Repose of Blessed Olga (Olha), Princess of Kiev, named Helen at Holy Baptism (c. 970); The Holy and Praise-worthy Martyr Euphemia (303); Hoshiv Icon of the Mother of God (Attestation of Miracles by Metropolitan Athanasius Sheptytsky, 1737)
Read
Galatians 3:23-29; Matthew 25:1-13
In the ancient world, family relationships were everything. All ethnic groups were conceived of as kinship groups – as large, extended families. That’s why the Jews were called “the children of Israel” (Israel is the alternate name of the patriarch Jacob); in other words, they were literally one big family. If you were a member of the family, you were in; if not, then you were out.
In contrast to this preference for relationships based on blood, one of the key ideas of Christian theology is adoption. This is the teaching that, by Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, all those who are baptized become sons and daughters of God. We have to keep this concept of adoption in mind when we read this passage: Jesus is not trying to downgrade his relationship with his mother or his brothers (according to one tradition, these ‘brothers’ are sons of Joseph by a previous marriage; according to another, they are cousins of Jesus). Instead, he’s trying to point his listeners to a deeper relationship with God, one that is based on grace rather than human familial relationships. John 1:12-13 says this in a different way: everyone who receives Christ becomes a child of God. And Mary and the brothers of the Lord are excellent examples of taking this grace-filled relationship seriously: that’s why they are all now counted among the saints. If we relate to Christ as hearers and doers of his word, we will also prove ourselves worthy of the name “son” or “daughter” of God.