Crisis of Identity
Gospel Reflection for 23 of January, 2024: Mk 3:31-35
Today’s readings can be found on the USCCB website.
Jesus’ radical redefinition of family is something worthy of celebrating - we, as Gentiles, are included into the promises made to the Jewish people because Jesus changed the boundary lines of family! Not only this, but through Christ’s redemption of humanity we are included eternally in God’s family, working forevermore by his grace to live out our deification. We are, indeed, citizens of heaven.
In the discussion on the phrase ‘who is in heaven’ in the Our Father, the Catechism references an old apology of Christianity, which explains,
[Christians] dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. Ad Diognetum 5
Our citizenship on earth is to be defined by heaven’s prescriptions, not by the transient lands in which we find our physical homes, nor the people who run those lands. We are defined by our relationship with Christ - as baptised members of his family, there is no exception here. There are no ‘progressive’ or ‘conservative’ politics that define Christ, therefore neither they should define us unless they happen to coincide with our primary concern - doing the will of God. Revealing the radical love of God’s Kingdom, as Christ did, is the image of our lasting legacy because it is not truly ours, but it is God’s legacy in which we participate. And his legacy goes far beyond the constraints of family ties.
We are to live beyond the constraints of political boxes, national boundaries, or other arbitrary lines or labels drawn in the sand. We have put on Christ in our baptism and our heavenly citizenship, the only one that really matters, has no arbitrary boundary.
Let us keep vigilant for where those arbitrary lines try to define our heavenly citizenship; where perhaps we have unintentionally started living after the flesh rather than being of the flesh but living after Christ. Let us be vigilant and watch for where we’ve allowed transient boundaries to replace the prescripts of heaven. Remember Christ’s message, for in him we find our true identity and our purpose in life as members of his family.
Oh my goodness. May we live so our lives are so recorded
That's really good, Jane. I included a pittance, a nutshell summary, of your study in today's Catholic Nutshell News. It's a salient snippet but I hope people click forward to read your entire article.