3rd Week in Ord. Time, Tuesday – 24th January 2023 — Gospel: Mark 3,31-35
Sharing in God’s Will
In the Gospel, Jesus was not suggesting that believers ignore or abandon their families in order to serve God, but only that they put God’s will above everything else in life. Our love for God should be so great that our love for family would seem like hatred in comparison (Lk 14,26). Certainly, it is God’s will that we care for our families and provide for them (1 Tim 5,8), but we must not permit even our dearest loved ones to influence us away from the will of God. How does one enter into the family of God? By means of a new birth, a spiritual birth from above (Jn 3,1-7; 1 Pet 1,22-25). When the sinner trusts Jesus Christ as Saviour, he experiences this new birth and enters into God’s family. He shares God’s divine nature (2 Pet 1,3-4) and can call God “Father” (Rom 8,15-16; Gal 4,6). This spiritual birth is not something that we accomplish for ourselves, nor can others do it for us (Jn 1,11-13). It is God’s work of grace; all we can do is believe and receive (Eph 2,8-9).
