WHO DO YOU SAY 

THAT I AM?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 24 Sunday in Ordinary Time [B] is a question - the question Jesus asks his disciples in today’s gospel, “Who Do You Say That I Am?” [Cf. Mark 8: 27-35.]

Jesus and his disciples are on the road heading for the villages of Caesarea Philippi and he asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

And they answer, “Some say you’re John the Baptist. Others say you’re Elijah. Still others say you’re one of the prophets.”

He then asks them, “But who do - you -  say I am?”

FATHER RON ROLHEISER

Father Ronald Rolheiser, OMI,  in a commentary on today’s gospel, puts the scene and the question as follows, “If Jesus looked us square in the eye and asked us, as he asked Peter, ‘How Do You Understand me?’ how would we answer that question?”

If you ever watch Jeopardy - you know how they line up the contestants - at the end of the program - give them a category - and then ask a question and they play the Jeopardy music piece - “Da, then, da, den - da, then, da then….” - and the contestants write down their answer to the final question.

We’re Christians, we’re Catholics, we come to Church, how would we answer either the question, “How do you understand me?” or “Who do you say that I am?”

On Jeopardy  there’s - a pause - a commercial. There’s silence. There’s the music.  Then we see their written answers. What would be our written answer for how we understand Jesus and who do we say Jesus is.

Who is Jesus Christ to you?

MATTHEW, MARK,  LUKE AND JOHN

Different personalities see Jesus in different ways.

Unlike Jeopardy, various answers would be correct.  Some answers would be wrong.  Jesus is God and Human.

I have a theory - using Carl Jung’s 2 ways of seeing people - introverts and extraverts - in varying degrees - that would influence how we see Jesus. Then comes his 4 ways of typing people - how they function -  I’m sure some of you have taken the Myers Briggs questionnaire. People are more or less  - feelers, thinkers, intuitives and sensates. They  would all see Jesus different.  Sensates are the neat - practical - non dreamers. Intuitives are the dreamers - sloppy - all over the place types - creative and unconscious when it comes to time. Then there are the  Head and heart types - the thinkers and feelers.  We all have these 4 characteristics - but in various degrees and usually one or two predominate.

My theory is that Matthew represents thinkers and Luke represents feelers. Mark the shortest Gospel represents the practical types - the doers. Then John represents the dreamers - the intuitives - the poetic creative types.

I’ve not see this anywhere - so take all  that with a grain of salt. I’m a high, high intuitive poetic type and if you are like Mark - direct and to the point - the gospel we have for this year - you should be more apt to be saying, “What is he talking about?”

What I would like you to get is that Jesus is Jesus - but different people will see him their own way.

Just ask people their favorite gospel text from Jesus and this will be obvious.

It’s like 4 people seeing a movie or a play or read a novel and they all see so differently.

It makes for interesting car talk driving home from a movie.

It makes for great  book club chats and discussions.

ONCE MORE THE QUESTION: WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM?

Christianity is a relationship. We need words “LOGOS”  about  God and “THEOS” God - but  Christ is not a theology.

The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.

We’re receiving bread and wine - objects - stuff - material = but it’s the body and blood of Jesus. That’s the miracle.

It’s Jesus - and the call is to move from things to person - to be in communion - and union with him.

It’s personal.

Martin Buber - the Jewish philosopher - helped so many people with his theology and philosophy and theory that we can do life in one or two ways: I-It  or I-Thou.

I-It is going it alone - when we zero in on stuff - or we treat others as its - objects.

I-Thou is going it with others - community, family, talking and listening - seeing others as other than ourselves.

Bringing this into the Christ question means Christ is a person - the 2^nd Person in the Blessed Trinity of Persons - God.

Prayer is personal.

One Our Father that is a conversation is better than 5 Our Fathers that is mumbling - all words - rattling on and on and on - as Jesus described some prayers.

One “I love you” to our family or loved ones is better than 1,000  “I love you’s” that is all words.

TODAY’S SECOND READING: FROM JAMES

Isn’t that what James is getting at in today’s second reading with his message about faith and works? [ Cf. James 2: 14-18.]

Listen to him again: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?  Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel from Mark gets all this stuff right into practical stuff of life.

Jesus says: if you want to follow me, then you got to be less of you. You have to deny yourself.  You have to empty yourself of self. You have to take up your cross. You have to lose yourself.

Less selfies - more people in the pictures - than just me, me, me.

The cross has two lines. It’s not 1 line. +

I want things my way - but there’s other people on the planet - who are in front of me - people who want to make that left turn on one way streets - and ugh - there are 15 cars on that side of the road coming towards us.

Another is telling a story and it triggers my story - and I want to tell my story and I don’t want to listen to this other person’s boring story from his or her life.

How do you understand Jesus?  He’s the challenger!

Jesus says some tough stuff - killers - so we kill him each time - not grabbing him and nailing him to a cross to shut up his way of doing life - but just blanking out his calls how to love one another each day - each encounter with each other.

CONCLUSION

Enough already.

The title of my homily is, “Who Do You Say That I Am?

Answer today - there are many answers. As Isaiah opens up today’s first reading, He’s the one who opens up our ears that we may hear - and we won’t be in jeopardy if we listen and then do what he calls us to do.

To love.