Jesus asks His disciples - and He asks us - "Who do
YOU say that I am?" (Mark 8:27-33) The question can be addressed to us:
"Who am I for you? What place do I have in your life? Are you ready to
follow Me, unreservedly?" Apparently, it isn't enough for us to say,
"You are the Christ, the anointed one, the promised one who is to
come." He tells his disciples not to tell that to anyone. They aren't
ready for the full implications of that message.
Sometimes, I'm not ready, either. I hold back. There is
still too much self-protective care in me. And, the "calculation"
about what is best for me, who is better to be with, is still too much a part
of my heart. Jesus invites me to say, "You are my savior. You are the one
who died for my sins - to take away the power of sin and death - for me and for
us all. I am so grateful, that all my anxieties and self-absorbed concerns just
melt away. I so want to be with You in
your mission of announcing this good news to others. I want to lay down my life
with You. I want to love the way You
love"
Instead, too often, we respond the way Peter did. We
fight Jesus' acceptance of His mission. We don't want to let Him suffer and die
for us, because we know - perhaps we fear - that to let that happen would
transform us and draw us into the pattern of His life, death and resurrection.
We become guilty of thinking the way the world thinks, rather than the way God
thinks.
The invitation for me - for us - today is three-fold. To
re-accept His love and saving mercy with deep gratitude; to respond with a
growing desire to be with Him in His mission from the Father; and to love
others the way He has loved us - in a dying-to-self way. And, if we do this today, the people close to
us will experience the difference in our spirit and in our care today. And, ultimately, the poor will know that we
hear their cry.
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