Here are my mother and my brothers.
For whoever does the will of God
is my brother and sister and mother.
But take notice, just what is the crowd doing? To what does Jesus refer when he says they are doing the will of God? As far as we can tell, they are simply "seated around him". Is this surprising? After all, it is there is only one thing necessary (cf. Luk. 10:42). Thinking about doing the will of God often fills our minds with images of busying ourselves, running hither and thither, and generally doing things. But this is often pride. Can we simply sit at God's feet and understand that he can keep the universe running even while we aren't out actively helping?
He does not necessarily desire sacrifices and oblations. What he wants is our hearts.
First he says, Sacrifices and offerings,
burnt offerings and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.
These are offered according to the law.
Sacrifices and oblations can be merely law. They can be merely letter and not Spirit. They can be merely obligation and not self-giving. If they don't result from a deeper change within, a shift from being self-centered to being self-giving, they are not what they are meant to be. This is a shift we are unable to make on our own. But there is good news.
Then he says, Behold, I come to do your will.
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
We see that Jesus not only offers himself in a way that is pleasing to the Father, but by that very offering he consecrates all of us as well. He makes us all pleasing to the Father.
"For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing" (cf. 2 Cor. 2:15)
And since we are thus consecrated, we should not hesitate to offer ourselves.
"I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship" (cf. Rom. 12:1)
It all begins at the feet of Jesus. This is where the Father's will for us starts. This is how we become brother and sister and mother of Jesus. Only in this relationship can any other action be consecrated. Only then are they a pleasing aroma of Christ. Only then are we a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.
Listen to the psalm today. "Here am I Lord; I come to do your will." Presence precedes action. It must be so. When it does it is so good that we can't shut up about it.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
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