“He’s one of our own.” As a grandchild of Polish immigrants I loved to hear the story of the heroes of Poland: King John Sobieski saving Vienna from the Turks, Madame Curie winning the Nobel Prize (twice!), Frederic Chopin redefining music. I would take pride in what “my people” had done. A similar sentiment is expressed in the Gospel when a woman in the crowd around Jesus exclaimed “Blessed is the womb that carried you.” Jesus’ mother should be proud of him. But he objects that it is not nature, it is not biology that makes for true connection but rather the presence of God in one’s life. For the people of God, therefore, there isn’t anyone out there who isn’t “one of our own.”
