What is the Jesus question?
Catechism Meditation:
Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church. The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him. From the beginning, the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ: “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” And they invite people of every era to enter into the joy of their communion with Christ. ―Nos. 424-425
REFLECTION. The most important question facing you today has nothing to do with your job, your income, your house, or for that matter plenty of things that you might hold to be important. It is a simple seven-word question that Jesus asked his Apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the Jesus question. Who do you say that Jesus is? Not who do your parents or teachers, spouse, pastor, or friends say that Jesus is, but who do you say He is? This is the inescapable question about the unavoidable Jesus. Sooner or later, we each have to proclaim for ourselves who we think Jesus is.
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi He asks the Apostles two important questions: Who do people say that I am? and Who do you say that I am? The first question is the less important of the two. Who do people say Jesus is? In the gospel reading, some are saying He is Elijah, others that He might be John the Baptist. People are talking about Jesus, wondering not just what he’s about, but who He is. Peter’s answer to this question is theologically powerful and at the same time deeply inspired: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Mt 16:16). He doesn’t speculate about Jesus’ identity, but proclaims who He truly is. Jesus is the Messiah (Christ), long awaited by the Jews. But more than that, Jesus is God Himself, come into the world for our redemption. This is who Jesus is; the Son of the Living God. Peter’s answer does not come from logic or human knowledge but from divine revelation, so that he might not only know it in his heart, but teach it to the world. Peter’s response becomes the foundational confession of Christianity.
In his book, Rediscover Jesus, Matthew Kelly writes… “If Jesus showed up to your church this Sunday and stood before everyone and said, ‘Who do people say that I am today?’ what would you tell Him?’ Our culture seems intent on placing Jesus in the same category as Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. But Jesus is not a figment of Christian imagination. He lived in a place and a time; He walked the earth as you and I do today….There is also a growing number of people who want to reduce Jesus to just a nice guy. Not the nice guy, or even the nicest guy, but just one of many nice guys. As a result of this type of thinking, there are many people who want to reduce the essence of Christianity to simply being a nice person. Countless people and cultures since the time of Jesus have come up with ways to diminish who He is and what that means to humanity, history, and each of us individually. Our own time is not unique or different in this way…. The world’s other major religions believe that Jesus was either a great teacher or a great prophet. It is first interesting and important to note that they do not deny his existence or the fact that he lived and walked the earth at a certain time in a particular place. But Jesus did not claim to be a great teacher or a great prophet.”
Ultimately the opinions of others don’t matter. What matters is how we — each of us — answer this question. And we have to answer it for ourselves. Through Sacred Scripture and Tradition, God has revealed to us who Jesus is, and it is our duty to respond to this revelation with an act of faith, by choosing to believe, with the help of God’s grace, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. As Fr. Frank Kyazze Lwanga puts it… “We are called to answer the fundamental question of our faith: ‘Who do you say that I am?’ By this Jesus calls us away from the public opinion to personal conviction about His identity. No matter what we like to think, Jesus reveals God as God is. So He is challenging us to go deep to the roots of our faith by making this faith truly personal. Jesus reveals to us that if we are to accept Him as our Lord, we must accept His way of suffering, whenever it comes in our life. There is a link between the personalization of our own experience of Jesus and sharing in His suffering: when we accept Jesus as the Son of God we are also motivated to carry our own cross. It is by carrying His cross and dying on it that Christ demonstrated His practical love, charity, generosity and faith in action for us. Jesus emphatically spells out the demands of discipleship: sharing in His responsibility for the human family, even if it means sharing His ‘cross’. Following Him involves commitment and determination. True discipleship, as Jesus reminds Peter, proves itself in a generosity that has been learned in the presence of the Crucified Savior. Practical Christianity means faith in action. It means accepting to carry our cross humbly and patiently while relying on the same grace that helped Christ. It is the way of the cross. It is the way of rendering good works and loving service to those in need. It is the way of forgiveness and love, even love of our enemies.”
So who do you say that Jesus is?
PRAYER. Jesus, I believe You are the Christ of God. Help me to comprehend even more what that means. Help me to see Your divinity more clearly and to believe in You more fully.
Timeless Wisdom Quote:
“They who have not the Spirit call him a great man, a teacher, a master; but to see Him as the Lord of heaven and earth as the Son of the Living God, comes only through the Holy Spirit.” ― Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen