Matthew 12: 46-50 (Tuesday, July 24, 2007)

We always think of our biological families first. We say our biological family is more important than anything other thing. Jesus Christ radically changes this when he says in the gospel of today that whoever does the will of his Father is his brother, sister and mother. We are all drawn into the family of Christ through our faith. Jesus Christ tells us in John 1: 12 that for all that have faith, he has given them the powers to be sons and daughters of God. Today, Jesus generously shares his family with us and that is what we do when we are being baptized. At baptism, we become the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.

The second level of this teaching is that everyone who is a member of this family also becomes a brother or sister of all those that belong to the family. Our baptismal waters is thicker than biological blood. You are more closely related with the person in your Christian community who shares the baptism and faith in Jesus than with a biological brother who does not. When we see other members of the Christian community today, let us not see them as strangers but as brothers and sisters.