Blog of Deacon Stephen O'Riordan

Monday, September 17, 2018

Who Do You Say I Am, 24th Sunday


As Christians, we can come a little closer in experiencing the incomprehensible God by knowing who God is!  The transcendent and unknowable God, who creates, sustains, transfigures all life is the one who freely and universally reveals himself to us in Jesus. We come face to face with God in Jesus, whose life, death and resurrection is our Salvation. And as Christians, we are invited to freely live out this transforming truth as radical Faith, determined Hope, and selfless Love.

 There is a journey. And on this journey we follow Jesus (as the first disciples did) to discover who Jesus is. Along the way, of course, we discover who we are and this is nothing less than discovering what it means to be a human being loved by God.

This journey towards God and his kingdom, through/with/in Jesus, is always relational. Jesus is the Good Shepard, but we are naturally full of; misunderstanding and limited thinking, failures, misgivings, inconsistencies and even detours.

  As all journeys do, this one begins at the beginning.“ God opens my ears that I might hear” Isaiah says in the first reading. God absolutely acts first. He speaks, he opens ears. Yet, this truth is immediately qualified with - so I “might” hear! God’s Word requires a free human response. And until we respond God’s Word remains hidden and dormant within, as a mere feeling  or an uneasiness. The hiddenness of God’s Word within us can only become realized in its expression.

As St James says in the 2nd reading, what good is it to have faith without works? If you tell someone go in peace, keep warm and eat well, but do not help them obtain some peace, some warmth and some food, your words (and your faith) remain unrealized and empty. Show me your faith without works, St James challenges us, and I will show you my faith by my works. It is clear, we do not have Faith unless we do Faith.

It is like love for another. It always begins with some undefined inner movement. Yet, this inner movement attains its own truth and reality when it is embodied and expressed. I “love you” only has meaning when I “do love” for you.

 It’s like the inner solidarity among all human beings being realized only when we sit down and break bread together.

 Like all journeys our journey begins with the first step.  But not blindly going forth. We have the perfect guide in Jesus.  Remember, Mary said - do as he tells you to the waiters at the wedding at Cana.

To follow Jesus is not following at some distance. To follow Jesus is to accompany Him, solder to shoulder. It is relational and deeply fraternal. But, He does not ask us to copy or reproduce his life.  We are not the Son of God, though we all are children of God. We live in our own history with different responsibilities and obligations. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is not an example, it is Truth, and this truth sets us free.

God opens our ears so we can hear the truth and we are challenged to do the truth in our lives. And doing truth is rarely easy. According to Isaiah, doing truth often means, when necessary, giving our back to those who beat us, our cheek to those who would hurt us, not hiding our face from those who spit on us. Grace, in this world, does not come cheap.

But, responding to God’s Word and doing his truth is never shameful, disgraceful or cowardly because it is always right and just to stand in opposition to a world gone mad.

 To follow Jesus “is” to answer the question Jesus posed to Peter, who do you say I am? 

Our answer is as personal as the invitation was. It requires a gut level response that defines and orients our journey towards the kingdom. It orders our relationship with creation and all peoples. It structures our relationship to Jesus, as Lord, as we cry out, as Peter did - you are the Christ.

 But, there is deep mystery of salvation. Jesus reveals that the Son of Man must suffer, be rejected, and killed! To Peter, this does not look like messianic power and glory. It certainly doesn’t look like victory.

 In reply, Jesus tells Peter he is thinking as a human being not as God does. Which basically says, this is a mystery you will never fully understand. We still do not understand fully this mystery, but, of course, we never will. God is God and we are not.

But, what we can do is surrender to the mystery of the incomprehensible God. We can trust in his saving love for each of us. We can act in Faith, Hope and Love making his kingdom present by our lives. We can answer daily Jesus’ question - who do you say I am.

 Our life is our answer, lived out as a critical stance against all power that blinds and corrupts, enslaves and oppresses. Lived out in solidarity with one another, especially with the poor and marginalized. Lived out as a prophetic voice crying out against obscene privilege and the abuse of the vulnerable, in the world and sadly within the Church itself. We are broken-hearted, but not broken in Spirit.

We must Live this out, denying oneself and standing outside the structures of ease and comfort built on the backs of our unknown brothers and sisters. Lived out as faith in the face of faithlessness, hope in the face of hopelessness, truth in the face of lies, and love in the face of the loveless. And, of course, lived out accompanying Jesus, taking up his cross, as our own.

 Make no mistake about this. We will look foolish to the world, unrealistic or even delusional, because we desire less so we can have so much more. We are crazy people, full of breathtaking love and hope so terrifying that I tremble with the shear audacity of it. For we are happy to lose this life for the life to come.

 

 

 

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