"Who do you say that I am?" Reflections Sept 16, 2012

Reflections  September 16, 2012

Lectionary Readings:

Proverbs 1:20-33 or Isaiah 50:4-9

Psalm 19 or Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1 or Psalm 116:1-9

James 3:1-12

Mark 8:27-38

"Who do you say that I am?"

The focus of my reflection today is  the Gospel reading, and the one simple question that Jesus asks …..“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter’s answer immediate answer"You are the Messiah" is full of meaning and full of misunderstanding. It would be well worth unpacking and discussing sometime.  

But today I’m noticing that Jesus is asking this question not only of Peter, but of all of the followers.  I wonder what voices Peter’s quick answer has caused to silence? I wonder if Jesus later took time with the slower, quieter folks in the circle, to “listen them into speaking”.

And I wonder what my answer is.  From deep in my soul and from deep in my personal history the first answer, and probably the truest, comes in a song …“the Lord of Love has come to me.”  When I was 17 and well on my way to being a “self-made man” out to change the world, through intellectual prowess, faith in human progress, and a set of excellent self-help books.  Then, just as that way was imploding, God moved very powerfully in the deepest part of my soul, plowing and planting a new seed…Jesus, the author of unconditional love. 

And 36 years later I’m hearing Jesus’ question again “But who do you say that I am?” and my answer is still… love.  It strikes me that this question is about the very nature, essence, and being of Jesus the Christ.  Could it be that the very Author of the Universe (or universes?) has come to us in Jesus, to such a microscopic place and time? Could it be that this God is a God of love who offers to be in and through us? Who as we celebrate communion, says “Eat me up, drink me down, that is how close I want to be to you and you to me.  That is how intimately I want you to invite me into your lives, to transform your very essence.  Yes, Jesus, that is who you are.