25th Week in Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Ezra 6:7–8, 12b, 14–20
Gospel: Lk 8:19–21
The mother and relatives of Jesus came to him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and wish to meet you.” Then Jesus answered, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Commentary
In the time of Ezra, the temple was the symbol of God’s presence with his people. The temple was the place that told them the God of the universe had pitched his tent in the middle of them. The trouble was that, by the time the Israelites had returned from exile, the temple was in ruins. It had been trashed by the Babylonian invaders. And now the Israelites were starting again, rebuilding, stone by stone, trying to reconstruct the good old days. They lived in hope that, when they had rebuilt the temple, their glory days would return as well.
In one way it was never a story about a building. It was more a story about the hearts of the people. The mark of God’s presence in the world isn’t a building of stone any more, but a building made of people…what we’ve come to call the Church. It might be easy to pour scorn on the Church. It might be easy to laugh at what God is building; it might even be tempting to get in the way of it. But, ultimately, God wins; ultimately, it’s God’s project. And He’ll keep on building it. Forever and ever, amen!

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