HAPPY ARE THISE WHO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT

HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO HEAR THE WORD OF GOD AND KEEP IT

(TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2019)

Today's passage from Ezra relates a story of perseverance of the Jews in their rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple, and eventually with the support of King Darius and royal revenue. In Ezra, the Israelites have the opportunity to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. When they are done, they celebrate. In Ezra, the Jews have reason to be down. God’s chosen people have been conquered, exiled and Jerusalem destroyed. But Ezra is a story of hope and restoration. The Jews keep their faith and belief that God loves them and, in the end, they celebrate with joy.

The psalmist today proclaims, let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord. Psalm 122 is filled with the joy of the Jewish people celebrating Jerusalem's restoration, "A city, one united whole!" Further in the psalm, the people are exhorted to, "...pray for peace...may peace be within your walls...Peace be within you."

In the gospel, Jesus tells the crowd, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it.” One of the glorious things about being a Christian is looking at Jesus and realizing how much God loves us. I wish everyone could be assured of just how much God loves them.

In order to understand today’s short and startling Gospel account from Luke, we must first put it into its proper context with the help of Mark’s Gospel. We know from St. Mark that Jesus was in the midst of His Galilean ministry at a house in Capernaum that was absolutely packed with people flocking to see this miracle worker for Nazareth. Mark recounts how Jesus’ family thought he was mad, so they went to “seize him”.
Not being able to enter the house because of the crowd, they relayed a message to Jesus that they wanted to “see Him”. Jesus responded with this cutting message: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Imagine the response of the crowd! They must have laughed at his family.

What humiliation they must have experienced.
Although we know by faith Jesus was NOT insulting His mother because she had fulfilled Jesus’ command perfectly her entire life, exemplified at the Annunciation when she said, “Let it be done to me according to thy word”, still the reality of this situation must have been humiliating.
Imagine how some of Jesus’ relatives must have told Mary that her Son has disowned her and she is all alone. And the devil must have attacked Mary by twisting this statement and feeding her with lies about her relationship with her Son as some people think that Jesus was disregarding His Mother with this gospel statement. Rather than rejecting His mother and brothers, Jesus is emphasizing a new kind of relationship, even stronger than the relationship of biology – a relationship in which we are all brothers and sisters of Jesus, children of the Father, brothers and sisters of one another, and heirs to eternal life. We take this, perhaps, as a kind of figure of speech, whereas Jesus takes it very literally. This brother & sister relationship is a direct consequence of Baptism. In Baptism, as the Catholic funeral rite proclaims, a person dies in Christ and takes on a new life, that is, is literally vivified by the spirit of God.

Jesus is perhaps expanding His welcome to all who are there - if they hear the word of God and act upon it. Rather than being exclusive of his family, perhaps Jesus is inviting all to be included into his family.
But Jesus does indicate that it is not only the hearing of God's word that makes the difference. Rather, he calls us to hear the word of God and reflect on it so that we might live it out “...put it into practice," in the situations which we meet daily.

Let Us Pray: Lord Jesus, give me the grace to always listen to your word and may I do what it commands me to do. Amen.