Matthew 12:46-50
46 While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48 But to the one who had told him this, Jesus[e] replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
I thought that this verse would be apropos for the coming holiday season. Beginning with the onset of Fall, we are inundated with endless marketing, social media posts, Christmas sales and decorations and Hallmark Holiday movies. Everything revolves around celebrating the holidays, the hustle and bustle of feast preparations and family gatherings. And every year it seems that all the sales and promotions begin earlier and earlier. There is so much emphasis on families and togetherness that I wonder if it is a true reflection of the reality of many situations, particularly in those families that are rife with dysfunctional relationships.
I know I sound like a Scrooge. And you could be wondering what this has to do with how Jesus responded to the summoning by His mother and brothers. But let me put this into context. This scenario not only appears in Matthew, but also in Mark 3:31-35 and Luke 8:19-21. Jesus was in the middle of teaching, having just responded to the Pharisees’ criticism of Jesus and his followers breaking the Sabbath by “gleaning” a couple grains of wheat because they were hungry. Jesus was on a roll, fired up by cutting the Pharisees down to size. Then, in the middle of his lessons, someone interrupts Him to tell him that His mother and brothers were outside. So, Jesus reacted in a very human way, but also turned the situation into part of His message. Jesus didn’t drop everything and go running to mother. Rather, He asserted his independence and purpose, proclaiming that His followers, the people that He has claimed as His own, are indeed His family.
I wonder what Mary and her other sons expected to happen when they went to confront Him. Why did they want to talk to Jesus? Mark 3:20-21 gives a hint:
20 Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. 21 When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”
So, Jesus’ family wanted to “save Him from Himself” (emphasis mine). This, I believe, was the turning point in how Jesus fully committed to fulfilling the purpose of His Being. He embraced His followers as family, shifting the responsibility from being a dutiful son to offering salvation to all people.
Jesus was an outlier. He broke the mold in so many ways. He offered the Good News that in order to attain Eternal Life, one only had to be “born again.” This was crazy talk for a lot of people at that time, maybe even in today’s world. He wasn’t following the usual script of Rabbinical teaching but taught the true Message of salvation. This was hard for a lot of people to accept, even for his mother and brothers. But being the Outlier that He was, He came into His own, separating Himself from His earthly family’s oeuvre and committing fully to his mission of salvation.
There comes a time in everyone’s life where; in order to be a fully developed person, one has to follow their unique, individual path. This may happen very late in life, or they may be lucky enough to have a family that encourages self-realization and personal development. And it may never happen for a lot of people. I think it’s common for families, particularly mothers, to want the best for their children and to protect them. But sometimes it’s hard to let go. I think Mary got that message, that her son had to fulfill His destiny and purpose, and that she had to acknowledge the actual reason for Jesus’ life on earth.
This being said, many Bible scholars emphasize that the message from this passage is not individuation, but an encompassing of every single soul into God’s family. I totally agree with that, but I like to think of Jesus as fully human as well as fully God, who experiences feelings, emotions and reactions just like the rest of us. It actually gives me courage and faith that in my own situation I am following Jesus’ example of self-actualization. It’s a long, hard and many times painful journey. But I love the fact that Jesus walked a similar path, that He became who He was meant to be, the Savior of the World.
Love your presentation of how Jesus made it known He was man/God with a specific mission for His life & a timeline everything needed to occur by! I recall how Jesus, when He was 12 preaching in the Temple, needed to remind His mother Mary that He was here to be about His Father’s business back then too! I love how Jesus is so loving & inclusive of humanity & invites us to be His family as we are family to each other in His Church!