As a young boy, Jesus strayed from Joseph and Mary and they found him in the temple among the learned doctors of the law. And when his parents asked him why he had done this to them, he assumed that they knew he must be attending to his father’s business. In today’s gospel, Jesus was teaching the crowd the path of righteousness through parables. When his disciples advised him that his mother asked to speak with him, he again demonstrated that no family ties could get in the way while he was going about his Father’s work.

When Jesus chose his first disciples, he asked them to leave their families and follow him. Jesus did not mean that they abandon their physical families or that they were unimportant. What he meant was that the work of God must always take priority over everything else, including family.

Jesus emphasizes that his family is whoever does what his Heavenly Father wants. When we are baptized, we become brother, sister and mother to Jesus. By doing his will, we become sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father.