Posts Tagged ‘Mark 3:13-19’
Dealing with the people in our lives – Br. Jack Crowley
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We don’t always get to choose the people in our lives. Classmates, coworkers, bosses, neighbors…most of these people just kind of show up without our say so. We do not choose these people, yet they form a huge part of our lives.
In our Gospel today, we heard the beautiful story of Jesus calling twelve of his followers up to a mountaintop to appoint them as apostles. It’s one of my favorite images of the apostles. These twelve followers of Jesus – some of them are related by blood, some of them who had known each other for a while, and some of them who were strangers until they started following Jesus, all making their way up that mountain together. I try to imagine how they must have felt in that moment, that mixture of excitement and anxiety knowing that their mission was about to begin.
I think it is fair to say that the Apostles were successful in their mission. These twelve human beings learned to live, work, and pray together while spreading the good news. Here we are about two thousand years later, a product of their mission, and still learning how to live, work, and pray together, but now with our eight billion fellow human beings. Read More
Jesus’ Understanding for the Misunderstood – Br. Curtis Almquist
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Br. Curtis Almquist
The scene captured in this Gospel passage does not typically show up in beautiful stained glass windows in churches. This is a troubling scene. In the family system it is a rough day for Jesus, his siblings, and his mother, Mary.[i]
Here is the back story. Away on a mountaintop Jesus had just appointed his twelve apostles, and then he returned to Nazareth, which is the setting for this Gospel lesson.[ii] A considerable crowd has surrounded Jesus outside his family’s home as he teaches. There is very mixed energy in the crowd. Jesus’ mother and his brothers must have been inside their home, because the Gospel of Mark reports they then go outside and send word through the crowd for Jesus. Why? Is it so they can stand with Jesus and give their public assent to his teaching? No. Does his family want to protect Jesus? No. We read the family makes their appearance to restrain Jesus.[iii] The verb used here to describe their reaction to Jesus literally means “he is out of his mind” or “he has gone mad!”[iv] What we witness is an attempt at a family intervention.
The terse situation seems only to escalate when we hear Jesus’ reaction to the report that his family has appeared on the outskirts of the crowd. Jesus seems to respond rhetorically or dismissively: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, Jesus says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Read More