Gospel in Art: Jesus' mother, his brothers and sisters stood outside

King Charles I and His Family, by Anthony van Dyck , 1632 © Queen's Gallery, Windsor Castle

Source: Christian Art

Gospel of 21 July 2026
Matthew 12:46-50

At that time: While Jesus was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers and sisters stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers and sisters?' And stretching out his hand towards his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers and sisters! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'

Reflection on the painting

In today's Gospel, we encounter the first mention of Jesus' mother in Matthew's account since the stories of his infancy. The last time we heard of Mary and Joseph, they were protecting the child Jesus from the violence of King Herod, fleeing into Egypt and later returning home after Herod's death. Now, many years later, Jesus has embarked upon his public ministry, and his family comes seeking him.

At first, Jesus' response can seem surprising, even unsettling. When told that his mother and relatives are waiting outside, he gestures towards his disciples and declares that they are his true family: those who do the will of his heavenly Father. Yet this is not a rejection of Mary; rather, it reveals the birth of a new kind of family, one bound not by blood but by faith and discipleship. Mary herself had already begun to learn this lesson years earlier, when the twelve-year-old Jesus remained in the Temple and gently reminded his anxious parents that he must be about his Father's business.

The Gospels suggest that Mary's vocation included the painful grace of letting her Son belong ever more fully to the mission entrusted to him by God. In doing so, she became not only the mother of Jesus according to the flesh, but also the mother of all who follow him. Through our baptism, we enter this larger family of faith: God becomes our Father, Christ our brother, and Mary our mother. Through faith, we are given a new family, which stands alongside our family of blood.

We rightly cherish the families into which we were born. In most homes, photographs of parents, children, grandparents, and loved ones are scattered across shelves, mantelpieces, and bedside tables. We pause to look at them from time to time, and in an instant they transport us back to precious moments shared together. Such images remind us that our identity is deeply rooted in the families we are born into.

This desire to preserve the memory of family life is nothing new. Long before the invention of photography, artists were commissioned to paint family portraits, capturing not merely individual likenesses but the bonds that united one generation to another. Perhaps no painter is more renowned for this than Anthony van Dyck, whose magnificent portraits of royal and noble families remain among the great works of European art. Our painting was Van Dyck's first commission following his appointment as Court Painter to Charles I in 1632. It shows Charles and his Queen, Henrietta Maria of France, with their two eldest children: Prince Charles, later King Charles II, standing before his father and Princess Mary in her mother's arms. In the background we glimpse a silhouetted view of Parliament House and Westminster Hall and possibly the Clock Tower. These works were never simply about status or appearance; they expressed continuity and belonging to the families we love.

LINKS

Christian Art: www.christian.art
Today's image: https://christian.art/daily-gospel-reading/matthew-12-46-50-2026/