20 September 2022
Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn, Priest, and Paul Chŏng Ha-sang, and Companions, Martyrs
Jesus is told that His mother and brothers are waiting to see Him, to which He says, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” We might wonder what this means; after all, did not Mary give birth to Him? Are not these “brothers” tied to Our Lord by blood in some way?
Yes, but Jesus has come to welcome us into His first family: the Holy Trinity. Being the brother of Jesus is more than a matter of blood and familial ties, just as Mary being the mother of Jesus is more than the fact she carried and bore Him. For she became His mother not merely because she conceived Him in her womb, but first because she heard the word of God and acted upon it. When the angel Gabriel appeared to her and related to her all that the Lord wished him to say, she responded with, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word,” (Luke 1:38). It is her trusting obedience regarding God’s word that makes her the mother of Jesus—the Mother of God!—far above any biological reality. Therefore, we becomes the ”brothers” of the Lord not by any biological relation, but by being obedient—by listening—to the same Father as He.
The word “obey” comes from a Latin word meaning “to listen” but it is different than merely hearing: obedience means to listen, and then to act accordingly. One way we know Jesus is the Son of God because He says, repeatedly, that He has come not to do His own will, but the will of the one who sent Him (Matthew 20:28, John 6:38): He listens and acts, “…becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross,” (Philippians 2:8). When we consider our own relationship with God, do we see ourselves as brethren of the Lord? Do we hear the word of God and act on it?