As we continue through the Book of Ezra, The Babylonian Captivity is over, and a remnant of God’s People is back home in the Promised Land (Ezra 6:7-20). Ezra could be forgiven for thinking that God has kept his promise. But God is not done, the story is not over. Maybe out of this ragbag of remnant people, God can do something greater. There is more for God’s People, including us, to learn from this episode in history.
I admit that, in the past, I believed that there were two “forces” working in the universe: one is good, and we call that “force” “God”; the other is evil, and we call that “force” “Satan”. But we learn from Ezra that God is willing, and able, to use evil to accomplish His good. Is that outside the way we think about spiritual things? Is that how we think about God? Good and evil. We think that they are diametrically opposed. But Ezra tells us that that view is not correct. God raises up Cyrus, a pagan, an evil king in the eyes of the peoples that he conquered. Yet it is Cyrus who is to supply what is necessary and to lead the rebuilding of the House of God in Israel. God works in the heart of this man to do unimaginable things.
But think about it. We read elsewhere in Scripture that God rules over the affairs of nations–that He raises kings up and He casts kings down. Proverbs says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water; God turns it wherever He wills.” God can use anything to accomplish His purpose. He is unshakably Sovereign, and He can use whomever He wills, to do whatever He wills, whenever He wills, for the sake of His people and for His greater glory. That is the God we serve.
We, along with God’s people, should celebrate Israel coming back to the Holy Land; we should weep with joy that these people have returned; we should know that God’s plan is not completed, and it is going to continue; we should know that God is going to find a way to fulfill His promises even though unthinkable things have happened. We should not forget that God raises up people whom you and I would not trust, people whom you would not think that anything good could come from, and God, through them, will provide what is good for His people. God’s toolbox includes everything. Even evil.
What do we see happen? We see God’s Law being read again. We see worship happening again. We see life again for the people of God. Captivity was not the end of the story. We are all exiles and captives, and God uses a variety of means to bring us back to Him, back to relationship with Him, back to the worship of Him, back to the love of His Law, back to what He says is right and good. Is our view of God too small?
In today’s Gospel (Luke 8:19-21), the mother and brothers of Jesus come looking for Him, but they cannot get to him because of the crush of people in the house where he is speaking. The use of the word ‘brothers’ here is troubling for some Christians. What we must understand is that, like many words, the meaning has evolved over the two millennia since the Gospels were written. During the life of Jesus, ‘brothers’ would commonly indicate not just siblings, but also cousins.
The story presented in Mark suggests that His family is there to take him away. They think that he might be insane, and he certainly was an embarrassment that might get them into trouble with the authorities. We see a similar embarrassment on the part of the parents of the man born blind in John (9:21). They were afraid of what would happen to them, so they refused to speak to the authorities on behalf of their son: “Ask him; he is of age. He is old enough to speak for himself.” (John 9:21)
Luke’s account is gentler than that presented in Mark. Here Jesus simply says that “my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” This wording matches the end of Luke’s parable of the sower: “… the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with endurance.” (Luke 8:15)
We know from elsewhere in Luke’s gospel, that Mary is not being condemned here. On another occasion, she was indirectly praised for being the mother of such a Son. Jesus had spoken in words very similar to today: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 11:28)
Our discipleship, too, is not determined by our being born into a Catholic family or just by being baptized or by observing the external requirements of our religion, but by our total commitment to the Gospel and to an unconditional following of Jesus. Only then can we truly be said to be his brothers and sisters.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!