Spiritual Family!

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Heb 10:1-10; Mk 3:31-35

Today’s Gospel highlights the idea of spiritual family. 

The crowd must have been shocked that Jesus was a bit harsh toward his natural family members. 

However, what they must not have realized is that Jesus does not mean to be hostile toward his natural family members but helps them understand the truth of the spiritual family that he is creating and to which everyone can belong, as long as they accept the words of Jesus and do God’s will. 

The idea of a spiritual family must have been a shocker for Jesus’ audience, who could not think beyond the confines of a traditional family setting. 

Jesus’ spiritual family is also a social revolution because, as the enlarged family of all those who believe in Jesus, it overcomes any barrier that prevents us from finding a social communion. 

In addition, Jesus makes spiritual motherhood, brotherhood, and sisterhood possible within the family founded on faith and love. What Jesus means here is that this spiritual family will be the new reality in the Kingdom he preaches about.

We cannot believe in Jesus without subscribing to his idea of the universal spiritual family. Those who want to belong to the family must express their fundamental belief in the fact that as believers in Christ, we are all united as one, with no discrimination among us and with nothing to divide us on any basis. 

Let us pray that, embracing the idea of the Kingdom’s universal spiritual family, we may do our part to enrich it and make it a reality on earth. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar