22 February 2019 - who do we say he is?

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Who do we say that Jesus is?

Is he a good moral teacher? Or a prophet like Moses or Muhammad? A spiritual enlightened figure like Buddha or Confucius? Ask the crowds and these sorts of answers will be forthcoming. The crowds get Jesus wrong because Jesus doesn't fit into any pre-existing categories. When we trust in the crowds we try to categorize he who fits into no category but his own.

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply, 
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

The only source of a true confession of identity of Jesus is revelation.

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.

And revelation is not too far for any of us to reach.

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (see Romans 10:8-9).

Yet revelation is not a license to believe whatever tickles our fancy. Our entrance to the Church comes through faith. The Church is built on this faith. It is a solid structure that prevents us from going astray or being captivated by illusion.

And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

There is no conflict between knowing Jesus by revelation and by living in and loving the Church, including her teaching authority. In fact, only knowing the supernatural origin of Jesus will do due justice to the claims of the supernatural guidance of the Church. Without Jesus as the Son of the living God the Church can only be a merely human institution. Yet authentic faith and the testimony of the Church bear one another witness if we only listen.

I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

As we await the return of the chief Shepherd let us be good members of the flock. Let us tend those in our care eagerly and willingly. Let us listen to the voice of those shepherding us in the name of the Church and move when they speak to us with the voice of Christ.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.