No matter what, every time I read this gospel, I first think, “What! Jesus had brothers?!”
But this gospel is much less about Jesus’ family, I think, than about ours and God’s: this family of God grows when we do God’s will, when we love one another.
I don’t think I’m a particularly good example of this, but I do think about how many people call me “brother”—my three delightful blood brothers, of course, but then also my Jesuit community and, perhaps most surprisingly, a smattering of east and west African men who are refugees in Chicago, men whose families I have gotten to know and accompany in their challenging transitions.
When we reach out to others in generous love, our own and God’s family grow wider, creating more chances to see a former stranger as brother, sister, son or mother.
Who has become part of your wider family?
—Garrett Gundlach, S.J. is a Jesuit scholastic from the Wisconsin Province. He is engaged in Master of Social Work studies at Loyola University Chicago.