“Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

For those born before the 1970’s we have a recollection of the “Baltimore Catechism”. A series of questions and answers regarding God and faith. While it had its pluses, for example you knew how to reply to faith questions when they were posed to you, it also had its disadvantages, you did not have a personal answer – just a rote one.

In the Gospel of today, Jesus poses a question to His Disciples, and at first they just give Him the standard rote answers. But then He makes it personal, and well, you can hear the pauses and stuttering, at least until Peter speaks up.  “Who do you say I am?” it is the most important question in the Gospels.

Simon, son of Jonah, who will deny Jesus three times, who doesn’t understand so many things — this time understood not the rote answer by the heart reply and this same Simon is given a new name: Peter, the Rock – why? Well because Peter knew Christ and was able to move beyond the answer; to a point of personal  faith. And that’s what can happen for each of us. 

Jesus can make new openings in our lives, break the molds we’ve shaped for ourselves, draw us toward new realizations, fashion new understandings. He can re-name us. If we allow it.  Jesus can construct within each of us a tenderness that puts our pettiness to shame, and an experience of freedom that will release us from all  our enslavements. But only if we allow it.

“Who do you say I am?” Too often we answer easily that He is our God, even when He is not at the center of our lives. Too often we answer easily that we confess Him to be our Lord, even when we live with our backs turned to His project of forgiveness and mercy. Too often we answer easily that He is our Teacher, when we barely listen to His lessons. Its rote for us. But today we are challenged to make it a heart rooted answer and honestly answer this single most important Gospel question: “Who do you say I am?”

How are you going to answer it?

“Amid the Chaos”

We’re in the midst of a rolling sea, in a boat that seems fragile, and there are howling winds and enormous waves that threaten to capsize us. 

At some point in time this may describe anyone’s life — one’s parish or school or one’s business or neighborhood or family; one’s personal life as our employer tells us our job has been outsourced or downsized; or our doctor explains our test results; or we get that call in the middle of the night, “Is this the mother of …?”

This has been the life of the community of the church many times since Jesus walked on water and it is what today’s Gospel story is about.Jesus is there to help us negotiate the trials. As long as we keep our eyes on Him, we can walk on water; that is, we can do the impossible. When we focus on the power of the winds and the depth of the waves and how wet and cold we are, then we panic and grasp and clutch and … sink. When we give up our life to the care of Jesus, we save our life. When we grasp and clutch, we lose it. This is the counter intuitive lesson Jesus taught over and over again.

When we look back on harsh events in our lives, so harsh we thought we might not even survive, sometimes we see that these events were the making of us. The trick — and the measure of the disciple — is to remember the resurrection when we are on the cross; to remember that it is Jesus whose hand is stretched out to us in the midst of the storm.

Fortunately, as we’re negotiating a storm and forgetting to keep our eyes on Jesus, He does not forget to keep His eyes on us. He understands. He knows what it is to pray for “this cup to pass by.” And He knows what it is to trust — “Father, if it be your will.” As Elijah discovered God’s presence in the “tiny whispering sound,” so with our eyes on Jesus we find the still place amid the chaos.

BE THE MIRACLE

In the Gospel of today Jesus performs a great miracle - the feeding of the thousands with simple loaves and fishes. Ever thought that as a follower of Jesus we are called to be a miracle? To be a miracle doesn’t necessarily mean tackling problems across the globe. It means making a difference, believing change is possible, even in your own living room, cubicle, neighborhood, or family. We need a miracle. How often have you heard people say that? How often have you said it? In times of trouble or despair, we want someone else to take action, someone stronger, smarter, more powerful than ourselves. The truth is we all have just enough strength, smarts, and power to make a difference, to be the miracle for someone.

We pass by miracle-workers every day. They’re often disguised as ordinary people, teachers, barbers, nurses, secretaries, cashiers, cabdrivers. People in all walks of life who don’t just go to work to bring home a paycheck. People who go to work to make a difference in the lives of others. People who remind us that no one is too small to make a big difference.

I’ve never forgotten the day I was a ball of stress and stopped to pay for parking. In most parking lots, you pull up, the person takes your money, gives you change, and you pull away. Your eyes never meet and neither of you remembers the encounter. This time, the attendant looked me in the eye, greeted me, shook my hand. He told me he loved his job and saw it as his ministry to bless people as they passed through his parking lot into the rest of their day. Where I saw a mere money collector, he saw a mission in life. He left me feeling renewed and calm.

We’re all here to matter for others, to be the miracle someone else needs. How do you do that? We can’t do everything, and what we can do, we can’t do perfectly, but that’s okay. All we need to do is make a beginning, right here, right now. If we just do that, it will make all the difference in the world