On discipleship

Who is Jesus for you?

On Wednesday evening of this coming week, there will be a meeting held in this parish for parents of those who will be preparing to celebrate First Reconciliation and First Eucharist in this community of faith during the coming months.  More details about that meeting will be shared at the conclusion of this liturgy.  The role of catechesis – teaching children (and adults alike) about our faith – is a privilege that is accorded to us all by virtue of our baptism.

The pedagogical methods used for catechesis differ depending on the age group of the people involved.  As a result, the approach that is used is different if we are dealing with children who are in Grade 3 as opposed to adults who are partaking in the RCIA process.  Similarly, I can imagine that Jesus must have used different approaches to speak to his followers depending on their level of understanding.

The gospel passage we have heard today places us with Jesus and his disciples, presumably on the road toward the region of Caesarea Philippi.  A conversation ensues and Jesus asks a question.  It begins innocently enough, almost as though he is asking for a news report: Who do people say that I am?  The disciples are quick to answer, thinking that he is trying to get a feel for the pulse of current events.  In a sense, you might say that children and adults who come to the church and participate in catechesis are also asking: Who do other people say this man Jesus is?  It is the responsibility of the catechists, along with the deacons, priests and even the bishops to answer this question.  We do so by sharing the rich heritage of our faith with those who ask, but at another level, a far deeper level, discussions about who Jesus is, about what faith means to us, about how we are to live as people of faith, cannot be answered except through prayer.  In other words, the question asked of the disciples must also be asked of each of us: But who do you say I am?  The answer to this question is a testament to our own personal journey in faith.  Each of us will answer it differently, but ultimately it seeks to clarify what we believe about who Jesus is for each of us, and about who we believe ourselves to be in Jesus eyes.

If we dare to answer Jesus’ question as Peter did, then we must also be prepared to follow Him, and this means preparing ourselves for the very real possibility that what we believe will not always be accepted by our peers.  In fact, we may very well end up being ridiculed or persecuted as a result of our choices to believe that Jesus is indeed the Son of the living God.  The prophet Isaiah foretold this truth in the first reading we heard today too.  In fact, it was this very passage that was remembered by the disciples when they witnessed the suffering of Jesus at the time of his passion.  I wonder whether they realized that they, and every other person throughout time who would profess to follow in his footsteps, would face the same challenge.  Faith is not a popularity contest; often it is a choice to stand in opposition to the tide of popular belief.

For this reason, James cautions us to always be ready to support our claim to faith by the works of our hands.  Faith in Jesus and in the promises of God compels us therefore to love beyond the limits of fair exchange.  Our actions must mirror the words we speak if we are to hope for any modicum of acceptance by the world around us.  The true measure of discipleship is therefore not so much about what we speak, but about how we enact that which we believe.

In the time of Jesus, many were oppressed.  Many were in need.  Many were neglected by those who were in positions of power, and the true strength of the gospel he preached was that everyone was valued not because of the wealth they possessed, but because of the dignity that had been given them by the One who created them in the first place.  This is the lesson we must teach to our children, and to adults who aspire to follow in the footsteps of our Master: that the true mark of discipleship is the dignity we accord to those who are our brothers and sisters.  Jesus, the Son of the living God, came to teach this lesson to us.  Ought we not to teach it to others?