My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it

 

 "No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."

 

Then His mother and brothers came to  Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."  

Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."  And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"

 

- Luke 8:16–25 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.  And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities -- Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.  And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable:  "A sower went out to sow his seed.  And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it.  Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture.  And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it.  But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold."  When He had said these things He cried, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Then His disciples asked Him, saying, "What does this parable mean?"  And He said, "To you it has been given to know the mysteries  of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that 'Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'  Now the parable is this:  The seed is the word of God.   Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.  But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in a time of temptation fall away.  Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.  But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience."

 

  "No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.  Therefore take heed how you hear.  For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him."  Jesus uses similar metaphors of light elsewhere in the Gospels to illustrate related concepts in His teaching (see Matthew 5:14-15, Mark 4:21-22, Luke 11:33-34).  Here, He is emphasizing internal illumination, and in particularly "how we hear."  That is, the importance of our perception and capacity for learning the spiritual concepts hidden in His parables (see the parable of the Sower, in yesterday's reading, above).  What we grasp as His disciples must be lived, nurtured, and cherished as our good treasure.

 

 Then His mother and brothers came to  Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd.  And it was told Him by some, who said, "Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You."  But He answered and said to them, "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."   My study Bible comments that it was not Christ's will to deny His mother and brothers.  Instead, St. John Chrysostom asserts that Jesus is correcting both the and His hearers "to the right idea concerning Himself," that the family of His Kingdom "is not by nature but by virtue."  Jesus' teaching here is emphasizing what we've just read of His preaching in the Sermon on the Plain (see Luke 6:12-49) and in His teaching of the parable of the Sower (see yesterday's reading, above).  He points to a spiritual family based on obedience to the will of God (see also Luke 11:27-28).

 

 Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples.  And He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side of the lake."  And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.  And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!"  Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, "Where is your faith?"  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be?  For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!"  My study Bible suggests that Christ deliberately permits the windstorm to arise while He's sleeping, in order to perfect the faith of the disciples and to rebuke their weaknesses.  In this way, they are being strengthen to be unshaken by the temptations of life that will come their way.  In this particular scenario, their faith is still mixed with unbelief.  They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they said, "We are perishing." Let us remember in this context that faith in Christ is rooted in trust.

 

 One part of today's reading in concerned with Jesus' mother and His brothers coming to see Him.  We can perhaps construe that at this juncture in His ministry He's beginning to attract very great crowds and a lot of publicity.  Since He has already had some run-ins with certain Pharisees (such as in this reading, for example, or this one from Monday), we can also assume that this publicity may be alarming or even unseemly to His family of rather humble stature in Nazareth.  (See this reading for the conflict which arose when He preached in His hometown, and the wrath He incurred there.) 

 In St. Mark's third chapter, the Gospel seems to write of an incident at this same period of Jesus' ministry, and also amid the clashes He begins to have with the religious authorities.  When such great crowds come to find Jesus and draw so much attention to Him, it disturbs and frightens His family enough so that they seek to "lay hold of Him, for they said, 'He is out of His mind'" (Mark 3:20-21).  The protective claim of mental illness rings true even today, for a family trying to draw a loved one out of the spotlight and away from the threat of possible action on the part of authorities.   It's intriguing to consider that Jesus' mother Mary is outside waiting to speak to Him together with His "brothers" (likely sons of St. Joseph by a previous marriage, or cousins or other extended family).  Since from the earliest origins of the Church Christ's mother Mary has been venerated for her love of her Son and her faith in Him, we can certainly assume Jesus' response is not at all meant to insult or demean her concerns (and she will stand by Him even at the Cross; see John 19:25-27).  Perhaps she's there because the rest of the family presses her to go and see Jesus and find out what He's doing.  But if we are tempted to think that He is turning her away, and contrasting her with His followers, we truly should think again.  For all the evidence that we have points to Mary the Theotokos ("God-bearer" in Greek) as one who fits this description of those whom Jesus describes as His spiritual family: "My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it."   It is St. Luke's Gospel, after all, that tells us that Mary responded with acceptance when told by Gabriel of the birth of Jesus; she said, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word" (see Luke 1:26-38).  She is the one who, in St. John's Gospel, told the servants at the wedding in Cana, "Whatever He says to you, do it," and so encouraged and helped to facilitate His first sign in that Gospel (John 2:1-12).  So, bearing these things in mind, we should consider that when Jesus responds to His mother and brothers in today's reading, He is in some sense assuring us all that Mary is in fact sister to the women we read about yesterday.  That is, to "Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance" (see yesterday's reading. above).  Or perhaps, as the mother of our Lord, it would be better to say that Mary the Theotokos is in this sense the mother of all of us.  For without her willing acceptance of her part in God's plan of salvation, none of us would be brothers and sisters in His Church.  In the view of the Church, and from its earliest years, Mary has been venerated as the greatest of Christian saints, and indeed, she is the model upon which we can all draw for Christ's description of His spiritual family, those who hear the word of God and do it.  When we read of all of these women, then, let us consider Christ's mother Mary together with them in the Church. For "those who hear the word of God and do it" include many whom we might call disparate and different, but all are together gathered in the Church, then and ever since.