A crowd seated around [Jesus] 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.” (Mk 3:32-35)
There are some very disturbing consequences/implications to today’s Gospel. If we do the will of God, we are Jesus’ brothers and sisters. However, if we are the brothers and sisters of Jesus, we are also the brothers and sisters of each other.
Some people have absolutely no problem thinking that they are a brother or sister of Jesus. However, they absolutely reject belonging to others. Instead, they avoid others. They hate others. They exclude others.
It cannot be like that if we truly belong to the Lord.
Jesus makes us one in the family of God. Therefore, we have a responsibility to one another. We should not shun. We should not hate. We should not despise. We should do what God does — love one another — because that, truly, is the will of God.
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
FAITH ACTION: Pray that you have the grace to treat everyone as a brother or sister in the Lord this day.