HOMILY FOR TUESDAYOF THE 3RD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME OF YEAR B
THEME: Who are my mother and my brothers? Those that do the will of God.
BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA
READINGS OF THE DAY
1Samuel 6:12-15,17-19
Psalm 23:7-10
Mark 3:31-35
LITURGICAL COLOUR
GREEN
INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time of Year B.
FROM OUR FIRST READING
our first reading today, we heard of the moment when King David brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city of Jerusalem, welcoming it with great celebrations and festivities, glorifying God with the king himself taking part in the celebrations, dancing before the Lord with passion and vigour. This was the glorious moment as not only that David had his kingdom secure and united, but he has also established a new and mighty capital city in Jerusalem, to be the centre of his kingdom, the kingdom of the people of God, the Israelites. God blessed David and made his reign secure, and David in turn brought the Ark of God to dwell once again among the people of God, in the city which he has established to be the centre of the kingdom, as a symbolic representation of how God is always amongst His beloved ones.
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FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus seems to distance himself from his family of origin. While Jesus is teaching in a house, one of the crowd informs him that his mother and brothers are outside the house wanting to speak to him. Jesus declares that he now has a new family, the family of those seated around him, the family of his disciples, the family of those who do the will of God as proclaimed and lived by Jesus. It must have been difficult for Jesus’ mother to come to terms with this new reality. Jesus no longer belonged to her or the rest of her family. Jesus now belonged to a much larger family that was not defined by blood but by its relationship to him and to the God whom he proclaimed.
CONCLUSION
There are two things we should learn from this gospel passage which is about Jesus and His Family:
First, we belong to the family of God by doing His will. Jesus says: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Through these words, physical or biological closeness to Christ does not count. A true kinship is not just a matter of flesh and blood. Here Jesus truly emphasizes that spiritual relationship is superior than family ties especially that sometimes our family do not understand us when we serve God.
Second, Mary is the model of doing the will of God for us mere mortals. Our Blessed Mother did not pride her privileged place in the history of salvation. On the contrary, Mary was the handmaid of the Lord. She listened very attentively God’s word, meditated upon it and when the angel said it to her she answered: “Yes” to God’s plan of salvation and acted on it when given the opportunity. God’s will was the most important one in her life. She knew that her life had no meaning outside God’s will. She didn’t try to escape the reality of her situation or seek fulfillment in any creature. She sought her perfection and happiness from the source of all holiness and perfection, Jesus Himself.
Happy Blessed Tuesday everyone.
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