Is there any woman dreaming to be the mother of Jesus? We know of one shouting from the crowd: "Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!" (Lk 11:27) It was a way of saying: "How I wish I were your mother!" In Jesus' lifetime it was possible, because Jesus' divine identity was still hidden; now no woman would dare to express this desire. Anyhow, Jesus said "mother and brothers", because that was the content of the message He just heard; the principle He states is clear: Blood kinship has no privileges in the new Kingdom. No "nepotism"! His relatives (by the way, this is what the term "brothers" means here) in general were cool, if not hostile, to Jesus' messianic claims. The first bishop of Jerusalem was called "the brother of the Lord", but it was a matter of chance that he was found to be a disciple, like many others. What matters in the new Kingdom is the spiritual kinship, "those who hear the word of God and put it into practice". Mary's biological motherhood means nothing? Indeed it means everything. But why was she chosen? Precisely, because her heart was always open to the word of God. (See Lk 1:34, 38; 2:19,51).