Tuesday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time, September 22, 2020

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.”

When we read about Jesus and his “brothers” we have to keep in mind that we are reading a translation into modern English of a 1st century A.D. document from the Middle East.  The Greek word adelphoi — “brothers” — stands in for the Hebrew awkhim,  This term can mean a male sibling sharing the same parents, a male sibling sharing the same father (as in a “half-brother”), a male of the same tribe, or even a male who resembles another male.  In other words, it is a very general term relating one man to another.  In a town so small as Nazareth, just about every male would be another male’s brother.  The same could also be said for “sister”.  For instance, Abraham called Sarah his “sister”, though technically, in our understanding, she is his half-sister (Genesis 20, 12).  One of the Lord’s Apostles, James the Lesser, was said to be the “brother of the Lord” 

(traditionally, St. Simon the Zealot and St. Jude were said to be the “brothers” of this James), but we know from the Gospels that his mother was the “sister” of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while his father was named Alphaeus.  

The Evangelists speak of the Lord’s brethren in negative terms, generally speaking.  With the exception of members of the Blessed Virgin’s family, they seemed to regard their kinsman with suspicion when it was not with outright hostility.  St. John sums up their reaction to Jesus in two places.  First, at the very beginning of his Gospel, he says, “He came unto his own: and his own received him not” (John 1, 11).  The Greek word translated as “his own” has the meaning of “his people”, or, “his extended family”.  John also comments later, when there was some question as to whether Jesus would return to Jerusalem for one of the holy days, and his relatives were taunting him, “For neither did his brethren believe in him.”  To this, Jesus replied,  “My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready” (John 7, 5-6), which is to say, You belong to this world.  We also recall the story of how Jesus returned once to Nazareth and after he had preached, the people of his own town, among whom would have been members of his extended family, tried to kill him.

How are we to read the verses of today’s Gospel reading, then?  The text says that “the Mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him.”  The Lord must have been staying in Capernaum when they came.  He would have been hard to find if he had been preaching around the country just then.  But what had they come for?  St. Mark tells us: “And they [Jesus and his disciples] came to a house, and the multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. And when his friends had heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him, for they said: ‘He is become mad.’ ” (Mark 3, 20-21).  According to the context, the Lord had very recently moved to Capernaum at the beginning of his ministry and he was preaching to crowds of people and healing the sick.  News of his work made its way back to Nazareth, and his Mother and brethren came to see for themselves.  We do not know what they were told.  When news travels it changes, and those who gave their reports may have completely distorted the truth.  Nevertheless, the Lord’s brethren were all too ready to believe that he was “mad”.  The Greek word translated here as “mad” has several meanings, including to be “amazed” or “astonished”, but can also mean “to be beside oneself”.  Luke quotes some disciples using this word to tell others of the Resurrection: “Certain women also of our company made us astonished” (Luke 24, 22).  We can surmise, then, that the brethren came to him in order to take him back to Nazareth, for “they were scandalized in regard of him” (Mark 6, 3) — that is, “upset” with him.

“But [they] were unable to join him because of the crowd.”  It is almost as though the crowd, rapt in the Lord’s preaching, were protecting him from his brethren.  St. Mark, as if to confirm this, tells us that when Jesus was told that his Mother and brethren were outside, “looking round about on them who sat about him, he said: ‘Behold my mother and my brethren.’ ” (Mark 3, 34).  Now, the Greek word translated here as “join” really means “to meet”.  This implies a discussion, which “to join” does not. In using this verb, Luke tells us that the relatives meant to persuade Jesus to go back to Nazareth with them.  If they merely intended to “join” him, we would think it a sign of their support for him.

“He said to them in reply, ‘My Mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.’ ”  That is, to the extent that his Mother and his brothers and sisters hear and act on the Lord’s word, he will know them as his Mother and brethren.  Here, we see de facto praise for his Mother, the true Handmaid of the Lord, and at the same time the rejection of his earthly brethren who only wanted to protect their honor or the honor of their town.  This intimate place in the Lord’s family is open to any believer who strives to follow his commandments and to proclaim his Gospel.  We might wonder why the Blessed Virgin Mary went with these brethren.  We find the answer in St. John’s Gospel: “Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus, his Mother” (John 19, 25).  Where he was in danger, there she was to share it with him.

In these verses we see the prime example of how the Lord came to earth not to bring peace, but a sword, so that “a man’s enemies shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 20, 36).  If our own observance of the Lord’s commands causes division in our families, among our relatives, or within our neighborhoods, we ought to remember that our Lord experienced this himself.  We can draw consolation from this, ask for his grace, and do as he tells us.