Is 50:5-9; Jas 2:14-18; Mk 8:27-35
We are all familiar with the term identity
crisis. It is a modern phenomenon that man tries to find his own identity.
Manny today ask the question who they are?
In today's
Gospel Jesus confronts his disciples with a very difficult question. The
opinion of people about him, and their personal opinion about him. It
is of the most dramatic interest to see where Jesus chose to ask this
question. There was no district that had so much religious association
like that of Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi had many temples of ancient
Syrian gods. Caesarea Philippi was considered to be the birth place of the
Syrian god Pan. Caesarea Philippi was considered to be the source of
Jordan. In Caesarea Philippi there was the great temple of white marble
built to the godhead of Caesar. Against this background of the world's
religions in their history and their splendour, there stood a homeless,
penniless Galilean carpenter, with twelve very ordinary men around him. It
was the time the orthodox were actually plotting to destroy him
as a dangerous heretic. He stood in that area littered with the temples of
the Syrian gods; in a place where the history of Israel crowded in
upon the minds of men; where the white marble splendour of the home of
Caesar-worship dominated the landscape. There stood this amazing carpenter
and demanded a verdict from his disciples. He asked them what people were
saying about him, and who they took him to be.
Some thought
that he was Elijah. Some thought he was Jeremiah. Some thought that he was John
the Baptist. Some thought that he was one of the great Prophets. For
the people he was a healer, a miracle worker, a compassionate teacher, and a
person who was able to feed them. When the people identified Jesus with
Elijah and Jeremiah they were paying him a great compliment and
setting him in a high place. Then came the most important question,
"Who do you say I am?" With this question Jesus reminds us that our
knowledge of Jesus must never be at second hand. A man might know every verdict
ever passed on Jesus; he might know all the Christology; he might know
every teaching about Jesus; he might by-heart every commentary on the teaching
of Jesus; he might analyze the historical back ground of every
utterance of Jesus. But Christianity never consists in knowing about
Jesus; it always consists in knowing Jesus. Jesus demands a personal verdict
from every Christian.
"Who do
you say I am?"
When this
question was addressed to Peter, his answer was, "You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God." We do not know what was the idea of Peter
about Jesus. He might have conceived Jesus as the son of God who came to
abolish the rule of the Roman Empire and restore the Kingdom. Or he might
have conceived him as spiritual reformer; but the experience of Peter
made him a different man. On the day of Pentecost, this ignorant
fishermen addressed multitudes who spoke different languages, but they heard
him in their language. He stood before the rulers and authorities
and declared his loyalty to his master; he accepted imprisonment
for the sake of his master; and finally he embraced death on
the cross.
For the last
20 centuries this question has been repeatedly addressed to a number of
Christians; and their lives depended on the answer they found for this
question. During the first three centuries, the Church
boasts about eleven million martyrs who fertilized the tree of faith with their
blood. The martyrs are the most intriguing and most beloved saints of
Christianity. Our most popular and beloved saints, with innumerable churches
dedicated to their names, are those who died for the faith, like St. George,
St. Sebastian, St. Stephen, St. Catherine, St. Barbara, and the forty martyrs
of Sevastia.
Neomartyr Michael Paknanas was less than twenty years old, and he worked
as a gardener in Athens in the 1800s. The Turks, who enslaved Greece at the
time, were trying to convince him to give up his faith. When flattery and
wealth failed to persuade him, they put to use some of their more convincing standard
missionary work by torturing the teenager. When all the tortures proved to be
futile, the executioner was preparing to behead the young man, but at the same
time he was feeling some compassion for him. So he began cutting his neck
slowly with the sword by administering very light blows, while asking the
martyr to reconsider. The martyr's response? "I told you, I am a
Christian. I refuse to give up my faith." The ax-man struck with another
light blow to make some more blood flow, to possibly convince him. The martyr
repeated, "I told you, I am a Christian. Strike with all your might, for
the faith of Christ." This totally aggravated the executioner. He did
exactly that, and St. Michael was sent to the heavenly mansions.
These are
the people who understood who Jesus is? And what is his place in their
lives? The four Gospels are filled with demands straight from the mouth of
Jesus Christ. These demands are Jesus' way of showing us who he is and what he
expects of us. He expects an answer from each one of us, "Who is Jesus for
us?"
When
Peter had made the great discovery, Peter was given the great
privilege and great responsibility. It is a discovery which everyone must make
for himself; and, when he has made it, the same privilege and the same responsibility
are laid upon him.
There is a beautiful story about pencil. The pencil
maker took the pencil aside, just before putting it into the box.
"There are 5 things you need to know," he
told the pencil, before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and
never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."
"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone's hand."
"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone's hand."
"Two: You will experience a painful sharpening
from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil."
"Three: You will be able to correct any
mistakes you might make."
"Four: The most important part of you will
always be what's inside."
"And Five: On every surface you are used on,
you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to
write."
The same applies to each one of us too. When we
find an answer to Jesus' question who he is for us, we will be able to
make ourselves useful to our contemporaries. We have to undergo the
process that the pencil undergoes.
One: We will be able to do many great things, but only if we allow ourselves to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access us for the many gifts we possess.
Two: We will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but we'll need it to become a stronger person.
Three: We will be able to correct any mistakes we
might make.
Four: The most important part of us will always be
what's on the inside.
And Five: On every surface we walk through, we must
leave our mark. No matter what the situation, we must continue to do our duties
to the best of our abilities.
May God help us in our
endeavours.
Satish