Daily Catholic Lectio. Tue, 23 July 2024. In and out!

Daily Catholic Lectio

Tue, 23 July 2024

Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time – Tuesday

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20. Matthew 12:46-50

In and out!

The mother and the brothers of Jesus come to ‘speak’ to Jesus, who was speaking to the crowds. Jesus, instead of speaking ‘to’ them, speaks ‘about’ them.

A person in the crowd notices the presence of the mother and the brothers of Jesus outside the house (gospel reading). He notifies Jesus about their presence, or he brings it to his attention. Jesus responds to the person and to us all.

Why did Jesus respond to that person in the first place?

I understand the event this way. The person who is listening to Jesus is establishing a bond with Jesus, and he becomes ‘related’ to Jesus in the ‘kingdom.’ Now, when he notices Jesus’ mother and brothers, he compares himself with them and feels alienated from Jesus. He realises that the bond that Jesus has with his mother and brothers will be stronger and closer than that he has with him. They were related to him by blood. The society of the time thought so, for it is said ‘blood is thicker than water.’ He even might have felt inferior when he realised this.

But Jesus turns the table down. He takes the person to a deeper understanding that goes beyond what meets the eye. He makes the person understand that one who does the will of his heavenly Father is his mother, brother, and sister. By saying so, Jesus not only expands his family circle but also brings his mother and brothers ‘inside’ his circle.

The blood relationship often alienates us from others. Our caste, community, rite, language, and religion identities are born of blood and marital relationships, or they are fostered by them. On the other hand, the kingdom relationship unites us.

There are three lessons for us:

(a) Jesus changes the direction of ‘in-out’. When the person in the crowd wanted Jesus to go ‘out’ to meet ‘them,’ he brought them ‘in’ to become ‘us.’ Only those who go ‘in’ can become relatives of Jesus in the kingdom.

(b) The kingdom bond or relationship is not based on blood, marriage, friendship, or acquaintance but is based on ‘doing the will of the heavenly father.’ In order to become related to Jesus and others horizontally, we must be related to God ‘vertically.’

(c) When we meet each other, we must never see what differentiates us from them, such as gender, colour, background, religion, caste, status, or economy, but rather what unites us to them. As bearers of the divine image, we are all brothers and sisters, and we are all dependent on each other.

In the first reading, the prophet Micah recalls to the people of Israel their lost identity as the people of God. This identity came not because of blood or marriage but because of God’s covenantal faithfulness. God, through his mercy and steadfast love, owns them as his own.

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One who clings on to the blood and marriage relationship has to stand ‘out’ of Jesus’ household. Or as long as we hold on to these bonds, we stand ‘out.’ We get ‘in’ through God and by doing his will. There, we celebrate the communion of synodality. A pilgrim of hope is a person of communion. (Jubilee 2025 AD, bite 154).

Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi

Archdiocese of Madurai

Missionary of Mercy