27 January 2026
We are family
Today’s readings invite us into a conversation that is both joyful and challenging: what it really means to belong to the family of God.
The first reading gives us one of the most exuberant scenes in all of Scripture. King David brings the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. This is not a political event or a military parade. It is worship. The Ark represents the living presence of God among His people, and David responds with his whole body and soul. He dances. He rejoices. He humbles himself before the Lord.
David is a king, but he does not cling to his dignity. He does not worry about appearances. He places himself entirely before God, because he knows something essential: God’s presence creates a new kind of belonging. Israel is not just a nation; it is a people formed by covenant. Their identity flows from their relationship with the Lord.
That sense of covenantal family carries directly into the Gospel.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is teaching when He is told, “Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you.” At first glance, His response can sound startling, even dismissive: “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Then He looks at those seated around Him and says, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
This passage has often raised questions, especially for Christians who are unfamiliar with the Jewish context of Jesus’ words. Some assume that “brothers and sisters” must mean biological siblings, and from there conclude that Mary must have had other children after Jesus.
But that conclusion misunderstands both Scripture and Jewish culture.
In the language Jesus spoke and the culture He lived in, there was no single word that meant “cousin” or “extended relative” the way we use those terms today. The word translated as “brother” was commonly used to describe a wide range of family relationships—cousins, kin, even members of the same clan. We see this throughout the Old Testament. Abraham and Lot are called brothers, though Lot is Abraham’s nephew. The term expresses closeness and belonging, not necessarily shared parentage.
The Gospels themselves quietly confirm this broader meaning. The “brothers” named elsewhere in Scripture are connected to other women identified as their mothers, not to Mary. And at the Crucifixion, Jesus entrusts His mother to the beloved disciple John. In a Jewish family, that would have been unthinkable if Mary had other sons to care for her.
But Mark’s Gospel is not primarily interested in clarifying family trees. Jesus is doing something much deeper.
He is redefining family—not by denying His love for Mary, but by expanding what belonging means. Far from diminishing His mother, this moment reveals her true greatness. Mary is not blessed simply because she gave birth to Jesus, but because she perfectly did the will of God. She is the first and greatest disciple. She embodies exactly what Jesus describes here.
Jesus is teaching that the deepest bond in His kingdom is not biology, but obedience rooted in love.
That truth matters for us.
Because many people carry wounds around family—broken relationships, absence, rejection, disappointment. Jesus looks at those seated around Him, ordinary people trying to listen and follow, and says: you belong. You are not on the outside. You are not second-class. You are family.
And like David before the Ark, this belonging calls for a response. It is not passive. It involves trust, humility, and joy. David dances because God has drawn near. The disciples sit at Jesus’ feet because God is speaking.
To be part of Christ’s family means allowing our lives to be shaped by God’s will—sometimes in ways that challenge our expectations or unsettle our assumptions. It means learning to see the Church not as an institution alone, but as a household formed by grace.
Today, the Lord invites us to hear His words personally:
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
This is not exclusion. It is invitation.
Not distance, but belonging.
Not correction without compassion, but truth spoken in love.
The family of God is larger than we imagine—and it begins wherever hearts are open to Him.