The popular phrase Family Comes First can be a helpful ethical steer for humans trying to allocate limited emotional and material resources. In today’s reading from the bible, Jesus appears to turn the notion on its head. In our reflection, we examine the feelings this triggers in us.
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The gospel writer Luke often includes seemingly ordinary details in his description of the life and ministry of Jesus. A quick read can render these inconsequential. But they remind us of the humanity of Jesus that we all share. As a result, they can be particularly arresting anecdotes if Jesus does not do or say what we might expect!
Today’s verses are a rare reference to Jesus’ family, in a chapter full of dramatic teaching and events. Find them hidden away in verses 19 - 21 of the eventful chapter 8 of Luke’s account.
This is an emotive paragraph, perhaps particularly read now - when COVID restrictions prevent many of us from seeing our family:
“Jesus’ mother and brothers came to him but they could not reach him”
Jesus’ response, on being told his family are outside wanting to see him, may not ease our discomfort!
“ ‘My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’”
How do you react to these words? Spend some time sitting with that reaction and, if you like, how it relates to your own family relationships.
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The common interpretation of the verses is to read them as Jesus, at best (according to most of our values) snubbing his family and, at worst, abandoning them in preference to others.
We don’t really know from such a short utterance, possibly used for rhetorical purposes, if that is what is happening. We have no idea what happened later, assuming Jesus did see his mother and siblings again. Nor do we know why Luke puts this brief reference to Jesus’ relationship with his family in the middle of a descripton of a series of parables and miracles.
You might find it helpful to try this exercise*: take this statement of Jesus not a snub to his biological family but as an invitation to all those listening to him – both at the time in the crowd and now, as readers of the gospel.
Try doing that, imagining the scene in as much sensory detail as you can:
If this is an invitation to become as it were a parent or sibling of Jesus, as you hear and hold onto the word of God, how do you want to respond? What might Jesus mean when he says ‘hear the word of God and do it’?
If you could accept an offer to be in a very close, familial relationship with Jesus - especially in this time of separation from some of those you love - what would that mean to you? What do you think it would take for you to hear the word and do it? Does this seem easy, impossible, desirable?
Again, sit with these feelings. If you like, talk about this to God, or the One who loves you, or a trusted friend.
* Exercise adapted from Pray as You Go.