Fr Paul reads from Matthew’s Gospel (12: 46-50) in which Jesus says ‘Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother’.

Fr Paul says the Gospel we hear today tells us two things.  The first is that there is no barrier for those who do the will of God to be called a member of God’s family. This is the point that Jesus makes when talking about his family.

Secondly, through this Gospel everything is now set for the parable chapter we are about to start reading in the days ahead. In past weeks we’ve heard about the natural authority of Jesus. We have heard how he was rejected by the people of his hometown.

Now Jesus is about to give us some images of the growth and of the kingdom and its difficulties so as we prepare for this, mindful of the Gospel message today, ‘How do I do the will of God in my life at the present time?’ Fr Paul says, this is a question we might reflect on today.