Patrick Comerford
This is the last week in the 40-day season of Christmas, which continues until Candlemas or the Feast of the Presentation next Sunday (2 February 2025). This week began with the Third Sunday of Epiphany (Epiphany III, 26 January 2025), and today the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship commemorates Saint Thomas Aquinas (1274), Priest, Philosopher, Teacher of the Faith (28 January 2025).
Later this evening, I have a meeting of the trustees of a local charity I have been involved with for the past two years. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Mark 3: 31-35 (NRSVA):
31 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ 33 And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ 34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’
Today’s Reflection:
Saint Mark’s Gospel is very sparse in its account of the story of Christ’s temptations in the wilderness – just two verses (see Mark 1: 12-13). In the much fuller accounts given by Saint Matthew (Matthew 4: 1-11) and Saint Luke (Luke 4: 1-13), Christ is tempted to do the right things for the wrong reason.
In yesterday’s Gospel reading (Mark 3: 22-30) and in today’s reading (Mark 3: 31-35), Christ is challenged in two fundamental ways: he is challenged about whether his work is the work of God or the work of the Devil (Mark 3: 22); and he is challenged to think about what his family thinks about what he is doing (Mark 3: 32).
The Gospels name the brothers of Jesus as James, Jude, Simon and Joses or Joseph (Matthew 13: 55; Mark 6: 3; see also Galatians 1: 19).
Saint James is described in the New Testament as a ‘brother of the Lord.’ Josephus in his Jewish Antiquities (20.9.1) describes James as ‘the brother of Jesus who is called Christ.’ In the Liturgy of Saint James, he is described as ‘the brother of God’ (Iάκωβος ο Αδελφόθεος, Iácobos ho Adelphótheos).
Some say Jesus and James could have been cousins, saying ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ in the Aramaic spoken by Jesus also applied to cousins, and that the Greek words ἀδελφός (adelphos) and ἀδελφή (adelphe) were not restricted to their literal meaning of a full brother or full sister. However, in the classical Greek from the time of Homer on, these words convey an idea about being ‘from the same womb.’
The Letter of James can be compared with some of the wonderful Wisdom Literature in the Hebrew Scriptures, with, for example, its challenging words of wisdom on true worship (James 1: 19-20), on discrimination and respect for the poor (2: 1-13), on the false dichotomy of faith and works (2: 14-26), on truth and careful speech (3: 1-12), on godliness and worldliness (4: 1 to 5:6), on putting love at the heart of all our relationships in the Christian community … and so on.
They are words of wisdom that we can all take to heart in any community or society – how we speak about one another, how we respect one another, how we hold up one another, how we love each other, in spite of our failings towards one another.
We are to value one another, but not because of wealth or status or intellect. We are to listen to one another, to be slow to speak and equally slow to anger; to bridle our tongues and not to speak loosely about one another. We are not just called to be Christians, but we must do Christianity too.
How many of us would like to be so close to Christ that we could be called brothers or sisters of the Lord, still more ‘the brother of God’ (Iάκωβος ο Αδελφόθεος Iákobos o Adelphótheos)?
To be a real brother or sister of Christ, to be a real brother or sister of God, is to be brothers and sisters to one another in Christ. And when we do that we are true brothers and sisters of Christ, true witnesses to the Risen Christ, and worthy to share the name ‘Christian.’
Saint James the Brother of the Lord … an icon written by Tobias Stanislas Haller, BSG, for Saint James Episcopal Church, Parkton, Maryland, in 2008Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 28 January 2025):
The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘A Reflection on 2 Timothy’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a Programme Update by the Revd Canon Dr Nicky Chater, Chair of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Friendly Churches and Chaplain for these communities in the Diocese of Durham.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Tuesday 28 January 2025) invites us to pray:
We pray for the work of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Friendly Churches, especially the preparation and planning for a conference with the Diocese of Salisbury in the cathedral in May 2025.
The Collect:
Eternal God,
who enriched your Church with the learning and holiness
of your servant Thomas Aquinas:
give to all who seek you
a humble mind and a pure heart
that they may know your Son Jesus Christ
as the way, the truth and the life;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Thomas Aquinas to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s Reflection
Continued Tomorrow
The crowds at the Good Friday processions in Thessaloniki (Patrick Comerford)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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