Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time: 6-19-16
Peace be with You,
Over the last couple of weekends, we have been discussing the transformational power the presence of Jesus can have in our lives. Today, having seen some of the wonders worked by Him, Jesus turns to us and asks a question: Who do you say I am?
Who do the crowds say that I am? This is the first question Jesus addresses to his disciples. They respond with answers of John the Baptist and Elijah, or one of the other great prophets. Notice, these are great compliments; John the Baptist had garnered a large following and Elijah was the prophet expected by the Jewish people to return just prior to the coming of their long-awaited messiah. However, though complimentary, these responses miss the mark. We may liken them to the responses we hear today. For our Jewish brothers and sisters, Jesus is viewed as a miracle worker and respected teacher (by some); for those of the Islamic faith, Jesus is viewed as a prophet; and for those of Hindu or Buddhist faiths, Jesus is a good man and moral teacher, similar to Gandhi. These are safe answers that are politically correct; they are not, however, an option that is on the table and instead completely avoid the issue.
C.S. Lewis framed “the Jesus question” this way: because Jesus claimed to be God, he could either be a liar, a lunatic, or He could be Who He said He was, God. So now we have a decision to make, and I would suggest it is the only real decision you will ever make. For how you answer this question will determine how you answer all the questions that follow thereafter. This question is what Christianity is all about, there is nothing else. If we decide that Jesus was a lunatic or liar, then nothing he said matters and we can go about our lives as we wish. On the other hand, if we profess that Jesus is God, the consequence is given to us by the man himself; “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” My friends the life of a Christian is the most noble and yet the most difficult life we could choose. But we do not choose it as a moral paradigm, we choose it because we believe this man to be God, and he has told us, the only way to be in relationship with Him, is to strive to live the way He did; by spending ourselves completely in love, so that all may come to share the life of Him Who makes us one with our God.
Your servant in Christ,
Tony
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.