Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:19-21 NSRVCE)
You have to wonder what the mother of Jesus was thinking.
Jesus was sharing all kinds of parables. All Mary wanted to do was draw 
closer, along with other relatives, to her son. But rather than asking the large crowd to make way, he tells people that anyone who hears the word and acts on it is his family.
Maybe she wondered if this was the moment Simeon had foretold, the moment she would be pierced by a sword. Maybe she felt a little irritated; how could he say anyone else had an equivalent place in his life to she who had given her fiat and borne him and nursed him and raised him and loved him. Or maybe she had known instinctively that a moment like this would come after his public ministry began. Or maybe all or none of these thoughts raced through Mary’s mind that day. Maybe she just pondered… prayed… and trusted.
