 5).  “But were unable to join him because of the crowd.”  Luke does not indicate the Lord’s location during this time, but Mark does.  In the verse before St. Mark’s recounting of this visit by his Mother and brethren he writes, “Then he went home” (Mark 3, 19), meaning Capernaum.  He is evidently in Peter’s house again and crowds have come together to hear him.  They fill the house, the courtyard around the house, and the street beyond: “The crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat” (Mark 3, 20).

“Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you.”  Luke now uses the word “brothers” to inform us as to whom had come up with Mary.  This is perhaps the only time in her life that a crowd notices her.  A handmaid is supposed to move quietly and quickly in performing her tasks, never drawing attention away from her master or mistress.  Now, we should see here that the male relatives send word to Jesus with the expectation that he would come out to them, or that he would dismiss the crowd so that they could speak privately with him.  They have no intention of waiting for the Lord to dismiss the crowd when he was ready and then to let him know that they had come.  We can imagine the Blessed Virgin attempting to restrain them from this mark of disrespect.

“My Mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.”  The Lord Jesus seems to treat his Mother and brethren harshly, almost to disown them, by speaking in this way.  But in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, St. Ambrose points out that with these words, the One who is to preach, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10, 37), himself practices his own law.  He obeys the Father and leaves all, including his beloved Mother, in order to spend himself for the salvation of the world.  And so he never singles her out for praise and does not speak to her from after the wedding at Cana until he hangs on the Cross, where he broadens her vocation so that she becomes the Mother of the Church.  

“His Mother and his brothers.”  In both the Greek and Hebrew languages, the word we usually translate as “brother” has a more general meaning so as to include any male relative or even fellow residents of a town or city.  Even so, the Greek Orthodox hold that these “brothers” are actually sons of Joseph in an earlier marriage in which the wife died.  But what this shows is that Mary was known to have preserved her virginity throughout her life, cIn fact, the only early Christian to challenged this was Helvidius, who lived in the late 300’s and whose assertion was thoroughly dismantled by St. Jerome, proving the traditional doctrine through minute and accurate examination of the Scriptures.

The Lord Jesus invites us — urges us — to become firm members of his family, to be his mother and brothers and sisters through our doing the will of our Father in heaven: the Lord’s natural Father, and our Father by his gracious adoption of us.