Homily for 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

June 8, 1997

Mark 3: 20-35
Christian Brothers, Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y.

One pulled from the "vault," since I don't have an outside Mass this weekend.

“Jesus said in reply, “who are my mother and brothers?” (Mark 3: 33).

Once upon a time it was, in some circles at least, highly desirable to be an F.O.B.—Friend of Bill.  A lot of people, maybe most of us, would like to be in the inner circle of power and influence.  Christians too.  We’re familiar with the stories of the apostles bickering among themselves about who was the most important, and of James and John coming right out and asking the places of power next to Jesus’ throne and of the resentment that caused among the other 10.

If we’ve studied any church history, we know some of the sordid details of the pursuit of power, influence, and wealth by individuals and families, by bishops and cardinals and Popes and their relatives, male and female alike.

So why shouldn’t there be some interest in the family of Jesus and their status?

Mark’s picture of Mary and Jesus’ cousins is a double image.  On the one hand, and this could be rooted in historical fact, they doubt his sanity.  Disciples they are not!  Rather, “they came to take charge of him, saying, “He’s out of his mind’” (3:21).  He’s an embarrassment to the family with these scenes he’s causing, these teachings of his, these controversies with the leaders.  He can’t even get himself a decent meal (3:20).

On the other hand, it is historically certain that later Mary was among the faithful disciples at Calvary and in the upper room and soon became the most venerated of believers.  It is certain that Jesus’ cousin James became the leader of the Church at Jerusalem.  So the question of blood relationship to Jesus and one’s status in the Church must have come up among Christians almost immediately after Pentecost—which is probably why we catch glimpses of the issue in the gospels.

Not that this issue is particular to the Church.  We’ve witnessed too many recent instances of clan warfare in Rwanda, Liberia, and elsewhere.  We’ve seen the Mobutus of the world help themselves and their kin to the wealth of their peoples.  It’s the way of human nature to look after one’s own and to be suspicious of the outsider.

So it must have been a mild shock, at least, for Jesus’ audience—not to mention his family—when he answered his own question. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” by asserting that everyone who does God’s will is his mother, brother, sister.  No wonder his mother and cousins thought he was mad.

Yet it is a core part of the Good News of Jesus Christ that anybody is welcome.  Anybody can belong.  Anybody can seek and achieve intimacy with God.  “Whoever does the will of God is brother and sister and mother to me.”  Blood and kinship have no special claim.  Social status neither.  Nor ordination or vows.  Nor age or education.  Jesus tells Martha, in a little family tiff, “Mary has chosen the better part” by sitting at his feet and listening to him (Luke 10: 38-42).  That “better part,” that spiritual closeness, is open to everyone who seeks the Father thru Jesus.

Let’s note, too, what Jesus says in the dispute with the scribes that’s sandwiched between the 2 slices of the family episode.  When the scribes accuse Jesus of expelling demons thru satanic powers, he answers that no household, no kingdom, can survive if it’s at war with itself.

That’s valid not only for the kingdom of darkness but also for the kingdom of God, even in our individual hearts.  Doing the will of God requires a wholehearted commitment.  As St. Paul says (twice in fact: 1 Cor 5:6; Gal. 5:9), “A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough”—yeast here symbolizing corruption.  Several languages also have the proverb about a rotten apple spoiling the whole bushel.  That “rot” can be an individual within the community, or the evil inclinations of our own hearts.

So if we want to be in Jesus’ inner circle, his family, all we have to do is God’s will.  We have to want that with an undivided heart.