Gospel Grammar

Seeing each other as brothers and sisters 

Mark 3:31-35 

The mother of Jesus and his brothers arrived at the house. Standing outside, they sent word to Jesus and called him. A crowd seated around him told him, "Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside asking for you." But he said to them in reply, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking around at those seated in the circle he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

          Today, I would like to give you a little English grammar lesson. Do you remember the difference between a “simile” and a “metaphor”? They both compare two things, but a simile uses the words “like” or “as” to make the comparison. Here’s a little test to see if you can catch that. When Coach Vitale says, “That’s football, son!” is he using the word “son” as a smile or a metaphor? Raise your hand if you think it’s a simile; now raise your hand if it’s a metaphor. Here’s another example. Coach Meares often comes up to me and says, “My brother, I love the Duke Blue Devils, and especially Coach K!” When he calls me “brother” is that a simile or a metaphor? Notice the absence of “like” and “as” and you’ll notice it’s a metaphor. Now that you’ve got that down, let’s apply our grammar lesson to the gospel.

          Jesus is inside a house, teaching the people, when his mother and some other relatives arrive outside and want to speak to him. The people sitting inside inform Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.” At that Jesus replies in a way that sounds like he’s using a metaphor, like Coach Vitale or Coach Meares. Jesus looks at those around him and declares, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” Let me ask you the same grammar question again: is Jesus using a metaphor or a simile? Neither! You might think it’s a metaphor because he didn’t use “like” or “as.” But when Jesus speaks he doesn’t compare things, he creates things. He is God, who said at the beginning, “Let there be light,” and there was. When Jesus speaks, supernatural sparks fly, and the world is recreated according to his word. This is gospel grammar, and we have to learn it if we want to pass the ultimate test of life and death, not just pass English tests.

          I’m a big fan of the writing and rhetoric of Dr. Scott Hahn (unfortunately, he’s not related to our student, Caleb Hahn!). He’s a professor of Biblical Theology at Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH. He should also teach English there because he knows gospel grammar really well. In his latest book, called The Creed, he insisted: “Like God’s fatherhood, our adoption is not a metaphor. It is real.” Hahn continues: “Pope St. John Paul II saw this as supremely good news; ‘We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures,’ he said. ‘We are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son’” (The Creed, 122). In other words, our truest and deepest identity is “children of God,” or as we say in Latin, “filii in Filio,” literally meaning “sons in the Son.” Scott Hahn himself has 6 children and 13 grandchildren, but he would be the first to say, like Jesus today, those children and grandchildren are more his brothers and sisters than his progeny. And that’s no metaphor, that’s gospel grammar.

          Boys and girls, maybe you’re asking yourself: what does any of this have to do with the price of eggs in China??? Plenty. I want you to try to see each other not just as classmates but as cousins,(if you’re from Fort Smith, you probably are!), even as brothers and sisters. That’s your truest and deepest identity, and that’s gospel grammar. You call me “Father John,” and the prioress at St. Scholastica, “Sr. Maria.” That’s not just some medieval metaphor but truer than to call your biological father or sister those titles. That’s gospel grammar. Sometimes you get into arguments and fights with each other in school. There’s an old maxim that says, “no one fights like family,” so I’m not surprised because you are brothers and sisters! But you should also “forgive like family,” and take care of each other. That’s gospel grammar. Some of you come from broken homes and carry around broken hearts due to your parents’ divorce, abuse or neglect. Please remember that broken family is the metaphor, and your real Family is the Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, where there is love, life and light eternal: where there is no divorce, no abuse, no neglect. That’s gospel grammar.

          So, the next time you hear Coach Vitale say, “That’s football, son!” or Coach Meares say, “The Duke Blue Devils are awesome, my brother!” know that they are saying a lot more than they mean. That’s not mere metaphor, that’s gospel grammar.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!