Gospel Lk. 9: 18 – 24
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.” He gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone. He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
Homily
“Town say” is an expression which we hear often enough and it usually signifies the general reputation which someone has. It may be good but often enough it is mistaken because what “town say” is usually based on a very superficial knowledge of a person or on one aspect of persons character. To really know someone one has to walk with that person over a period of time. In the world of today with its accent on time saving we try to circumvent that process through psychological tests etc but experience has shown that true knowledge of someone only comes through spending time with that person.
Today’s gospel reading the text tells us that Jesus asks his disciples “Who do the crowds say that I am.” The crowds who are acquainted with Jesus superficially give him various identities. “John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the ancient prophets” Jesus is none of these however.
Jesus then turns to his disciples, those who had walked with him and lived intimately with him, and asks them. “But you, who do you say that I am”
Peter speaks up for the others, “The Christ of God” he says. This is the true answer but it is an answer which only came about because of, the time spent together, the long hours walking through Galilee, the hours spent on the boat etc. Jesus however knows that those who only have a very superficial knowledge of him will not believe and so “he gave them strict orders not to tell this to anyone.” If Jesus’ thought patterns were as mine are, he would be thinking; why get into arguments with people who have their own ideas; ideas which they have formed through their own prejudices and through hearsay and which do not come from an in-depth knowledge of me? We live in an age in which we think that we can know people through psychological tests and things like that, the Gospel tells us that it is only people who have walked with us for a while who can truly know us.
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Jesus was spoken of in the same way by people who did not know him and had no interest in knowing him.
In an age in which the media tends to tell us who people are, we must always remember that those opinions are extremely superficial, and do not give us true portraits, and are at most one dimensional. The worst is that judgments about people are made on extremely superficial characterizations, and at best, on very partial knowledge of individuals. The result is that we lose respect for people who have a right to respect no matter who they may be.
The Church has always preached that we must give respect to all, political leaders, rich, poor, the sick with infectious diseases, criminals etc.
But we can only do that if we know people a little less superficially than knowing them from media reports. A corollary of this is that we open ourselves to others, not indiscriminately but in a way that will engender respect.
It is our duty as followers of Christ to keep the tradition of the Church alive. The great saints of the church walked with people especially the poor and suffering, got to know them and had great respect for them. Mother Teresa of Calcutta is a great example of this.
We thank God for these examples and we pray that we will be able to keep that Christian tradition of respect for all alive by really seeking to know people through our closeness to them before we make judgments about them.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, your Son Jesus showed great respect for the least in the land. He touched lepers and was open to all who came to him in sincerity of heart. Help us your children to take the time to know others before making judgments about them for it is difficult to love those whom we do not respect. We ask this through the intercession of Mary, our Mother and your Son Jesus. Amen
