Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God (21st Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A) In the Gospel passage today Jesus is defined; his person is defined. He asks his disciples “who do people say I am, and who do you say I am?” This event in Christ’s life is recorded in Mt. 16: 13-19, Mk. 8:27-29, Lk. 9:18-20. Who is Jesus? For Mark and Luke Peter says: “you are the Messiah”, but Matthew records Peter saying: “you are the Christ the Son of the Living God”. In the Gospels of Lk. 7:18-23, Mt. 11:2-6, John sends two disciples to find out from Jesus who he is, Jesus responds, tell John that “the blind see, the lame walk, those who suffer from disease are made clean, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the God News is preached to the poor.” Jesus defines himself at the beginning of his ministry as one who heals, raises the dead, and frees the possessed. Today, Christ asked his apostles to say who people say he is. People from past experiences of other prophets and “great men of God,” so to speak, think Jesus is one of them. Jesus tells us that he is not just a healer, or exorcist, or one of the prophets, he is much more. He is THE CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD. The prophet Isaiah tells us “A voice cries out ‘prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord, clear the way in the desert for our God…tell the towns of Judah that their God is coming…he will take care of his flock like a Shepherd he will gather the lambs together and carry them in his arms” (Is. 40: 3,9,11). Indeed he has come to take care of his flock. He came to give us life in abundance (Jn. 10:10). He is Immanuel (God with us) Mt. 1:23. Again in Mt. 28:20, Christ tells us “I will be with you always till the end of the age.” Christ is present in the World through the Church. Furthermore, Christ tells Peter “You are Peter and this Rock I will build my Church,” nay, on you (Peter - from the Greek petros meaning rock) I remain always in the world. God is with us through the Church; the Church built on the Rock (Christ), represented by Peter. Christ is with us through the Sacraments most especially in the Eucharist. NO WHERE DO WE HAVE THE REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST THAN IN THE EUCHARIST. Only found in the Church headed by Peter, the assembly of God’s people personally established by Christ. It is wrong to say “Church na Church…we worship one God.” NO! The Church is that established by Christ and handed over to Peter to tend; nothing more. The One God we serve, is the one who told Peter: “You are Peter and on this Rock I will build my Church.” If you are out of this fold, you are doing your own thing. In Jn. 21:15-19 Christ instructs Peter “Take care of my lambs…Look after my sheep…Feed my sheep” The Church like any other human institution needs a leader and that Christ provided; a leader to look after and feed Christ’s flok. Leadership did not end with Peter. True, nowhere in Scripture do we hear about successors of Peter and Apostles. But if Christ referred to Peter as Rock, this connotes continuity, and if truly Christ is with us always through the Church, then there should always be a rock on which this Church should stand. I say boldly that he or she who denies the Pope, and Bishops denies the Church, and he or she who denies the Church denies Christ, the Rock on which the Church is built Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, who came to be with us till the end of the age. The Christ who is present with us through the Church, the Church founded on him and physically represented by Peter. Amen
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 10:17:33 +0000
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