Is. 22:15, 19-23; Rom. 11:33-36; Mt. 16:13-20
There is a story about a man who spent years studying a famous person. He read his books, studied his speeches, learned about his childhood, knew the important events of his life and could explain his ideas better than many people who admired him. One day someone asked him, “You seem to know so much about this man. Did you ever meet him?” The man paused and said, “No. I know everything about him, but I have never actually known him.”
That is a very important distinction in life: knowing about someone is not the same as knowing someone. We can know a person’s name, profession, achievements and history without ever having a personal relationship with that person.
There is something very striking about today’s Gospel. Jesus asks a general question: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And after hearing their answers, he makes the question more personal: “But who do you say that I am?”
Jesus was already famous. People were talking about him everywhere. Some said, “He is John the Baptist.” Herod himself had heard about Jesus and thought that John the Baptist, whom he had killed, had come back to life. Others said, “He is Elijah,” because they remembered the promise of the prophet Malachi: “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.” Others thought he was Jeremiah or one of the prophets. In John’s Gospel, when Jesus preached, some people said, “This is really the prophet”; others said, “This is the Messiah.” There was admiration, curiosity, argument and confusion.
Even today, people have many opinions about Jesus. Some say he was a great teacher. Some say he was a social reformer. Some say he was a revolutionary. Some admire his compassion. Others admire his courage. Some read the Sermon on the Mount and say, “What a wonderful moral teacher!” Others see his miracles and call him a prophet. Some regard him as a historical figure whose teachings have influenced civilization.
We know the Christmas story, the Passion, the Resurrection, the parables and the miracles. We know the prayers of the Church. We attend Mass every Sunday. We even teach religion. And yet Jesus may still ask us, “But who do you say that I am?”
There is a beautiful story in the Gospel of John. When many people began to leave Jesus because his teaching was difficult, Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Do you also wish to go away?” Peter answered, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Peter had not understood everything. He would later make many mistakes. He would even deny Jesus three times. But something had happened to Peter: Jesus had become more than a teacher. Jesus had become the one whom he could not live without. That is the beginning of faith.
There is another beautiful example in the life of Mary Magdalene. Before encountering Jesus, she was a broken woman. But when Jesus touched her life, everything changed. At the tomb on Easter morning, she recognized the risen Jesus when he called her by name: “Mary!” She immediately answered, “Rabbouni!”—Teacher. She recognized him because she had encountered him.
The same thing happened to Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, disliked by his own people. He climbed a tree simply because he wanted to see Jesus. But Jesus looked up and called him: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down.” That meeting changed his life. He went from taking from people to giving back. He said, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor.” He had discovered that Jesus was not merely someone to look at from a distance. Jesus was someone who could transform his life.
Jesus will stand before all his followers and ask, “But you—who do you say that I am?”
Peter gives the answer: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Peter does not say, “You are a good man.” He does not say, “You are a great teacher.” He says, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Peter has moved from information to faith, from opinion to conviction, from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
And this question is demanding.
The saints are people who answered this question with their lives.
Saint Francis of Assisi discovered Jesus so deeply that his entire life changed. He could have lived comfortably, but after encountering Christ he began to see the poor, the sick and the rejected differently. He embraced a leper whom he had previously found repulsive. Why? Because he had discovered Christ in that person. For Francis, Jesus was not simply someone in heaven. Jesus was present among the suffering.
One of the most beautiful examples is the life of St. André Bessette, a Canadian religious brother who died in 1937. He was not a famous preacher, theologian or missionary. He was orphaned when he was twelve, had very little formal education, suffered from poor health and worked at several ordinary jobs before entering religious life. When he entered the Congregation of Holy Cross, his superiors were not even sure what they could do with him. Eventually, they gave him the humble job of doorkeeper at Notre Dame College in Montreal.
For forty years, Brother André stood at a door. His job was simply to open it, welcome visitors and attend to their needs. But he began to notice that many people who came to the college were carrying burdens much heavier than the parcels in their hands. Some were sick; some were desperate; some were grieving; some had lost hope. André listened to them. He prayed with them. He encouraged them to turn to God. He spent much of the night praying for the people he had met during the day.
Slowly, people began coming to him because they felt that God was near when they were with him.
The Gospel of Matthew gives us the same truth in the words of Jesus: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” The question “Who do you say I am?” eventually becomes another question: “Where do you see me?”
Saint Vincent de Paul saw Christ in the poor. Saint Damien of Molokai saw Christ in people abandoned because of leprosy. Saint Maximilian Kolbe saw Christ in a prisoner who was condemned to die and offered his own life in his place. These people did not merely speak about Jesus. They allowed other people to experience Jesus through them.
Literature gives us a similar picture. In Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, Jean Valjean is a hardened man who has spent years in prison. After his release, almost everyone rejects him. Then he meets Bishop Myriel, who welcomes him, gives him food and shelter, and treats him with unexpected mercy. Jean Valjean steals the bishop’s silver and is caught. When the police bring him back, the bishop does something extraordinary. Instead of condemning him, he tells the police that the silver was a gift and even gives Jean Valjean the remaining silver candlesticks.
That act of mercy becomes the turning point of Jean Valjean’s life. The bishop does not preach a long sermon. He allows Jean Valjean to experience mercy. And that experience changes him into a man who spends the rest of his life helping others.
That is an important lesson for us. Sometimes people around us will never read the Bible, but they will read our lives. They may never listen to a sermon, but they will see how we treat them. They may never enter a church, but they may encounter Christ through our forgiveness, kindness, honesty and compassion.
The world does not need Christians who merely know the right answers about Jesus. It needs Christians through whom people can experience Jesus.
We sometimes think that we need to do something extraordinary for God. But most people will experience God through ordinary people doing ordinary things with extraordinary love.
A smile can become an encounter with Jesus. A visit to someone who is lonely can become an encounter with Jesus. Forgiving someone can become an encounter with Jesus. Sharing food can become an encounter with Jesus. Listening patiently to someone who has nobody to listen to can become an encounter with Jesus.
Jesus tells Peter, “On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” Then he gives him the keys of the kingdom. The Church receives a mission: to carry Jesus into the world. And that mission has now come to us. So, the Church is the people through whom God wishes to meet the world. And our mission today is to find God in Jesus, and then to help others experience that God through the way we live.
Satish