Do I express who Jesus is to me by how I live and how I act?

Good morning, happy Friday, and many blessings.

The Gospel today (Luke ‪9:18-22‬) follows the same theme as that of yesterday: the opinion of the people on Jesus. Yesterday, beginning with Herod, today it is Jesus who asks what people think, and the Apostles respond giving the same opinion which was given yesterday. Immediately follows the first announcement of the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

Did you ever wonder about what Jesus talked about when he was with God in prayer? Here we might assume that he was talking about his mission and so when he was finished, he asked the apostles what people thought about him. Peter gives him a strange answer. But the apostles themselves are clear that he was sent by God as the Messiah and Peter is able to say this in true belief.

Also, note that Jesus prays before important moments in his ministry, as when he chose his twelve apostles. Was he consoled by the fact that, unlike Herod, the disciples recognize that he is the Messiah? Perhaps he had been wondering if he had failed to make himself known for who he was. But what will the disciples now make of his Passion?

Our life of faith is based on the fact that we ourselves have made this confession of faith in Jesus. The Lord appreciates very much our act of faith in him, especially when we thank him for the depth of the love he has shown through his Passion, Death and Resurrection. This is the space out of which we make our prayer to God – from a place of thanksgiving in our hearts.

I ask God to look lovingly at how I answer that question, “who do you say that I am?” It may be in my habits of my life, in the patterns of my attention, rather than in my statements and verbal professions; I express who Jesus is to me by how I live and how I act. I offer now all my thoughts, words and actions and ask that God receive them graciously.

In asking the disciples to keep silence, Jesus seems to be waiting until the right time. I pray that I may know when it is best to speak, and when to wait in quiet. Either way, I can be a witness to the presence and work of God’s Spirit.

This passage brings up explicitly the ‘fundamental question’: who Jesus is for me, not in a merely intellectual sense but in a personal sense. Is he a leader, a friend, a judge, a teacher, a father, a combination of all?

Today it is Jesus himself who asks this central question, Who do people say I am? Who do you say I am? I let myself hear this question, and listen to my answer, asking for the grace to know Jesus better so that I accept him lovingly as the Messiah of God for me.

We all believe in Jesus. But there are some who understand Him in one way and others in another way. Today, what is the more common Jesus in the way people think?

Blessings

Fr. Luis+