Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.

"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation."

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother."

- Matthew 12:43-50

In Saturday's reading, Jesus used once again the metaphor of a tree for the state of a person. He said, "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit." In this case, He's speaking in the plural, to the Pharisees who criticize Him. He focused on the connection between what is in the heart, and what people say -- and the need to pay attention to words. He's responding to their criticism of His ministry. Then they ask Him for a sign regarding His identity, when He has already produced an abundance of signs. The only sign He will produce is that of Jonah who was three days and nights in the belly of a great fish -- He is referring to His Passion and Resurrection. Jesus goes on to condemn their lack of faith: He compares the Pharisees unfavorably with the men of Ninevah to whom Jonah preached, and to the Queen of Sheba -- both were repentant, able to open spiritual eyes and ears, to hear and perceive what the Pharisees cannot; therefore they will be the judges of the spiritual hard-heartedness of "this generation."

"When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation." My study bible notes here: "When, by the mercy of God, the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, they did not repent of their impure ways, and unclean spirits again took up residence in them (Deut. 31:20, 32:15-18; Ps. 106:34-39). The same happens here. Unless there is full-hearted repentance and the Holy Spirit dwells in a person, the expelled demon will return with many others and reoccupy its abode." I quote my study bible because I think the note is helpful to understand the passage. In Jesus' context, He's addressing a "generation" of the leadership -- their hearts and minds are elsewhere from the Spirit of God, their spiritual eyes and ears are not working, they are "hard-hearted" and "adulterous," unfaithful to God. Here, He elaborates on the notions of repentance. Real change is a transformation. But without true repentance, heartfelt change, the same old thing -- the false or bad thinking -- takes root again, maybe more powerfully and more difficult to overcome than before. It is at once a picture of an individual, but here also addressed to a group of people.

While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?" And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." Here, Jesus takes the notion of faithfulness a new step further. It is not criticism of family relationships nor of His mother and brothers. It is instead a kind of elaboration on faithfulness in relationship as contrasting with "an evil and adulterous generation." In relationship to God the Father He takes the deepest relationship to others. Indeed, we are told elsewhere in the Gospels that His brothers (a word that is also customarily used for cousin or other relatives in the Middle East) mock Him, they don't have faith in His identity and mission. But I think the point here in context of the readings is about faithfulness, and what creates relationship, even to the connection of the love between the Father and those who seek that will in their lives. Here, in contrast to the religious leadership, is real relationship for Jesus. It is this sort of faithfulness that leads to the deepest connection of love.

So, in today's reading, we have this startling contrast. There is the leadership that demands a sign. Taken in the context of the history of Israel, Jesus refers to this adulterous generation that fails in its loyalty to the work of God, the action of the Spirit in the world. (See Friday's reading, and Jesus' words about blasphemy against the Spirit.) He gives us a picture of a failure of repentance, of real heartfelt change, and what that means for a person -- and by inference, an entire group of people. In this case, the leadership that finds all kinds of ways to reject His ministry, just as they also criticized John the Baptist. By contrasting His closest family relationships -- that of His mother and brothers -- with those who sincerely seek and do the will of the Father in heaven, Jesus makes a point about faithfulness, and about love. What can we receive in our hearts? What makes us persons capable of change toward the good, toward truly loving behavior? What is it that truly gives us relationship to one another? The openness of the heart, real repentance, happens for a reason: so that the love of God, and hence the subsequent choices one makes in that love, can dwell there and live there and grow there -- and produce the fruits that go with it. How do those fruits manifest in your life? How does a love of God create love in action in you? How does this grace manifest as a knowledge that you are indeed deeply loved, as a mother and sister and brother?