Tuesday in the Third Week of Ordinary Time, January 23, 2024

Mark 3, 31-35

The Mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” But he said to them in reply, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

The Gospel Reading for today’s Mass is preceded by Mark 3, 21: “And when his friends had heard of it [the Lord’s preaching and drawing enormous crowds], they went out to lay hold on him. For they said: He is become mad.”  Between that verse and this reading Mark has set his report of the accusations made by the scribes from Jerusalem contending that he was possessed.  Mark does this due to his understanding of the chronological order of the events (his relatives set out to find him, the scribes accuse him of being possessed, and his relatives arrive) but also to emphasize the breadth of the opposition Jesus aroused from both those who knew him and those who did not in response to his zeal for souls.  In Mark 6, 1-6, the Evangelist will tell how the Lord returned to these same relatives who tried to kill him.  We note that this opposition flies in the face of the miracles the Lord performed and, indeed, those who oppose him admit the mighty works which he carries out.  In this way, Mark points out to his original audience that their faith far exceeds that of those who actually knew him and had seen his works.  He also points out the sheer irrationality of those who refused to believe.

“The Mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house.”  Mark does not inform us as to the location of this house.  Perhaps he is back again in Capernaum.  He identifies those who came to him as his Mother and his “brothers”.  The Greek word translated here as “brothers” may mean biological brothers but it also has a very general sense, as does the Hebrew word.  How can we tell if these were or were not his biological brothers?  St. Luke makes it very clear, quoting Mary’s own words, that she intended to remain a virgin her whole life (cf. Luke 1, 34).  There is no reason to think that her understanding of her vocation as a virgin changed after the Lord’s Birth.  Furthermore, the Church Fathers maintained her perpetual virginity.  No one challenged this until the fifth century, when the challenger was definitively slapped down by St. Jerome.  Rather, these “brothers” were various male relatives.  This becomes plain when we compare the names of those listed as “brothers” here as the children of other women.  For instance, two men named  James and Joseph are named as the Lord’s “brothers” in Mark 6, 3.  In Matthew 27, 56 we are told that “Mary the mother of James and Joseph” was a witness to the crucifixion.  

“Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him.”  Luke 8, 19 tells us that “they could not reach him because of the crowd.”  This refers back to the proximate reason the relatives had come in the first place, that he was so swamped with people and their needs that he had no time to eat (cf. Mark 3, 20).  Likely, these male relatives, who did not believe in him — “For neither did his brethren believe in him” (John 7, 5) — wanted to lure Jesus out into the open where they could lay their hands upon him and carry him back to Nazareth.  Had they pushed into the house and attempted to grab him the crowd would have rioted.

“Who are my mother and my brothers? . . . Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”  Jesus responds to the message relayed by the crowd in an unexpected way.  He does not send a message back to his relatives.  In fact, he seems to distance himself from them.  His statement that “whoever does the will of God” is his relation prepares us for his teaching that “I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law” (Matthew 10, 35).  The sign of the human family is completed or “fulfilled” by the Lord, making himself its center with God his Father as our Father and we as his adopted children.

“His Mother.”  We might wonder about the Virgin Mary’s role in this action.  Not all of the Lord’s relatives opposed him.  For example, St. James the Lesser, the son of Alphaeus, was identified by St. Paul in Galatians 1, 19 as “the brother of the Lord”, perhaps a cousin.  When Jesus departed for good from Nazareth, it is likely that his Mother followed him, accompanied by male family members who did believe in him.  Later, when other women began to follow him, those who helped him “out of their means” (Luke 8, 2-3), Mary would have stayed in their company.  The hostile male relatives then came from Nazareth without consulting her, and when she recognized them she naturally went to see them.  Finding out their intentions, she would have interceded on his behalf.  Mark simply includes her in his general statement: “They sent word to Jesus and called him” since she was with them then.

What are we to do with the Lord’s teachings that “whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”?  Is the Lord saying that his Mother did not do the will of his Father and that someone who did might take her place?  To the contrary, the Lord affirms the complete alignment of her will with that of his Father.  We first learn of this when she complies with God’s plan for her as announced by Gabriel, culminating with her humble declaration that she is “the hand,aid of the Lord”.  Now we see Jesus himself, whom she bore in obedience to the Father, confirm her Motherhood — not only through biology but also through faith.