Who Do You Say I Am? ~ Mary Ann Allen

Today's readings instruct us in God's process of selection. In the first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, God decides that authority will be taken from one person and given to another. God selects Eliakim to receive the key of the House of David, so that..."when he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open." And so it was that Eliakim is given the place of honor for his family.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus recognizes that one of His disciples will have to be given the authority of leadership among the Twelve. He must awaken the disciples to this understanding by beginning with a general question. "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" The disciples reply with several answers since there are any number of people in the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as in their own experience who could fit that description.

But now that Jesus has their attention, He shifts the question to a very personal one. "But who do you say I am?" Who else but Peter is the one who immediately replies: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

This response is precisely what Jesus wants to hear and He recognizes that only His heavenly Father could have placed those words in Peter's mouth! Peter has acknowledged Jesus for who He is. Not only through his reasoning but most importantly, through his faith. And because of that faith, Peter is given the place of honor among the disciples and the authority that comes with the keys to the kingdom. Not David's kingdom, but the Kingdom that Jesus has been preaching and bringing into existence.

"Who do you say I am?" Jesus is asking us the same question today. Do we really believe what we profess about Jesus? Or do we believe only what we can reason through. Do we truly recognize what Jesus wants from each of us?

Jesus wants us to be transformed... from reasoning into faith... from our mind to our heart. For with Faith comes our own authority to continue to make the Kingdom present in our world. And with that Faith, we can say along with St. Paul as he wrote to the Romans in praise of our God:

"For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be glory forever."


~ Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time ~