For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the Blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God,cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God. Hebrews 9:13-14
He came home. Again (the) crowd gathered, making it impossible for them even to eat. When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” Mark 3:20-21
Piety
God reigns over every nation. Jesus, help us to hear and comprehend the magnitude of your call and your desire to have us surround you. Keep us from erecting a veil to separate ourselves from you. Unlike those around you who did not believe, protect us from thinking that you are out of your mind in your words and deeds. Help us to respond, instead, with a blare of trumpets and shouts of joy. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/012007.shtml
Who can approach God and be with God?
In the temple of Moses, there was a veil to separate the altar for the priests from the people assembled. Further, there was an inner sanctuary where only the high priest could go, neither the other priests nor the people in worship. The Jewish temple described in the letter of Hebrews is essentially built upon the model used by Moses.
Jesus throws out the Mosaic model of church. He replaces it with a model where the people enter directly the House of God and do. So many enter that Jesus and the disciples can not “even to eat.”
The notes in the NAB shed light on both the historical context of the readings as well as the deeper meaning. In the old model, the blood of animals, especially lambs, was used to sacrifice to God. If the sacrifice of animals could bestow legal purification (Hebrews 9:13), how much more effective is the blood of the sinless, divine Christ who spontaneously offered himself to purge the human race of sin and render it fit for the service of God (Hebrews 9:14).[1]
Some people, who were used to the historic model of worshipping, could not adapt to seeing Jesus preach right in his own home to whoever assembled there. Some of Jesus’ own family members thought something was not right. In addition, after several episodes of conflict, the scribes thought Jesus was possessed by demons.
Against this background, Jesus is informed of the arrival of his mother and brothers [and sisters] (Mark 3:32). He responds by showing that not family ties but doing God's will (35) is decisive in the kingdom.[2] Natural kinship with Jesus counts for nothing; only one who does the will of his heavenly Father belongs to his true family.[3]
Action
Sometimes, we dismiss that which we do not understand or actions which seem extreme. Think of someone or some situation in which you encountered someone so committed to following the will of God that you thought they were crazy.
Have you ever had a friend who turned his back on marriage and the prospects of having children to enter the seminary or a monastery or a Catholic Worker community or the Bruderhof? The media sometimes likes to focus on men who had a successful and lucrative career and turned away from that career, left everything behind, and responded to God’s call. Here’s two differ takes on that story.
http://www.stlouisreview.com/article.php?id=12108
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/11/23/State/His_turn_for_turning_.shtml
The Catholic media treats this topic with respect but sometimes the secular media treats this story with amazement because it runs counter to everything our capitalistic society teaches us to want.
Perhaps God is calling us all to a deeper commitment that we feel we can logically submit to in our prevailing society. If something defies logic and contradicts culture, that doesn’t make it crazy, it just makes it hard to understand and accept unless you have strong faith.
Maybe what we are doing in society are “dead works.” Yet God is calling us to pursue his living works.
[1] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/hebrews/hebrews9.htm#foot9
[2] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/mark/mark3.htm#foot8
[3] http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/matthew/matthew12.htm#foot32
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