FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2011  -  TWENTY-FIFTH WEEK OF ORDINARY TIME   

HAGGAI 2:1-9

    In the second year of King Darius, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: Tell this to the governor of Judah, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and to the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak, and to the remnant of the people: Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory?
And how do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes? But now take courage, Zerubbabel, says the LORD, and take courage, Joshua, high priest, son of  Jehozadak, And take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work!
For I am with you, says the LORD of hosts. This is the pact that I made with you when you came out of Egypt, And my spirit continues in your midst; do not fear! For thus says the LORD of hosts: One moment yet, a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth,
the sea and the dry land.  I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come in, And I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. Mine is the silver and mine the gold, says the LORD of hosts. Greater will be the future glory of this house than the former, says the LORD of hosts; And in this place I will give you peace, says the LORD of hosts!

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LUKE 9:18-22

    Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”  They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”  Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”   He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. 
    He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” 

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We have reached a critical point in the ministry of Jesus.  Jesus has set his face on Jerusalem where he will be handed over by the leaders of his faith for execution by the Romans.  In perhaps a moment of deep thought, maybe even doubts about his effectiveness in his ministry, Jesus asks the disciples who the crowds say that he is.  The disciples must have been listening to the same people that Herod's attendants were listening to because there response is exactly the same.  “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen."  They might even be feeling pretty good about being able to answer Jesus' question.  They didn't always have the answer to his questions, or they were embarrassed by the answer.  But this was an easy one.  Then Jesus says to them,  “But who do you say that I am?”   You can hear the silence as they look to one another uncomfortably, waiting for someone to speak up.  It's Peter who responds.  It's always Peter who responds.  “The Christ of God.”   In Matthew's Gospel Jesus tells Peter that this was a revelation from His Father.   

Jesus asks us the same question today;  "Who do you say that I am."  Our temptation is to answer like the disciples did at first by saying what others have said about Jesus, what we have heard about him.  Almost every answer we might give is in fact what others have told us about Jesus.  They may be very correct, Jesus is the Eucharist, the Son of God, the Messiah, but they are still what others have said.  Jesus asks us pointedly, “But who do you say that I am?”   It's not a matter of what others have said.  It is not a question of what we have learned about Jesus.  It is a profound question about who Jesus is for me.  Who do I say that he is?  Who is Jesus in my life?  We may be just as uneasy about the answer to that question as the disciples were.  Who is Jesus for me?  What difference does he make in my life?  How is my life different because I am a disciple of Christ, different from those who are not?  Is it different?  Who do I say Jesus is?  Who is he to me? 

Not a bad place to stay for awhile today. 

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Lord, you are the Christ the Son of the living God.  Help me to hold that in my heart all day and live as if I believed it with all my heart and soul.