19 July 2016 - his mother and his brothers

[ Today's Readings ]

Sometimes we feel forgotten. We feel as though God is not paying attention to us. We deal with suffering, fear, and anxiety and God seems to be silent.

We want him to give us life again, to restore us, to show us his kindness, and grant us his salvation. Maybe the first step is to remember who he is.

Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt
and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance;
Who does not persist in anger forever,
but delights rather in clemency,
And will again have compassion on us,
treading underfoot our guilt?

Part of remembering who he is entails remembering what he has already done for us.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
as in the days of old;
As in the days when you came from the land of Egypt,
show us wonderful signs.

This helps us to recognize in Jesus more than a son of Mary. We behold the only begotten Son of God. If we think we know who we is and where he's from we limit his ability to work by our own preconceptions. The fact is we never fully know where he's from. No one knows the Father except the Son (see Matthew 11:27). Jesus is from the Father and his life is dedicated to the Father. He wants to reveal the Father to us. For that to work, we have to realize that we still don't know very much and still have much to learn. 

When Jesus reveals the Father to us he does so by his Spirit who makes us cry out "Abba!" It isn't head knowledge of someone that one could read in a Wikipedia article. It is a deep experiential knowledge of having God as Father that Jesus shares with us. When he does so we are privileged to become his brothers. We even share in the relationship he has with his blessed mother. Because of this revelation we are not only able to do the will of the heavenly Father. We want to do it. We want to please our Father. As for Mary, she is not diminished by the attention of Jesus to the crowds. She does not regard it as silence. She is secure in the love of her son.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob,
and grace to Abraham,
As you have sworn to our fathers
from days of old.