In the first reading David is bringing the ark of the Lord to the city. This was not his first attempt. In the passages just before our reading there are some problems bringing the ark, mostly because the people are not following the recommendations of God in terms of how to transport the ark. They are told to carry it, but they make a new cart, but that’s the wrong way to transport it. Anyway, until they follow the directions, they couldn’t keep the ark, couldn’t transport it, and someone actually died. Doing the will of God turned out to be very important in this situation. Once they got it figured out, and followed the will of God, they were able to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the tabernacle. And then there was much rejoicing. This was a really big deal and a great accomplishment. There was singing and dancing and feasting.  It was a huge success, and only possible because they listened and heeded the word of God, and then could experience the glory of God.

In the Gospel Jesus was speaking to the crowd, when Mary came and asked for him. He was told that his mother and brothers and sisters are there. He said, my family is here.  "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." I don’t think he is deprecating his own biological family, but is instead expanding it. Instead of limiting family to those who share a blood relative, we are all God’s family.

In the first reading we find out how important it is to do the will of God, and in the gospel we realize that is our connection. It makes us all brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of our biology. So we need to treat each other decently, like family, because we all are.