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 

 

On Monday, we read that, after an exorcism in which a mute and deaf man was healed, Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out demons by the power of the ruler of the demons.  In yesterday's reading, Jesus continued His reply to them.  He told them, "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.  Brood of vipers!  How can you, being evil, speak good things?  For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.  But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.   For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."  Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You."  But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.  The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here."

 

  "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 remarks that when the Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, they did not repent of their impure ways, and an unclean spirit took up residence in their hearts (Deuteronomy 31:20; Psalm 106:34-39).  So therefore, we guard our hearts.  Unless there is full repentance, my study Bible concludes, and the Holy Spirit dwells in a person, an expelled demon will return with others and reoccupy its abode.

 

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."  My study Bible explains that Christ's relatives have not yet understood His identity and mission.  He points here to a spiritual family which is based on obedience to the will of My Father.   It's important to know that in the tradition of Jewish usage, brother here can be used to indicate any number of relations.  Abram called his nephew Lot "brother" (Genesis 14:14); Boaz spoke of his cousin Elimelech as his "brother" (Ruth 4:3); and Joab called his cousin Amasa "brother" (2 Samuel 20:9).  Still today, across the Middle East, use of the word "brother" can mean various relations.  My study Bible further elaborates that Christ Himself had no blood brothers, for Mary had only one Son:  Jesus.  The brothers mentioned here, it notes, were either stepbrothers (sons of Joseph by a previous marriage), or cousins.  We must note that Christ committed His mother to the care of St. John at the Cross (John 19:25-27), which would have been unthinkable if Mary had had other children to care for her.

 

 In a secular world, we might find it a bit stark, even shocking, that Jesus speaks in such categorical terms regarding the spiritual world of good and evil, of demons and the Holy Spirit.  But we should not confuse these spiritual terms and realities with the way, say, political parties work.  This is not a choice between human beings as candidates for office, nor even as candidates for friendship.  Jesus is speaking of how and why the spiritual world works, and its role in our hearts -- what we admit, or rather, what we choose to participate in, or not.  If we think in terms of energies, it might be a bit more clear that we can choose to participate in "negative" or positive energies, that which acts for evil or acts for good, on behalf of one spiritual force or another.  What influence do we want in our lives?  For when we open ourselves, or become vulnerable to, a power or influence that acts against Christ, we are participating in what energies that brings to us.  When we seek to nurture and strengthen the work and presence of the Holy Spirit within us, we are choosing to participate in that which embraces and teaches us about Christ (John 14:26).  When speaking in terms of how the spiritual world works, we must remember we're not talking about the secular, every day world of human beings who have all kinds of complicated problems and influences competing with one another -- and often at the same time!  This world of the demonic involves fallen angels, with an entirely different nature than human beings have, and a different intelligence that operates in different ways.  In this picture of spiritual realities, human beings, and our world, become battlegrounds competing for hearts and minds and souls, and this is an ongoing struggle, an unceasing battle.  We may not find it possible to even conceive of how to function within such a struggle, but that's why we have help.  This is why Christ has come into our world to help us and guide us, and to leave us with a Helper, the Holy Spirit.  We don't need to understand it all; we don't have the intelligence of beings created as angels.  We are meant to pursue a life through time, learning gradually, coming to a repentance, and making our way as best we can, including lots of mistakes and combating imperfection and partial understanding and knowledge.  This is why we're not the judges, but we seek to follow He who will judge.  Thus, Jesus' teaching in today's reading about unclean spirits and the importance of our own vigilance in our faith and choices, and guarding our hearts for the influences we want and don't want.  Moreover, so important is this to Christ's mission, that He speaks to us of His family as "whoever does the will of My Father in heaven." We become "sons" or "children" of God by adoption through grace and -- importantly for Christ in the context of this teaching -- by truly living our faith, and thus part of Christ's family.  Let us remember once again that Jesus is speaking to men who know the Scriptures perhaps better than any others in His community, among the Jews of Christ's time, and spent their time debating and studying them.  But they cannot see nor know Him for the envy of their positions in the society takes the place of a heart open to the influence of God, the reality He brings into the world.  Jesus will elaborate far more on the problems of the Pharisees and scribes in chapter 23 of St. Matthew's Gospel.  Let us heed His words for ourselves, and the choices we seek to make in our lives, the living of our faith in this world and whose will we seek to please.  Our spiritual journey in life is to move toward Christ.  Let us bear that in mind as we read through the Gospel.