by Fr Fabian Dicom
Isaiah 50:5-9
Psalm 114:1-6,8-9
James 2:14-18
Mark 8:27-35
Theme: God’s Will Be Done
Let me begin with a personal confession. One of the deepest challenges in my own spiritual journey has always been this question: Who is Jesus for me?
It is a question that keeps resurfacing and every time it does, I realise that my answer is not always as clear or as confident as I would like it to be. Sometimes I think I have got it right, but other times I realise that I may have gotten it wrong or I have not fully understood who Jesus really is. And that is reflected in the way I live, the decisions I make and even the way I minister as a priest. Perhaps not quite like what Jesus would do. I believe that I missed the mark.
When I first read the Gospel in preparation for today’s homily, that question: ‘Who do you say I am?‘ hit me hard. It reminded me that this is not just a question for the disciples in the past. It is the crux of our faith journey today.
Each of us must answer it personally and as a community.
And I am reminded that this question requires more than an intellectual answer. I believe that the answer lies in an ongoing personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
For many of us, what hinders that relationship is the way we have surrounded ourselves with certain false images or misconceptions about Jesus, about our faith, about ourselves and even about the church. There is this struggle to know, truly know, who Jesus is.
Let us be honest.
It is easy to create a version of Jesus that fits comfortably into our lives. Maybe we see Him as someone who solves our problems. Or we reduce Him to a great teacher with moral wisdom but not someone who asks too much of us. Sometimes we treat Him like a safety net, there when we need Him. (He is around.) But otherwise we keep Him on the sidelines.
Now these images of Jesus are not real. They are convenient projections, shaped by our own preferences. This is my struggle and perhaps, perhaps it is yours as well.
Sometimes we think we have got Jesus all figured out. But when trials come or when His path involves sacrifice, a path that does not gel with ours, we start questioning.
We might resist like Peter in the Gospel today.
When Jesus spoke of suffering and death, Peter just declared that Jesus was the Christ. Fantastic declaration. But as soon as Jesus explained the cost of discipleship, the cost of following this Christ, Peter pushed back. He could not accept that the Messiah would suffer and die. And that is his image, that is his misconception.
And so often, we too struggle when our expectations of Jesus clash with the reality of what it means to follow Him.
What is hindering our relationship?
Now one of the biggest obstacles to truly knowing Jesus is the clutter we have built around our faith. We often reduce it to a checklist:
i) attending Mass,
ii) receiving the Sacraments,
iii) doing volunteer work,
without realising that we may still be holding on to a safe, a compromising, a non-confrontational image of Jesus.
For many in communities like ours, the challenge lies in the image of Jesus we have inherited and formed as we grew up:
~ Perhaps it is a Judgmental Jesus.
~ Perhaps it is a Sweet and Passive Jesus.
~ Sometimes it is a Ritual Jesus, confined to the tabernacle and the walls of the church.
What about the Jesus in the Gospels? What about Him?
We all know that. The One who challenges us to go beyond our comfort and routine, who calls us to the radical love and justice, who invites us to encounter Him not just in rituals but in the messy, in the broken places of our lives and of the world.
Think of the woman caught in adultery. The crowd was ready to stone her but Jesus looked at her with mercy and said:
Neither do I condemn you.
Or the story of the Prodigal Son. After squandering everything, he was welcomed home with open arms, to a father who did not lecture or scold but embraced him with love.
At Zaccheus, the tax collector, despised and rejected by society. Jesus did not avoid him or condemn him but invited Himself to his house, saying:
Today salvation has come to this house.
And we have numerous stories. That is the Jesus.
We sometimes forget that Jesus does not just meet us in our successes or in our carefully curated life.
He meets us in our brokenness and loves us unconditionally. He is not the Distant, Harsh Judge but a Compassionate Shepherd who leaves the 99 to find 1 lost sheep.
Our challenge, my dear brothers and sisters, is to let go of the Jesus we have shaped to fit into our busy, middle-class agendas. The One we feel comfortable with and to embrace the real Jesus.
The Jesus who calls us to carry our cross might also be the one who asks us to forgive someone we have been holding a grudge against for years. Or to help someone in need even when it is inconvenient. Or to stand up for the truth without fear or favour. And that is what He means to carry the cross.
The question is:
Are we willing to follow that Jesus?
Jesus makes it clear. To follow Him, we must be willing to sacrifice. He tells us plainly in the Gospel:
Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me.
Jesus was not talking about passively accepting the sufferings and losses that come our way in life. He was calling us or He still is calling us, to commit ourselves, in love, to Him and to each other just as He has committed Himself, in love, to us. And to be true to that loving commitment even though it may mean the way of the Cross:
Denying ourselves.
It is a call, my dear brothers and sisters, to be faithful disciples just as He has shown Himself to be our Faithful Shepherd. This is the only way. It is not an easy way.
But this is where the Prophet Isaiah’s words in the First Reading come in to guide us:
The Lord has opened my ear. For my path I make no resistance, neither do I turn away.
Isaiah gives us a model of humble obedience, listening to God even when the path is difficult. This is what we need:
To listen to the Lord in prayer, to allow Him to open our ears, our hearts and to trust that He will be our help when the sacrifices of discipleship feel overwhelming.
Isaiah assures us again:
The Lord is coming to my help. Who will dare to condemn me?
But our faith in Jesus, our relationship with Jesus, cannot remain only in words or feeling. As Saint James reminds us in today’s Second Reading:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith and does not have works?
This is where the rubber meets the road. This is the moment of truth.
It is not enough to simply declare that Jesus is the Christ. We must live in a way that reflects that belief. We need to. Our faith must be active and lived out in concrete ways.
And Saint James challenges us today:
Faith of itself, it does not have works, it is dead.
We cannot be passive Christians, simply attending Mass, saying our prayers but failing to live our faith in acts of love, acts of compassion and justice.
If Jesus is truly the Christ for us, then we must show it in how we treat others, especially the poor, especially the marginalised and those in need.
This is a call to wake up from any comfortable or inward-looking faith. It is a call to action. There is no other way.
To be Christians who not only profess faith in Jesus but live it out even when it is inconvenient or requires sacrifice.
So who is Jesus for me?
So I ask, who is Jesus for you?
Have we created a version of Him that fits our life comfortably or are we willing to encounter the real Jesus, the One who challenges us to deny ourselves and take up our Cross?
If we are honest, we may find our understanding of Jesus is still a work in progress. And that is okay.
What matters is that we keep seeking Him, allowing Him to lead us deeper into who He truly is.
So let us take up today’s challenge to know the real Jesus, to follow Him and to live our faith boldly.
Amen.
Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-
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