All of you who come here to mass every week know I begin each homily with a question. Many of you realize I do this with a hope that, on a personal basis, you’ll enter into my attempt to break open the scriptures we hear at this particular celebration. I expect on some occasions you hear the question and wonder how in the world will I relate it to the readings? I also recognize a few of you, later, recall the question, but can’t remember anything else about the homily. I hope that’s not the case today. However, even if it is, it’s ok, because today’s questions are directly about scripture, itself.
The New Testament has a lot of questions. Today I’d like to bring four of them to your attention. They are four questions which have very related answers. Perhaps, one of the most basic questions in the New Testament is the one raised by those who followed Jesus. One of them asked him: “What is the most important commandment of God?” Is there anyone here who does not know the answer? (No, I won’t ask you to raise your hand.) Yes, of course: it’s to acknowledge that the Lord is one God and to love him and to love my neighbor as I love myself.
Immediately this question leads to another one: “Who is my neighbor?” The answer should be familiar to each one of us. So, again I don’t need to elaborate on the story of the “good Samaritan.” The next two questions I have in mind are ones Jesus asked Peter. The first one is found in the Gospel of John, when Jesus asked him: “Do you love me?” Again, you know his response, or series of responses, since Jesus asked the question three times. And the last of the four questions I’d raise for your consideration today, is the one we heard Jesus ask Peter much earlier in his ministry. Today, we heard Jesus ask: “Who do you say that I am?” And once more, we heard Peter’s response.
When I began this series of questions, I said their responses are related. I believe the answer to each question has something in common with the others. Recall – the questions are:
● “What is the greatest of all of the commandments?”
● “Who is my neighbor?”
● “Do you love me?”
● “Who do you say I am?”
I believe the answers to these four questions are related because each one deals with a matter of relationships. In the first two questions the response deals with the relationship between our God and each one of us, as well as with the relationship each one of us has with another person. The question about love is certainly about relationships. And the question “who do you say I am?” maybe the major question we can ask about any relationship.
If you listen closely, Jesus did not ask: “Who am I?” He knew the answer to that one. Instead, Jesus asked the question: “Who do you say I am?” This question is a relational one. The response is about the perceptions we have about our relationships with one another. How I respond to the question Jesus asked Peter tells me, and him, about the relationship I have with him – who I believe Jesus really is, who I believe I really am.
Consider for a moment, the relationship you have with others. How would you respond if your spouse asks you: “Who do you say I am?” Would you respond:
● “You are my spouse” … “you are my husband” … “you are my wife”
● “You are my beloved” … “you are my lover “ …. “you are my best friend”
● “You are the mother of my children” …. “you are the father of my child”
● “You are the one who takes care of the house”
● “You are the one who brings home a paycheck so we can have food and shelter”
I think you’d readily agree each set of responses is about the relationship you have with the person to whom you’re married. The answer may be about the other person, but it’s also about you. When Jesus asked his disciples who do people say he is, he was inquiring about second-hand information. And he received a second-hand opinion. He received “hearsay.” He was told some people believe he is a prophet like John the Baptist, or Elijah or Jeremiah. He is a spiritual leader who tells them about God.
But when he asked Simon the same question, he wanted a first-hand answer. It was then that his disciple replied: … You are the Christ, the anointed one of God, … You are the Son of the living God, … You are the Messiah, the One who will redeem us, the One who at the end of time will be there to usher in the final reign of God. Yes, Simon gave his first-hand response about the relationship he believed existed between the two of them. Simon gave Jesus another name, “Christ, Messiah.”
And Jesus, in turn, gave Simon another name. He called him Peter, the Rock, the foundation upon which he would establish his church, the gathering of those who would follow him, now and forever. A new relationship was formed between “Jesus the Christ” and “Simon the Rock.”
The question Jesus asked Simon is the same question he asks of each one of us. And how each of us responds to this question speaks about the relationship between the two of us. Yes, it’s important for each of us to respond, individually, to the question Jesus asked Simon Peter: “who do you say that I am?” It’s also important to listen to the reply Jesus gives to each one of us.
● As you call him: Lord or Master … does he call you: Faithful Servant?
● As you call him: Savior or Redeemer … does he call you: Forgiven?
● As you call him: Brother or Friend … does he call you: My Companion?
A few minutes ago, I implied there are many ways to respond when a spouse asks: “who do you say I am.” Sometimes, the reply could be a pet-name, a term of endearment, which is used when you are alone, together. And so, today, as you speak the silent name you have for Jesus, you might listen with your heart, to hear what name of endearment Jesus speaks to you. In response to our answer to his question: “who do you say that I am?” he tells each of us who we are to him.
I began by saying there are at least four relational questions asked in the New Testament. Two of them are asked by the crowds who followed Jesus: “What is the greatest of all of the commandments of God?” and “Who is my neighbor?” Two of them are asked by Jesus to Simon Peter: “Do you love me?” and “Who do you say that I am?” I would now ask you a fifth question. Not one asked directly in the Scriptures but one with a response equally important as any found in these writings. My question is this: “By what name does the Living God call you?” Listen quietly and hear his answer in your heart.
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time; August 21, 2011 (Modification of Homily of 8/22/1999 and 8/24/2008)
Is 22:19-23; Rom 11:33-36; Mt 16:13-20