In today’s Gospel Jesus is busy working with the many people who now come to him. His Mother and other family members “stop by work” to see him. What does Jesus do? He doesn’t say, “OK, my Mother’s here. I’m done for the day.” Nor does he say, “Mom, what are you doing here? I’m busy! Come back later.” We know that his mother Mary was always very important to Jesus. She was the person who gave him human life and who was closest to him from the moment of his conception to the moment of his death. We know that Mary’s role was (and is) to bring people to Jesus. She always points the way to him.
So it is today. When Mary and other family came to visit Jesus in today’s reading, it gave Jesus an opportunity to tell us that we can be family to him. Not “like family,” but “be family.” Jesus says, “For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father IS my brother, and sister, and mother.” IS. I can be Jesus’ sister—mother—daughter. You can be Jesus’ brother—father—son. We can be family.
We can be part of Jesus’ family–if we are intentional disciples. What is an intentional disciple? A disciple is one who listens and learns from a teacher. An intentional disciple is someone who not only listens and learns, but also chooses to follow the teacher and apply what he teaches. He or she intends to practice what is taught.
There is a point in the Gospel today we might easily miss. Jesus was “speaking to the crowds,” but those whom he named as family were not the crowds. Matthew says, “and stretching out his hand toward his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother’.”
In the United States a popular book in Catholic circles is Sherry Weddell’s Forming Intentional Disciples. Generally, this is a book about why we as Catholics need to be intentional about our faith. While baptism and other sacraments give us grace, and we encounter Jesus in the mass, it is through a process of intentionally committing ourselves to follow him as our teacher, that faith becomes vital, dynamic, and life-giving. We must encounter Jesus and CHOOSE to follow him.
Literally every pope and every saint of the past fifty years has said such intentional discipleship is key for countering the great evils of our modern age and transforming the world for Christ as Vatican II challenges us to do.
The first step toward intentional discipleship is to encounter Jesus. Pope Francis said it beautifully in Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel:
“I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since ‘no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord.’” (Evangelii Gaudium, Joy of the Gospel, paragraph 3.)
Encountering Jesus is just the beginning. Next we must choose to follow. This is usually not a simple matter. As Sherry Weddell describes in her book, God has no grandchildren. Rich, filled-with-joy faith comes from a journey. The process Weddell describes often begins with an encounter with at least one joyful Christian. A human personal relationship begins the intentional disciple process. Because this Christian (or preferably this community of Christians) is clearly joyful and in relationship with God, a curiosity about relationship with God is created. This curiosity leads to openness and seeking. If you have worked in RCIA or other religious education programs taught by Catholics who are joyful in their faith, you know what I mean. Personal relationship leads naturally toward seeking the joyful faith that is seen.
But, in our modern culture, this comfortable time is then followed by active encounter with faith which includes, “doing the will of the Father.” It includes choosing to live a life of love of both God and neighbor. It includes obedience to God’s commands.
Later in Evangelii Gaudium Pope Francis says, “The Lord’s missionary mandate includes a call to growth in faith: ‘Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.’ (Matthew 28:20). Hence it is clear that the first proclamation also calls for ongoing formation and maturation. …All of us need to grow in Christ.…It would not be right to see this call to growth exclusively or primarily in terms of doctrinal formation. It has to do with ‘observing’ all that the Lord has shown us as the way of responding to his love. Along with the virtues, this means above all the new commandment, the first and the greatest of the commandments, and the one that best identifies us as Christ’s disciples: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you’ (John 15:12) (Evangelii Gaudium, paragraphs 160-161)
Intentional disciples are family of God. Intentional disciples are Jesus’ brothers and sisters and mothers. What could be better than that? We can be this family by doing what God asks us to do.
Yet, often, we do not know our faith well enough to see the wisdom of loving God first by keeping his commands and then loving others with self-giving love. We think being in the crowds is good enough.
Today Jesus uses his loving relationship with his Mother to draw us into discipleship. Where are you on the journey: one who does not yet trust, one who is curious, one who is open, one who is seeking, or one who has chosen discipleship?
Most of us (certainly me!) move back and forth among the steps through our lives. Sometimes I have not even been trusting. Much of my life I was either curious or open, but it was only in recent years, after I seriously questioned my faith, that I became an intentional disciple.
In the fall I will begin a column on A Catholic Moment to help those who would be or are already intentional disciples to better understand our Catholic faith. As I come to understand my Catholic faith, my joy and my commitment to discipleship increase.
Has this been true for you?
