Luke 8:19-21

We actually don’t know much about the family of Jesus. Today’s reading says that ‘the mother and the brothers of Jesus came looking for him’. We are not told more about the brothers of Jesus, but the evangelist Luke does tell us a whole lot about Mary. What Luke seems to be getting at today is that Jesus’ mission took him away from his own earthly family, in particular from his mother. She had to come to terms with the fact that Jesus was engaged in the work of gathering a new family around himself, a family of disciples, a new family that is the Church. So Jesus’ response in our reading is telling us exactly that: in the body of the church we are all brothers and sisters. One big family.

Today’s painting simply reflects this very close human bond between Jesus and his mother. The Madonna with the Sleeping Christ Child by Sassoferrato is a very tender portrait. The Virgin gently cradles the sleeping Christ Child in her arms. With his light rosy cheeks and plump arms and legs, Jesus appears as a typical, healthy baby, perfectly content to be in his mother’s arms. Both are at peace. Mary is shown as a radiant young mother. This image endows the Virgin and Child with human qualities and celebrates the natural maternal bond between mother and infant.

Thirty years later Jesus would leave home and fulfil his mission of uniting all of us in the family of his Church…