Who Belongs in the Family of God?
I have struggled more than usual to write this Sunday’s reflection. Often, this happens because I haven’t allowed myself to become empty enough to hear what God is telling me. Not so, this time. I know where God is leading, but I hesitate to follow. This reading has the power to make us uncomfortable.
This weekend, we celebrate Holy Family Sunday. It is a Sunday when we remember the significant role that Mary and Joseph, two poor refugees, played in bringing about the plan of God. Two simple, ordinary people who loved God and followed where He led changed the course of humanity. God inspired and led them from an angel’s visit to a stable, humble family life, the foot of a cross, and an empty tomb. Every step, every smile, every learning, every teaching, and every tear was about family — the Holy Family of God.
This feast has made me rethink family and what it means to be family. God calls us forward from the microcosm of our own families to look into His family’s eyes that surround us inside and beyond church doors.
No family is perfect. Yet, we often look for perfection, or at least a face of perfection, when considering who should be in the Family of God.
In the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus was teaching, His disciples told him that His Mother and brothers were there to see him. He responded, “Who are my mother and brothers? I tell you those who hear my words and follow them are mother and brother to me.” He was proclaiming family, His family, the Holy Family of God.
In our lives, our society, and yes, in our Church, we spend an inordinate amount of time deciding who is and is not worthy to be a member. We decide who is in and who “should” be out. We determine who belongs and who is unwelcome at the Lord’s table.
People are often their harshest judge. They carry inordinate guilt and cast their most scathing judgment on themselves. They withdraw from our family, feeling unworthy.
The real question is, “Are we, who listen to Jesus’ word and follow Him today, a Holy Family?”
Have we become Pharisees? We are the brothers and sisters of the Lord. We cannot allow anything to prevent people who seek the Lord from coming to His table. We cannot allow anyone to shrink from the Lord’s table because of who they are or the mistakes they have made. In fact, we are responsible for going out into the highways and byways and welcoming all God’s people home.
We welcome all as Jesus invites all into His presence. Jesus welcomed foreigners, sinners, prostitutes, women, those possessed by demons, the blind, lame, and outcasts of all sorts.
In much the same way we welcome all regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, criminal history, marital status, addiction, political leanings, liberal or conservative attitudes, personality quirks, wealth or poverty, mental illness, disability, or being wounded by our society for any reason. We are commanded to do as Jesus did and welcome saints and sinners to the family and the table of the Lord.
If Jesus turned no one away, how can we? Who are we, as individuals or as a Church, to say someone is unworthy or unwelcome? We are called to have loving hearts and say with Pope Francis, “Who am I to judge?”
At the Lord’s table, we know the fullness of love, forgiveness, and metanoia (a change of heart). At the Lord’s table, in His family, the wounds of life and our brokenness are healed. It is in God’s family where the bickering and divisions, judgments, violence, and hate of the world’s values will end. It is only together, one in the Lord, that we can change the face of hatred, division, and bigotry that have become the plague of our country and our planet.
We are the Holy Family of God; we must continue challenging ourselves to act like it.
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
