HOMILY FOR THE 21ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.
THEME: Who do people say that I am?
BY: Fr Justin Nzekwe
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus put a question to his disciples: “Who do people say that the Son of man is? The disciples answered: “some say you are John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or some of the prophets.” But when Jesus asked the same question to his disciples, it was surprising that they were not able to quickly answer this question, in spite of the fact that they have been with him for a very long time. It was only Simeon Peter who was able to boldly give a correct answer to the question saying: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. However, the answer to this question does not require simple human intelligence, because to Know Jesus, we need the help of the Holy Spirit. Knowing Jesus requires the totality of our being: our minds, our heart and our understanding. We have being hearing about Jesus since our childhood, we listen to homilies about him at the holy mass, we read the bible and other spiritual books about the identity of Jesus. But all these information have only helped us in knowing only the Jesus of history. Our knowledge about Jesus as messiah can only come from our personal conviction. We must be able to answer these questions: Who is Jesus to me? Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus? Have I really encountered Jesus through prayer? These are the questions we must ask ourselves in order to evaluate our knowledge of the person of Jesus.
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However, just as Jesus demanded to know whom the people say he is, we must also as Christians be courageous enough not only to make a personal assessment of ourselves, but to also know what others think about us. Saint Augustine of Hippo, said, “an unexamined life is not worth living.” We need the humility to accept the assessment of others about our life. Although, listening to people’s criticism can be discouraging especially when it is coming from the wrong people, but a sincere criticism helps us to have a good assessment of ourselves and to grow spiritually. Jesus’ question to his disciples was an invitation to them to deepen and personalize their understanding about him. It is an invitation for them to key into his earthly mission. It is an opportunity which he used to establish the leadership structure of the Church, where Peter becomes the head of the Church and therefore the first pope. Jesus began by changing the name of Simon his disciple to Peter. He also gave Peter the key to the kingdom of heaven, so that everything he binds on earth shall be bound in heaven, and everything he loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. This authority given to Peter is therefore the foundation of the authority of the Church today to absolve sins and to lead the people to God. Each time we say the “Credo” during the holy mass, we are invited to affirm firmly our faith in Jesus whom we have encountered though the Church. We are also invited at the end of every mass to go and bear witness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. We pray in this holy mass that through our encounter with Jesus through this holy mass, we may be able to build a personal relationship with him, and to also live our lives in a way that will be pleasing to him. Amen.
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