I’m sure most of you have brothers and sisters. I myself am the youngest of six kids, though I was born much later from the older five. One of the great things about siblings is that they are there for one another. They are there to protect one another. Older siblings, especially, may look out for their younger brothers and sisters to ensure they don’t get hurt and protect them from danger. Even though sometimes they may fight and argue, when it comes down to it, most times siblings look out for each other.
When men or women go through a stressful or emotional event together, or participate in a time of spiritual growth and bonding such as a retreat, a brotherhood and sisterhood seems to emerge. When you go through something where your guard comes down, and you get to know people, learn about them and their joys and trials, a brotherhood or sisterhood happens as a result. You become family.
We are God’s family, but that bond was fractured a bit with the fall of Adam and Even, through the conflict of Cain and Abel, and on through the ages. We were wounded, and often we didn’t want to hear from God. We thought we knew better, and like the younger sibling, we always chose to do our own thing. God knew that the only way to fix the family was to send His Son to become one of us, to physically become our brother so that He could suffer through and experience what we do. This was so we could see and experience His divinity and have a relationship with Him to renew and grow our faith in God. He made it personal, and as it says in Hebrews:
Therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people.
Jesus came to be one of us. He came to experience the human condition and be the ultimate sacrifice for God’s family, so that the family could be restored and things made right and we could all reunite in Heaven.
Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
God the Father, in many ways, is that mysterious being that no one can fully understand. We know He is love and powerful, yet He is hard to perceive. But we know Jesus. He is one of us. We know what He looked liked, how He talked, and how He lived. When I go to Eucharistic Adoration, I look at the monstrance and physically see Jesus in form of the Blessed Sacrament, but when I close my eyes, He is sitting there, right beside me, like a brother, waiting to listen or to tell me what I need to hear. We can visualize Him, and it is for this reason, this closure, that He became man. He fixed the family. This was His purpose.
And like any brother, Jesus wants to protect us. He wants to heal us, and He doesn’t want us to suffer. Yet He also knows that suffering serves a purpose, and that faith provides healing, whether it is in this life or the next. We just need to have faith.
And so He came to be one of us. He starts performing miracles and signs so people will believe.
People now wanted to see Him. They wanted to be healed. When Jesus started His ministry, the world, as it is today, was in pretty bad shape, In fact, St Mark states:
When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door.
The whole town gathered at the door. Interpretations have stated that this town was particularly full of sickness and demons, but this can also be a symbolic view of our lives and this world. The whole town was gathered at the door. In other words, everyone was in need of healing. All of them were sinners and in need, just as all of us are.
Mark then goes on to say:
He drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him.
Not permitting them to speak? Jesus didn’t want the people to hear that He was the Messiah from lying demons. He wanted to show He had authority over them, and He also probably didn’t want the news to come out too soon. He had work to do. He needed to reveal who he was to everyone in order to build the faith. He needed to visit and talk to His family.
He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”
This was His purpose. He came to show us the way, to teach us, and to protect us. He came to sacrifice himself for us so that the human family unit could be save. He came as our big brother, to be our example and to show us the right way to do things and not repeat the mistakes of the past. He came knowing that we would not fully listen, that we would be the bratty little brother or sister that would still want to do it our own way.
But yet He still came because He loves us. He came so that humanity – those living at the time and the billions alive two millennia later, would have a brother to talk to, a brother to see, and a brother to turn to in good times and in bad. A brother that could show us how to get to Heaven. He came because we are family, and He is our big brother, the one who protects us and keeps us in line. He truly is our Keeper, protecting us from danger, protecting us from this world. Maybe it’s time we listen to that brotherly advice and truly appreciate who He is.
