Scripture: Ezra 6:7-8. 12.14-20. Psalm 122:1-5. Luke 8:19-21. Lectionary #
450:

Two of the best Catholic biblical scholars have researched this passage
from Luke that mentions the mother of Jesus. They say that Mary fits all
of the criteria for being a disciple of Jesus. That is good news that helps
us to understand Luke's image of her, and, her motherhood is the bottom
line when it comes to the mystery of Mary and her role in salvation
history. Fr. Raymond E. Brown, S.S., and Josephy Fitzmyer, S.J. are the
two exegetes who affirm Mary's discipleship. In looking at the context in
which this short passage appears we discover that it is a series of
parables and words of Jesus that are telling us how to receive the word of
God and to do God's will. In reflecting upon the ordinary situation of
Jesus being a member of the the family of the human race through Mary and
through his messianic title through his foster-father Joseph, we realize
that Jesus uses the occasion to tell us we can all be brothers and sisters
and mothers of Jesus by listening to the word of God and doing God's will.
Mary literally received the Word of God in her body; listening to her son
is also receiving the human words of Jesus and then doing them. Her
mystery is to share in both the divinity and humanity of her son through
the Incarnation and the working of the Holy Spirit in her from the
Annunciation till the last mention of her in the upper room. We,like those
gathered there, can be the brothers and sisters, the family of Jesus, by
our faith. He is telling us that blood relationship is not what he is
teaching to us but the spiritual relationship of sons and daughters and
mothers and fathers to God. It is an inclusive not an exclusive teaching
and fits in well with the literary and theological interest in Luke who is
a universalist. Disicples of Jesus learn, listen, and follow their master.
Jesus says to us even though we are not of Jewish ancestry, "My mother and
my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it." Mary's
call to discipleship and motherhood came at the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38)
and continued through the rest of her life up to the gathering in the upper
room (Luke's Acts of the Apostles, chapters 1 and 2). The Holy Spirit came
upon Mary both in the Annunciation and in the descent in tongues of fire at
Pentecost in that upper room probably owned or rented by another Mary
(perhaps, the mother of John Mark). The Holy Spirit makes apostles or
disciples of the one hundred and twenty persons gathered there. The call
to be a disciple is now a call to community witness to discipleship and its
mission. Luke will now use the term "church" and "apostle" more universally
than the Gospels even his own Gospel. And Mary is always in relationship
with her son and with the community we call the Church. She understood
this at the beginning of Jesus' active ministry when she prodded him on to
do something extraordinary at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. There, knowing
that the "hour" of Jesus is potentially started she says to us, "Do
whatever He tells you." This is what our own call to discipleship is all
about and we have Mary both as our model for discipleship and as our
spiritual mother. We are truly brothers and sisters of Jesus. Amen.