Re today's Gospel: "Who are my mother and my brothers?" Jesus' family assumes that their kinship gives them a special claim on Jesus: he belongs to *them,* not to the crowd. Jesus' response upends the traditional code of "family values"--that "blood is thicker than water." 1/2

But the challenge also applies to the new Christian family. Do we cling to Jesus, try to keep him to ourselves, jealous of his love for the crowd? Instead of blood ties, do we claim family privilege on the basis of doctrine, as if God's family consists only of Christians? 2/3?