“Your mother and your brothers are standing outside; they want to speak with you.” Jesus
answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his disciples
and said, “Look! Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my Father
in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Reflect

To do the Father's will.” To do the Father’s will iscentral to Matthew’s Gospel
(cf. Mt. 6:10; 26:39, 42). We can see this teaching concerning the submission of our
will to the will of the heavenly Father at the very center of the Sermon on the Mount
(cf. Mt. 5–7), which is the prayer of the “Our Father.” The center of the “Our Father”
is found in verse 10 where we can find the phrase “Thy will be done,” which the Lukan
version of the “Our Father does not have (cf. Lk. 11:2-5). Jesus himself lived what he
taught in the Sermon on the Mount when he was praying at Gethsemane and in his
succeeding passion (cf. Mt. 26:39ff.). Hence, Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel are
not surprising: “Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister
and mother.” (Mt. 12:49) The words of Jesus were only highlighting what Mary had
already done. Mary was the first one to cooperate with the will of God (cf. Lk. 1:38).
Mary’s fiat made it possible for us to have the chance to become members of God’s
family. In Matthew, to do the Father’s will is to be incorporated into God’s family.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2024