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September 15, 2024On this Sunday the word of God leads us to meditate on a decisive moment in the mission of Jesus. The Gospel passage tells us of a very particular dialogue between Jesus and his disciples.
Jesus is with them in Caesarea Philippi. We are faced with a decisive turning point in the life of Jesus. From that day in Caesarea Philippi the mission of Jesus and his disciples will take a different rhythm.
Let us try to understand what is happening. Jesus wants to check with his disciples the progress of the mission. For this reason, he wants to conduct an investigation among the people through the disciples. Sometime after beginning his mission, having preached the coming of the kingdom of God in many cities and villages and having performed several miracles and provoked different reactions, Jesus wants to verify what people have understood about him.
Therefore, he asks his disciples: who do people say that I am? What interests Jesus is not so much how he is considered by the people, whether his preaching is having success or not. Rather, Jesus wants people to follow him for who he really is. The answers reported by his disciples are the most varied: people say that you are John the Baptist, you are Elijah who has returned, you are one of the prophets. They are the people who were to prepare the coming of the Messiah: Elijah, John the Baptist or the prophets are not the fulfillment, but announcers of the fulfillment, precursors of fullness.
Jesus does not seem to be happy with these answers. Suddenly he turns to his disciples with a decisive personal question: but who do you say that I am? It is no longer a question of reporting the opinion of others, but giving a personal answer to the question of Jesus about his identity.
Dear faithful, this is the fundamental question for each of us. Who is Jesus for you? Who is Jesus for you, dear young person, you who desire a fullness of life. Who is Jesus for you, woman, mother, wife; who is Jesus for you, man, father, husband? Who is Jesus for you, dear priest, you who gave your life for him? Who is Jesus for you, woman consecrated to God? Who is Jesus for you, dear catechist, you who made yourself available for this ministry so important in the life of God's people? Who is Jesus for you that you want to communicate to the children?
This is the true task of catechists: to transmit the encounter with Jesus and to make known who he really is.
But you will be able to do this only if you know how to answer well the question that Jesus personally asks you today: Who is Jesus for you? Your whole life will depend on how we answer this question. None of us can avoid this question. Today Jesus asks it to you.
Peter, trying to summarize the experience they had lived with him all this time, responds forcefully: you are the Christ. It is an important response. Peter does not say to Christ: you are one of the prophets or one of the many figures who prepare the life of the one who is to come. Christ means the anointed one, the one who was chosen by God to bring His plan of salvation to completion. Christ is the mandate. Christ is the fulfillment of the promises, the fulfillment of all the prophecies.
However, Jesus does not even comment on this correct response of Peter. Rather, he begins to make a speech that disappoints his disciples. He begins to speak that the son of man is destined to suffer, he will be rejected by all the leaders of the people. Jesus begins to speak of the paschal mystery of death and resurrection.
While in the prophetic tradition Christ is understood as a glorious and victorious figure, Jesus speaks of himself as someone who faces failure, death. This seems unbearable to Peter, who in fact begins to reproach Jesus.
But Jesus turns to him with very harsh words, he even calls him Satan, he reproaches him for not thinking in line with God. The disciples cannot understand how the messenger of God, Christ, a glorious figure, can meet an ignominious death.
Jesus is truly the Christ, the anointed of God, the one sent by the Father for our salvation. But his path passes through the scandal of the cross. In this way Jesus brings to fulfillment another prophecy, that of the servant of God of whom Isaiah speaks to us in the first reading: “For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle”. Precisely these prophetic words will come true in Jesus in the mystery of the cross.
Therefore, Jesus is truly the Christ, but he does not appear first and foremost as a glorious ruler like the kings of this world. He will complete his mission through the humiliation of the cross.
Dear people, we have never finished discovering who Christ is for us. We are called to grow in faith every day. We must let ourselves be surprised by Christ. We are on a permanent journey of conversion.
Now I turn to the catechists to whom we give today the mandate to exercise their ecclesial ministry with our young people so that they transmit to them the true faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Dear catechist brothers and sisters, be not only teachers but witnesses of Jesus for the children. Saint James in his letter invites us to show faith through our works, because faith without works is dead. The first work of faith is the change of our life, the change of mentality, of the way we look at life. We are called to look at the world with the eyes and heart of Jesus.
Therefore, as catechists, be witnesses of the good life of the Gospel. In this way, you will also be credible teachers. Be a help to families for the transmission of the Christian faith.
Do not stop asking yourselves the question that Jesus asked his disciples: but who do you say that I am? May Christ be for you the perennial novelty of life that you never stop discovering and that you communicate to others with joy.
Thank you for your commitment and dedication. Our Apostolic Vicariate is so grateful to you. May Mary Mother of Wisdom protect you and keep you united with Jesus.
