Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay, trong câu truyện trên đường đi về miền Xêsarệ Philíphê, Một cách thẳng thắn và ân tình, Chúa đã hỏi các môn đệ của Ngài: " Nhưng còn anh em, anh em bảo thầy là ai?" Ngài đã không hỏi họ một điều gì khác hơn mà cũng cùng một câu hỏi rất đơn giản như trên, có nghĩa không hơn không kém, không có sự thiên vì. Ý của Ngài muốn hỏi họ là để dò xem thử lòng tin của họ. Qua ba năm dài họ đã theo Chúa và dành rất nhiều thời gian với Ngài, họ phải biết Ngài là ai. Không ngần ngại, với sự đảm bảo và chắc chắn. Ông Phêrô đã lập tức trả lời một cách rắn chắc: “Thầy là Đấng Kitô, con Thiên Chúa. "
Còn riêng chúng ta, chúng ta bảo Chúa Giêsu là ai? Chúa Giêsu cũng có quyền đòi hỏi chúng ta phải thú nhận rõ ràng về đức tin của chúng ta bằng lời nói và việc làm của chúng ta trong một thế giới mà sự nhầm lẫn, sự thiếu hiểu biết,nhiều sai lầm, và tội lỗi quá nhiều, dường như xảy ra thường ngày như cơm bữa. Chúng ta đã được liên kết chặt chẽ với Chúa Giêsu trong Phép Rửa Tội và sự liên kết này sẽ được phát triển, lớn lên và mạnh mẽ ngày này qua ngày khác. Qua bí tích Rửa Tội này, chúng ta thực sự đã được kết hợp mật thiết với Chúa Kitô một cách sâu đập hơn, vì Qua Bí Tích Rửa Tội, chúng ta được nhận lãnh Thánh Thần của Ngài và đã được nâng lên trong thiên chức làm con cái của Thiên Chúa. Đó là một sự hiệp thông sâu sắc hơn nhiều trong cuộc sống so với sự hiệp thông tồn tại giữa hai con người. Sự gần gũi và hiệp thông với Chúa Giêsu Kitô, chúng ta phải có được những niềm vui tràn đầy. Vì chính chúng ta đã được trở thành một phần trong mầu nhiệm nhập thể sống động của Chúa Giêsu Kitô: vì thế chúng ta cùng được chia sẻ tất cả mọi thứ trong nhựng việc mà Chúa Kitô đã làm.
"Lạy Chúa, Chúng con sống, nhưng không phải là chúng con sống, nhưng là Chúa Kitô đang sống trong chúng con” (Rom 10:9-10). Lạy Chúa, Xin Chúa làm cho đức tin của chúng con được trở nên mạnh mẽ hơn và giúp chúng con biết sống trong chiến thắng của thập giá Chúa Kitô bằng cách từ bỏ mọi tội lỗi và hy sinh chấp nhận sống theo thánh ý của Chúa.
In a frank and affectionate way He then asks His disciples: “But you, who do you say that I am?” He does not ask them for a more or less favorable opinion. He asks them for the firmness of faith. After they have spent so much time with Him, they must know who He is, unhesitatingly, with certainty. Peter immediately replies “You are the Christ.”
Jesus has the right to ask also of us a clear confession of faith with words and deeds, in a world in which confusion, ignorance and error seem to be the normal thing. We are closely united to Jesus by Baptism and this bond grows stronger day by day. In this sacrament a deep, intimate union with Christ was established. In it we received His Spirit and were raised to the dignity of the children of God. It is a communion of life much deeper than could possibly exist between any two human beings. This closeness to Jesus Christ should fill us with joy. We are a living part of the mystical Body of Christ Jesus: we share in everything that Christ does. “Lord, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Mark 8:27
In answer to this question, the disciples informed Jesus that some thought He was “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” But then Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He was. It was Peter who responded by saying, “You are the Christ.”
As we ponder this exchange between Jesus and the disciples, try to hear our Lord ask you the same question. “But who do you say that I am?” Though you most likely will find this easy to answer on an intellectual level, don’t answer it too quickly. Think about it. Deep within your soul, what do you believe about Jesus?
Though Peter’s answer is the correct answer, it’s important to ponder what that actually means. This is especially evident by the fact that as soon as Jesus began to explain His mission as the Christ, Peter could not accept it. Jesus explained to Peter and the other disciples that, as the Christ, he would “suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” In other words, Jesus wanted the disciples to understand the essence of His mission. His mission was one in which He would become the sacrificial Lamb of God and die for our sins. But this was too much for the disciples to immediately understand, accept and embrace with gratitude.
Do you understand, accept and embrace this primary mission of Jesus? Do you understand that because of the sins you have personally committed, you need a Savior? Do you understand that the consequences of your sins are death? Eternal death? And do you further understand that it is only by Jesus’ death that all sin and death are destroyed?
Sometimes we can fall into the fallacy of thinking that Jesus is only an inspirational figure Who teaches us how we should live. And though that is true, Jesus is so much more. He is the one and only way to Heaven. Without His death and resurrection we cannot attain Heaven. He is the one and only Savior. The Lamb Who was slain for our sins. The one and only source of eternal redemption. The exclusive bridge between Heaven and humanity. And though you might understand this intellectually to a certain extent, your faith in this fact must enter deeply into your soul so that you can believe it and embrace His gift of eternal salvation within the deepest core of your being. This takes a radical understanding, acceptance and embrace if we are to truly receive the gift of Jesus’ life.
