The Word Grows in Community

Of course, when children grow up, they have a way of branching out on their own. They want to be more than inheritors of a tradition; they want to make their own mark. They want to exercise not only the dog but their own initiative. Sometimes parents can feel utterly bewildered and hurt by the direction their children take in life: they cannot fathom why Richard, who has more than distinguished himself in physic at university, now wants to spend his time on the high sea catching fish. But all parents have to learn that children are not born to be miniature reflections of themselves. Children are other people.

Later in his life when Jesus begins to formulate his own values and preach his own vision, he comes into open conflict with his own religious tradition. So, the formula goes: ‘’you have heard it said to you…. But I say to you. ’Many Pharisees are deeply shocked to see Jesus breaking the law and encouraging his disciples to do the same. Why doesn’t Jesus simply remain within the confines of his own religious tradition?

  Jesus’ neighbors refuse to believe that Jesus is anything more than the son of a local carpenter. Even Jesus’ relatives come to believe that he is out of his mind when he brings home the kind of people that others are happy to leave on the junk heap. The relatives are frankly embarrassed and want to take charge of him. But Jesus takes his charge from somewhere else. 

The adult Jesus has to face a conflict between two loyalties: loyalty to his Jewish family versus loyalty to his Father. Jesus is pulled in two directions - the way his family want him to go, and the way his Father wants him to go.

  That conflict is foreshadowed in today’s Gospel when the young Jesus of twelve years old is seen to opt for his Father’s business, rather than go the way of his family. When that option is explained to Mary and Joseph, Luke tells us that they do not understand what he is talking about. But that conflict will emerge only later in the ministry: here it is foreshadowed, and Luke softens the scene when he says that Jesus lives under the authority of Mary and Joseph and grows in wisdom and stature. 

At the center of Jesus’ family life and at the center of his ministry is one irreplaceable person: God his Father. That relationship is for Jesus the most important of his life: ultimately, it is what gives him his direction and support and will sustain him in his passion and death. When Jesus comes to describe his own family in the Gospel it is not a relationship of blood but a relationship of fidelity to the word of God: ‘’Mary mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice’’ (Luke 8:21)

We are all asked, like Jesus, to center our lives on the word of God. Whether we live alone or in a family, whether we have busloads of relatives or none, we can all be a member of Jesus’ new family. There is only one qualification: to hear the word of God and do it. Because Jesus extended his family, today’s feast really belongs to all of us. So, take a good look around at the family!