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." // Luke 8:20-21
It is Gospel readings like this one that make me grateful to be living out my faith within the support system that is the Catholic Church. I was baptized a Catholic as a baby and—after some confused and straying years—in my early twenties, I made what was at the time a rather pragmatic decision to become a devoted Catholic. Unfortunately, a lack of formation meant that not only did I not have a firm foundation in the teaching of the Catholic Church, I didn’t even know enough to have the understanding that such a thing existed for me to consult as I set about to grow in my faith.
I certainly would have read this passage and thought to myself that, clearly, Mary had not remained a virgin after Jesus’ birth, since it says the word “brothers” right there, and also, Oh snap, Jesus just totally dissed His mom in front of all those people! Savage!
Thankfully, good friends steered me towards good books and good podcasts and good websites and I came to understand that there is a perfectly good scholarly explanation for these and other perceived inconsistencies.
Read the full account here, but the condensed version is that, historically, languages and cultures don’t necessarily align with our current language and culture. Biblical families recognized the concept of people from whom you were descended, people who were descended from you, and everyone else to whom you’re related. The words they used are translated as “fathers/mothers,” “sons/daughters,” or “brothers/sisters.” Here, the specific people referred to are understood by scholars to be Jesus’ cousins.
As much as sassy young me would have enjoyed thinking Jesus was zinging His mom here, the truth is so much cooler. Jesus is highlighting that what is truly special about Mary isn’t that they are blood related, it’s that she is a faithful Christian. (Read more here.)
The fact is that Jesus is holding up Mary for us as an example to emulate. So how can we, today, seek to hear the word of God and act on it, as she did?
Kendra Tierney Norton is grateful to be a wife, mother, and stepmother. She lives in the wilds of unincorporated Los Angeles County in a big old fixer-upper house with her husband and a varying number of their combined fourteen children, plus one fish, two cats, and twenty chickens. She likes to say that her goal is keeping Catholicism weird. To that end, she is the author of books including the Catholic All Year Compendium: Liturgical Living for Real Life with Ignatius Press and O Come, Emmanuel: Advent Reflections on the Jesse Tree for Families with Emmaus Road Publishing, the creator of the TV series Catholic All Year At Home on FORMED, and the CEO of Catholic All Year, an apostolate dedicated to helping parents live out their Catholic faith and pass it along to their children.
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