Today's Gospel

Who Do YOU Say that Jesus Is?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. We were exploring the genius of the gospel, the genius of Jesus, the genius of Catholicism. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13 through 19.

Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked His disciples, "Who do men say that I am?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets." And Jesus said to them, "And who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loose in heaven." It's a fantastic reading, it's famous reading. I remember being in this place where this happened. I remember being in Caesarea Philippi on one of our pilgrimages, the Holy Land, and it had such an enormous impact on me. This place, for some reason, this place. And I ended up doing whole talks just about this one reading, writing whole chapters in books, just about this one reading, which I call the Jesus question.

Jesus comes to his disciples and says, "Who do people say that I am?" And then he says to them, "Who do you say that I am?" And he's constantly asking us that question because depending on who you believe Jesus is, these words will have weight based upon that. Or we will discount them and start to think, well, they're just like the other words or the other books, and of course they are not. But what really jumps out at me in this reading today is Peter, and Jesus saying to Peter, "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church." What is your relationship like with the church?

So a reflection today; what is your relationship like with the church? What do you love about the church? How has the church broken your heart? How have you recovered from that? Or if you haven't recovered from that, how are you going to recover from that? What is your relationship with the church? Because very often, we think about our relationship with God, but very rarely do we think about, "Okay, what is my relationship with the church?" And I think it's important that we do reflect on that from time to time, that we do be honest about that.

Because if there is something there that's creating an obstacle between us and the church or an obstacle between us and God, it's important for us to delve into that because that, whatever that is, that obstacle, that elephant in the room is an invitation to grow. It's an invitation to explore that issue, that topic, and allow God to reveal his genius to us on another level. Have an amazing day. Remember, don't just be yourself today, be the-very-best-version-of-yourself; all that God created you to be.