All in the Family

 

Deacon Dave · All in the Family

Homily for the 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time, June 9, 2024. Gospel of St. Mark 3:20-35. Theme: All in The Family 

 Quite often when people start reading the Gospels on a regular basis they come upon today’s passage about Jesus’ family conflict and it makes them stop and think. Perhaps they have never really reflected on the fact that Jesus was part of a regular ordinary everyday extended family and that just like the rest of us, his was made up of all kinds of characters and personalities. They had their own firm set of ideas and their own preconceived judgments. The Gospels make it very clear in a few places that Jesus’ relatives (called brothers, and we’ll get to that in a minute) were definitely not members of his fan club! With the known exception of his mother, Mary, they pretty much thought that he was out of his mind. I feel sorry for what the Blessed Mother must’ve had to hear from her kinfolk concerning what they thought about her Son. 

 The mention of Jesus' brothers often confuses people because we are taught that Mary was ever-virgin and that Jesus didn’t have any blood-siblings. Yet, St. Mark and other gospel-writers mention his brothers and sisters…so, what’s up with that? The answer is actually quite simple if we step out of our 21st century American mindset and go back to ancient Palestine. You see, in that culture there was no strict designation made between various degrees of kinship. Apart from parents and grandparents, basically all relatives were simply referred to as one’s brothers and sisters. And this is how Christians have always understood that verse of Scripture. However, as a result of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, those who sought to contest all Catholic teaching also tried to undermine this ancient belief about the perpetual virginity of Mary. Sadly, their efforts persist to this day and cause confusion for some people. 

 But going back to Jesus’ family conflict, I bet many of us can relate to this in our own lives in one way or another. Quite often when we find ourselves being among the few, or maybe even the only one, in our extended family who has a real faith in Jesus, it can become rough going. Our commitment to daily prayer, to reading the Scriptures, to going to Confession when needed, and to faithfully attending Mass can be met with misunderstanding. Our refusal to participate in gossip or other immoral behaviors can become an occasion for ridicule. At times like that we need to think of how Jesus was hurt by his family’s words and actions and ask him for the strength to follow his example of returning only kindness towards those who misunderstand us. 

 Because Jesus’ relatives and villagers were the people he grew up with, they simply could not believe that he was who and what he said he was. They had closed their hearts and minds to the possibility that Jesus, the son of Mary, the village carpenter, their cousin, the guy they grew up with, was the long-awaited much-promised Messiah of God. They just could not perceive that he could be anything more than they were. I think it’s a witness to the truth of the saying that “familiarity breeds contempt”...and if not contempt, then I would certainly say that at least, familiarity breeds apathy. And this is where I think we arrive at a very important and personal question that today’s Gospel is asking each one of us to honestly ponder. 

 Have we, perhaps even unintentionally, become infected with some of that apathetic familiarity virus? Are we so used to hearing and talking about Jesus that he has become kind of like the guy-next-door? What I mean is…when we hear a Gospel story at Mass do we run ahead of it in our minds and finish the story without giving it a chance to really sink in? Are we no longer impressed by the miracle stories because we’ve heard them so many times? Does the drama and intrigue of the Passion no longer move us because we know how it all ends? Has Jesus and the Gospel become an all-too-familiar matter for us? 

 If so, then we need to nip it in the bud and ask the Holy Spirit to reignite the flame of love within us. You know, Jesus called the Holy Spirit the “power from on high” and in its original Greek this is the same word that we use for dynamite! We need to ask the Spirit of the Living God to blow our apathy out of the water and cause an explosion of faith to erupt within us once again. We need to make time to re-personalize and rekindle our relationship with Jesus, like two friends who make a point of getting together regularly to keep the friendship growing. If we are faithful to intentionally re-discovering the specialness of Jesus, he will bless our efforts, deepen our faith and work many mighty wonders in our lives. 

 Oh, and don’t ever give up hope over any family members who may be in conflict with you about faith in Jesus. James and Simeon, two of the Lord’s relatives who originally tried to stop him from making a fool of himself and the family, ended up becoming disciples and saints. Both of them became in succession the first two bishops of Jerusalem and each gave up their very lives in martyrdom for their cousin, Jesus. Just another reminder of what Jesus used to say…”nothing is impossible to God!”