Reflect, today, upon how you would answer this question from our Lord. “Who do YOU say that I am?” If you are to answer this correctly, then it requires that you continually deepen your understanding, acceptance and full embrace of the saving mission of our Lord. Though this is a lifelong process, we must never stop entering more deeply into this divine mystery and gift so that we will become completely transformed by the life, death and resurrection of He Who is the Christ of God.
Saving Lord, please open my mind and heart to You more deeply this day and every day of my life. May I continually go deeper in my faith and understanding of You and Your divine mission of salvation. As I do, please transform me more and more so that I will be more fully disposed to receive all that You came to bestow upon me. Jesus, I trust in You.
2. The Invitation to a Deeper Faith: Jesus elicits faith and we can sometimes think that we have arrived at the fullness of wisdom. Yet, when we seek to understand and our human comprehension still falls short, we need to trust in that which is revealed. Peter had this experience. He proudly and confidently professed his faith in Jesus as the Messiah, but when Jesus threw in the unthinkable, Peter rejected it. Jesus’s suffering and death was beyond his comprehension. Peter had to first walk through the mystery that Jesus revealed before he could understand. The same happens in our life. Can you think of a moment when faith and trust in God’s plan were strengthened only by walking through suffering, darkness, the cross?
3. Reconfiguring Expectations: Peter teaches us that the road to deep and trusting faith is long and arduous, and we make mistakes along the way. In this passage, Peter was rebuked when he did not accept how Jesus planned to carry out his role as Messiah. At the Last Supper, he zealously insisted that Jesus perform the ritual of washing in a particular way (John 13:9). Peter still couldn’t accept the fate of the Messiah when he saw him bound and on trial. And as tradition relates, he initially rejected even God’s plan for him to remain in Rome when his life was being threatened. In each moment, Peter had to reconfigure his own expectations of who God was and how God’s plan would be fulfilled. But each time he confronted his weakness of faith, it was strengthened by “wrestling with God”.
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, conform my mind and heart to your most holy will. Help me to trust and believe that your plan will be fulfilled, despite the limits of my comprehension.
The profession of the apostles that Jesus was the Messiah is a central climax in the public ministry of Jesus.
In a moment of inspiration, at the question of Jesus, Peter declared him as the Messiah, "the Anointed One." As Messiah he was to deliver us from our sins and to bring salvation to Israel.
After this profession of Peter, Jesus began to teach them that he was the Suffering Messiah, "that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed and after three days rise again."
Peter, loving the Lord, strongly protested. Even more strongly Jesus rebuked Peter, "Get behind me Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do."
Perhaps we would have reacted as Peter did to the Lord's prediction of his passion, death and resurrection. Like Peter we love the Lord and would not wish him to suffer and die.
Today Jesus asks all his followers the same question, "Who do you say I am?" What is our answer? Who is the Lord for me? How much do I know him? How much do I love him?
The more intimately we know the Lord, the more we could love him, the easier it would be to understand his plans and invitations for us and to align our choices and decisions to what he wishes for us.
Today's Gospel reading about the cure of the daughter of the Syro- phoenician woman strengthens the opening of the Church to the non-Jews, to the Gentiles. A Jew, Jesus rightly pointed out his preference for the Jewish people in his public ministry. On the part of the Gentile woman, her response to Jesus showed her extraordinary humility and strong faith and trust in the goodness of this Jesus about whom she had had good things and whom she believed to be a holy man from God.
Similar to Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, this incident clarified that, though salvation was offered to the Jewish people who had been specially prepared for the coming of the Messiah, it was really for all: the early Church would further clarify this.
In the light of the inclusivity of God's love for all people, how do we appreciate the Church's preferential option for the poor and disadvantaged? How do we appreciate the Church's special concern for various sectors of human society? How do we see the missionary vocation of the Church?
And in the light of Syro-phoenician's brilliant yet very humble reply to the Lord, are we humble and open in our prayer petitions to allow God to act on our petitions in his own way and time?
Peter is an immensely likable sort of a character. He is so human. One moment he is all inspired and makes a wonderful profession of faith, but in today's Gospel, he is told by Jesus that he thinks like Satan. It should give us comfort to know that we are not the only ones who can go from a shining moment to a humbling situation
in a short space of time. What can we learn from Peter? Peter is a fervent follower of Jesus, yet he does not fully understand the meaning of Jesus' mission. He knows that Jesus' mission is important, but he is not quite sure
what it entails. It is as though he has this hunch about Jesus and this is what is driving him to persevere in being a disciple. Sometimes our faith may be only a hunch of what we are supposed to do in a particular situation. If we stand around waiting for our hunch to become a certainty, we will probably end up doing nothing. Unless we step out in faith and test our hunch, we will never know whether it was right or wrong. Peter steps out twice in today's Gospel reading. In one of his hunches he was right and in the other he was wrong. If Peter had not taken the risk, he would not have learned anything. As it is, he now has a much better idea of who Jesus really is and what his mission entails. Peter does not know everything, but he is taking risks and learning.
One of the best practical methods of discernment in the spiritual life is to keep walking through the doors as they open before us. If they do not, then perhaps God is saying that this is not the way for us. If we do not try the door handle to see if it will open, we might never know if that was the way for us or not. Many people fail to discern God's will for them because they wait for absolute certainty before moving forward. Life is about taking risks and learning as we go. Peter was not afraid to speak up and see if he was right or not. He is a good example of moving forward in faith
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