STANDING OUTSIDE

PRAYER MOMENT  

Tuesday 28 January 2014

 STANDING OUTSIDE

Pause. Be in the presence of Jesus with his disciples inside the house.

Reading. “The mother and brothers of Jesus arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him.” (Mark 3:31-35)  

Reflection. As we read Mark we keep in our mind his underlying purpose: to describe how Jesus announced the reign of God which was breaking into the world. One of the consequences of this was that God was gathering a new people who would embody the gospel in the world. This new family of God would take precedence over even normal human families such as Jesus himself was born into. Mark portrays this dramatically in saying twice that Mary and the brothers were “outside” while Jesus and his disciples, the new family of God, those “who do the will of God”, were inside. In the history of God’s people countless women and men have put the call of God before natural family ties.

Prayer. Lord, we thank you for the beautiful gift of family and family life. Help us treasure our families while at the same time may we know that sometimes the call of thegospel takes precedence, even over this most basic of all human groups.  Amen.