Bet Your Life on It

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Cycle B

 

Why did Jesus ask his disciples this question? It’s pretty important since it appears in all three synoptic gospels, and so we hear it every year at Mass. I can imagine the situation. This scene takes place early on in Mark’s gospel, and Jesus and his disciples have been traveling around the local towns spreading the message to repent and accept the gospel. He has been healing the sick and performing miracles, and now they have stopped to rest a bit. He asks them who the people say that he is. Sort of, “It’s been a little while. Is my message getting across? How effective am I being?” The first Christian focus group.

 

And the people really don’t get the message yet. They think he’s one of the dead prophets like John the Baptist or Jeremiah. Others are a bit closer when they claim he is Elijiah, the prophet what was supposed to come just before the Messiah. But none of them hit the mark and realize that he is the messiah himself. It’s easier to see the human Jesus at first than the divine.

 

It was important for the people to understand so they could believe. Jesus wanted them to get it right. Jesus spent his entire life trying to get them to believe. And then he left his disciples, the Church, to continue to proclaim who he is to the world. The first pope made the first ever dogmatic statement that day. He proclaimed to the world for the first time that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. And he proclaimed it first to the church, those 12 gathered around Jesus. And that same Peter later on went on to say that there is no other name by which we are saved. That is the core message of Christianity. That is the good news. And it is vital that the Church always understand, get it right, and then spread the gospel faithfully. If we don’t get it right there is no hope for the world.

 

Who does the world think Jesus is even today, after 2000 years? A great philosopher and teacher, just like so many? A guru? Maybe a prophet, like the Muslims think, but not the prophet. A myth or an ideal to strive for? I figure we have moved beyond in our modern sensibilities? That it doesn’t really matter what anyone believes because there is no one truth, no one best way to live your life. It doesn’t matter what God you believe in or if you even believe in a god at all. If that’s the case then Jesus is easy to follow or ignore.  That Jesus requires nothing of us. And therefore is worthless.

 

What the world thinks starts with what you think. It’s important that you get it right. The people are always going to get it wrong because the truth is so fantastic and unique it’s hard to wrap our heads around it and even harder to accept what we will be called to do with that truth. CS Lewis said it so clearly in Mere Christianity. Either Jesus was crazy, he was a liar, or he is who he says he is. There are no other options. If he is one of the first two then no one should follow him…but if he is who he says he is then everyone must follow him. It’s important that you believe that if you are to live your life as you were intended to. I won’t lay down my life for a crazy person or a liar, but I will for the promise of eternal life. I have to.

 

Do you know who Jonathan Roumie is? He’s the actor who portrays Jesus in the series, The Chosen. Jonathan spoke at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis in July, and he wore a bit of a controversial t-shirt during his talk that had the famous quote from Flannery O’Connor, “If it’s a just symbol, to heck with it.” O’Connor was a bit more colorful in her language and she was often sarcastic and flippant, but the message was clear. If the Eucharist is just a symbol, then it’s worthless and not worth my time, let alone my devotion and dedication. But what if it’s what Jesus claims it is?

 

I think the same could be said of Jesus. If he’s not who he says he is, then to heck with it. If he’s just all those things the world thinks he is then why should I bother? If He is not unique then why be Christian? If Christianity is not unique, if it is not the fullest expression of truth then why is it worth my effort? Why do I do all this stuff? Why do all those good works St. James talks about today? If all religions are the same, then what will I need to give my life for? I can just choose my religion to fit my life view, or my values, or my politics, or whatever I feel like doing today. Or choose no religion at all. There is nothing to live for or sacrifice for outside ourselves. And there are no consequences to my actions no matter how I choose to live. But then there is also no meaning and purpose, and there is therefore no hope.

 

No other religion has the cross, and the cross is the means of our salvation. No Jesus, no cross, no salvation, no hope.  

 

Who does Jesus claim to be? He never comes right out and explicitly says he is God. He uses euphemisms like the Son of Man and the Son of God, but never really defines what that means. He says things like, the Father and I am one. When you see me, you see the Father.  I am the way, the truth and the life. Not a way, a truth, and a life. No one comes to the Father except through me. And he leaves the door open for faith to fill in the gaps for us. It took the Church over 300 years to put some words around who this person Jesus was and is. It takes our entire lives for we ourselves to define and accept who he is for us. For it is around that question that our entire understanding of God, of His Church, and our very selves revolves.

 

But that question is the most important one we will ever answer. It is the only one that really matters, and it is the only one worth giving our lives for. Who we believe Jesus to be is the center of everything, even the eucharist. If Jesus isn’t who he says he is then the eucharist and all the sacraments are just empty rituals, meant to either make us feel good or even worse to deceive us.

 

This person Jesus who we believe to be God left us with some promises. Our hope is the belief in the fulfillment of those promises. He promises that the world will hate us just as it hates Him. He promises that the road to salvation is narrow. He promises that He will not leave us orphans. Jesus promises that he has gone to prepare a place for us so that where is he we also can be. He promises that his yoke is easy and burden light. He promises that if we proclaim him to the world, he will proclaim us to his Father. He promises that he will forgive us our sins to the degree we forgive others. He promises that we are his disciples when we follow his commandments. He says that we are one with the father when we are one with him. He promises that he is trustworthy and will remain so even if everyone else leaves us. He calls us his friends.

 

I don’t know about you, but I need to trust in those promises. I need to have that hope. I need to know that what I believe is true and good and of God. I need to trust that he is who he says he is. I need to believe in the truth of the Church as being Jesus present here on earth. I need to know that it is worth it. I need to know that it is worth dying for. I need to know that it is worth living for.

 

Who is Jesus to you?

 

What does that mean for you? What does that mean for your family, your community, your nation, for the world?

 

Do you trust him?

 

Do you trust his promises?

 

Are you willing to bet your life on it?