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| Mark 8:27-35 |
As
we begin a new school year we often think about first impressions and making
friends. We all want to be popular at some level and want to fit in or be cool;
this is not a bad thing as long as we don’t change who we are to try to fit in.
In today’s Gospel Jesus asks his disciples about his popularity and identity,
he asks them what people say about him, who they think He is. Many people
believed that Jesus was a prophet just like all of the other prophets in the
Old Testament (Isaiah, Jonah, Ezekiel, etc.), some thought that he was the
re-incarnation of Ezekiel himself!
In
today’s Gospel Jesus then asked his disciples, his friends who do you say that I am? Peter, with great faith and open to the
Holy Spirit within Him says to Jesus in reply, you are the Christ (which means ‘the anointed one’). Peter knew,
through faith, that Jesus was the One who God had sent into the world to
transform the world, Peter knew that Jesus was the Son of God, different from even
the best prophets in the Old Testament.
Sometimes
we forget that Jesus is not just a nice man with a beard that loves us like a
grandparent or a statue but that Jesus is God, that Jesus is alive in Heaven!
The same Jesus who spoke 2,000 years ago is speaking to us today inviting us to
come closer to Him and to be open to loving Him. Through our Baptism we were
marked forever as a follower of Jesus and were set apart by God to continue the
mission of Jesus in our world today, to bring about the transformation of the
world in radical, self-sacrificing love.
Questions for Reflection and
Discussion
-What
do people in our community believe about Jesus?
-What
do I believe about Jesus? Answer the question: I believe that Jesus is…
-How
does my relationship with Jesus affect my daily life?
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