Who do you say that I am?	06/20/2004	Click to Print
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time	Deacon Rick Lapierre
It was a cold and snowy day in Corning, New York on December 8, 1963. The seminarians of St. John's Atonement Seminary were celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception with a day trip to Corning, which was about 25 miles from the seminary in Montour Falls. We had toured the Corning Glass Works and now were heading downtown. We had to cross a bridge across the Chemung River and I felt a need to stop while my classmates went on ahead. I stood on the mid point of the bridge and gazed out at the snow and ice and felt the wind on my face. As I stood there I heard no voices, I had no visions, I felt no hand on my shoulder. But today, after 41 years, I still remember and savor that moment. It was a moment when the peace of God, which is beyond all understanding, took up its place in my being. I had been through bouts of homesickness, doubts about whether I should be doing what I was doing, questions about my future and worries about sick relatives, but this was the affirmation that I was doing what God wanted me to do at that point in time. It was a special time of grace for me, and one that I still recall with fondness. It only lasted for a few seconds, and I hurried into town to catch up with my friends and we enjoyed the day off from our studies. There have been other God moments in my life as well. As we experience the birth of our children, or say goodbye to parents as they depart this life, or hold the hand of a sick loved one, the sinfulness that keeps us from experiencing the fullness of God's presence often melts away and we are left only with love, and in that love we experience God. As we heard in the first reading, Zechariah was speaking of this experience of God's love as he talked to the people of the spirit that God would pour out on them and he prophesied the coming of a fountain that would wash away sin and filth and bring people back to God. Peter must have needed to experience this as well. He had left all behind him to follow Jesus. I seriously doubt that his life as a follower of Jesus was all peaches and cream. He must have lain awake at night worrying about his wife and children back in Capernaum, about where Jesus was leading them, where the next meal was coming from, and the reception they would get in Jerusalem, among many other things that men and women are concerned with. I always picture Peter in this story from today's gospel as being distracted by all of these issues as Jesus asks the disciples "Who do people say that I am?" Peter doesn't offer any answer, but lets the others give their opinions about the people saying that Jesus is John the Baptist, or Elijah or one of the other prophets. For a few moments Jesus lets all of this sink in and then looks Peter square in the eye and says to him, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter has that God moment when all of his worries and doubts and fears melt away and he quietly looks Jesus right back in the eye and tells Jesus who he believes He is, the Messiah of God. Jesus doesn't high five him for his great insight, but instead deliberately tells his disciples what being the Messiah of God and his follower entails. The Chosen One of God must suffer, must be rejected by his own religious leaders and be killed. As the disciples ponder this, I wonder if they even hear the promise that on the third day that He will be raised. And not only Jesus, but as a condition of being His follower, they too must take up their cross and follow Him. Follow Him where? To Jerusalem? To Calvary? To suffering and death? To resurrection? By human standards it's truly a wonder that anyone chooses to follow Jesus. And as I'm saying all of this, Jesus is standing right here and asking me, asking you, "But who do you say that I am?" Now before you rush to answer, think of the consequences. To say as Peter did, that Jesus is the Messiah of God means to answer that I have to live my life as His follower, taking up my cross every day, not just on Sunday, and following Him, usually where I do not want to go. Someone once put it this way, do I want to be a disciple of Jesus or do I simply want to be a member of his fan club? The following story illustrates this point. There was once a couple who went to see a pastor about becoming members of the church. "Of course," said the man, "we're too busy to take part in any midweek activities." His wife added, "And we wouldn't be able to join the envelope system since we're already very heavily committed financially. We wouldn't be able to come every week either. We both play golf, and there are times when we have work to catch up on at the weekends." The pastor was thoughtful for a moment, and then said, "I'm sorry, but I don't think that this is the church for you. We obviously have a different understanding of belonging. But don't worry. There is another church just up the road that I'm sure you'd find ideal, go up the road and you'll see it on the left." The couple went away and walked a few hundred yards, where they found their perfect church - all boarded up, and long since closed. What does it mean to call Jesus the Messiah? It means recognizing that Jesus loves you with an Infinite love, a perfect love. It is a love that is not diminished by not being returned, but is a love that compels us to love as Jesus loves, without thought of cost or consequence. It is the love that St. Paul described as patient, kind, never jealous, nor pompous, nor rude. It never seeks its own interest, does not brood over injury, nor rejoices in wrongdoing, but rejoices always in the truth. This is the love that never, ever fails. To love like this is the daily challenge of following Jesus, and when we strive to do so, as Jesus teaches us, it brings to us a reward that is more than we can ever imagine. It brings us into the very being of God.