From: Luke 8:19-21
The True Kinsmen of Jesus
[19] Then His (Jesus') mother and His brethren came to Him, but they
could not reach Him for the crowd. [20] And He was told, "Your mother
and your brethren are standing outside, desiring to see You." [21] But
He said to them, "My mother and my brethren are those who hear the word
of God and do it."
Commentary:
19-21. These words of our Lord show us that fulfillment of the Will of
God is more important than kinship and that, therefore, our Lady is
more united to her Son by virtue of her perfect fulfillment of what God
asked of her, than by the Holy Spirit's using her to make Christ's body
(cf. notes on Matthew 12:48-50 and Mark 3:31-35).
[Notes on Matthew 12:48-50 states:
48-50. Jesus obviously loved His Mother and St. Joseph. He uses this
episode to teach us that in His Kingdom human ties do not take
precedence. In Luke 8:19 the same teaching is to be found. Jesus
regards the person who does the will of His Heavenly Father as a member
of His own family. Therefore, even though it means going against
natural family feelings, a person should do just that when needs be in
order to perform the mission the Father has entrusted to him (cf. Luke
2:49).
We can say that Jesus loved Mary more because of the bonds between them
created by grace than because He was her son by natural generation:
Mary's divine motherhood is the source of all our Lady's other
prerogatives; but this very motherhood is, in its turn, the first and
greatest of the graces with which Mary was endowed.]
[Notes on Mark 3:31-35 states:
31-35. In Aramaic, the language used by the Jews, the word "brethren"
is a broad term indicating kinship: nephews, first cousins, and
relatives in general are called `brethren' (for further explanation cf.
note on Mark 6:1-3). "Jesus did not say this to disown His mother, but
to show that she is worthy of honor not only account of having given
birth to Jesus, but also because she has all the virtues" (Theoplylact,
"Enarratio In Evangelium Marci, in loc.").
Therefore, the Church reminds us that the Blessed Virgin "in the course
of her Son's preaching received the words whereby, in extolling a
kingdom beyond the concerns and ties of flesh and blood, He declared
blessed those who heard and kept the word of God as she was faithfully
doing" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 58).
Our Lord, then, is also telling us that if we follow Him we will share
His life more intimately than if were a member of His family. St.
Thomas explains this by saying that Christ "had an eternal generation
and a generation in time, and gave preference to the former. Those who
do the will of the Father reach Him by Heavenly generation [...].
Everyone who does the will of the Father, that is to say, who obeys
Him, is a brother or sister of Christ, because he is like Him who
fulfilled the will of His Father. But he who not only obeys but
converts others, begets Christ in them, and thus becomes like the
Mother of Christ" ("Commentary on St. Matthew", 12, 49-50.)
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.