Jesus’ question to his disciples, ‘who do you say that I am’ was the turning point in
Mark’s gospel, how the disciples knew and experienced Jesus. Until now they knew
him as great teacher, healer; now Peter confesses Jesus as Christ, Son of God. We are
like the disciples; we listen and learn from Jesus as we pray and read the gospels; we
follow him and come to recognize him as redeeming, transforming presence that
accompanies us. ‘Who is Christ for me’ is a life long question we try to answer and live!
Christ or Messiah was no mere prophet or king for the people of Israel; all hopes of
Israel was fulfilled in the Messiah, dreams of freedom from foreign rule and of a
prosperous nation. Peter and other disciples cherished this dream, then comes the
shock, Jesus is going to suffer and be killed! A distraught Peter says that should not
happen. Christ the suffering servant of God was beyond their comprehension. Jesus
says Peter, you are a stumbling block, you test God’s plan. Why would Christ through
whom all things were created want an earthly kingdom, an armed force to defend
himself and his rule? He has come to redeem the world of sin and death through
manifestation of his love; cross is the ultimate sign, how far love of God would go to
redeem! Disciples did not understand this until Easter day!
To confess Jesus as Christ, Son of God is to make the vision and mission of Jesus our
own. ‘Who do you say that I am’ is an invitation to encounter and experience Jesus,
then embark on to continue his mission, turn faith into action. Peter had to go through
doubts, fears, denial, indifference to commitment and finally to confess: ‘Lord, you
know that I love you’! When St. Paul encountered Jesus, he asked, ‘who are you Lord’.
Knowing Christ, Paul transitioned from an enemy of Christ to the one who said: ‘if I
don’t preach the gospel, owe to me; nothing can separate me from the love of Christ;
for me life is Christ’. Disciple Thomas was doubting and almost gave up; a frustrated
Thomas once said, ‘Let us go and die with him’; then comes the confession; seeing the
risen Lord, he says, ‘my Lord and my God’; off he goes to bring Christ to the gentile
world and died for the great love [Christ] he encountered. Our encounter with Christ in
our prayers and our efforts to live the gospel make us christified or we are made
another Christ and we become agents of salvation, wellbeing, in the family, in our
world. As the Jewish saying goes: ‘every tear brings the Messiah closer to us’. In the
crosses we carry, tears we shed, we are held tighter by Christ, saying to us, keep on
loving!
Knowledge and confession of Jesus as Son of God is to love, share, bear burdens for
the sake of making present the kingdom of God in our midst; it is to move to the
source of grace that empowers us, guides us and completes in us our dreams of
wellbeing, fellowship and joy. It is 20th anniversary of 9/11. Perhaps you read about Fr.
Michael Judge, Franciscan priest; he served as chaplain of New York city fire
department. That morning as word spread of the explosions, he rushed to the scene,
eager to support the firefighters. He was killed during the collapse of the south tower
and he was classified as ‘victim 0001’, a fateful first in a day mired in tragedy. His body
was carried out by the very men he served; it looked like an image of Pieta [NYTimes].
Like Fr. Michael, among the killed were many who rushed to the towers to save others.
Doesn’t this mean losing life to save it? Knowing crucified Christ was what inspired Fr.
Michael to rush into fires to help the terrified people and many who did not know Christ
too acted like Christ, put themselves at risk to save others. In all these terrible violence,
tragedy and heroism, God’s grace was at work! The dead live on in our memories and
in God’s hands!