12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 9, 18-24

Imagine the disciples of Jesus being asked the question, “Who do you say I am?” For the disciples, they thought that this might be a test. They might be asking themselves, is this a trick question or something. At first, they replied to Jesus with examples of who the people thought he was. They said, “some say, you are John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets”. Then they were asked, “Who do you say I am?” Peter, speaking for the disciples, said, “You are the Christ of God.” Then Jesus rebuked him not to tell anyone about this. With this, there arises some confusion among theologians: why did Jesus rebuke Peter? Some says that Jesus rebuked Peter because he got the answer wrong. That Jesus is not the “Messiah” like the Jews were expecting. Because Jesus is definitely more than the Messiah, he is the Son of God. Others say that Peter was rebuked because the answer was right, however it must be understood in the proper context, and Jesus sensed that the time was not right for this to be fully revealed. Whatever the right answer is, if Jesus comes to us and asks, “Who do you say I am?” What is our image of Jesus? What is our relationship with Jesus if we have one? I think this is the more relevant question in our day and age.

Firstly, what is our image of Jesus? Of course throughout the centuries we have various images of Jesus. If we look at the gospels, we can gather a lot of wonderful images of Jesus. We can see Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd who is willing to sacrifice his life for his sheep. The shepherd who will bring his sheep to greener pastures. The shepherd who will leave the ninety-nine behind and look for the one who is lost and rejoice over this find. We can see Jesus also as the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan who doesn’t see the injured man as an enemy by being a Jew and him being a Samaritan. He will help his neighbour whatever race he may be. We can see Jesus also as the merciful Judge who pardons a man who has a debt of five hundred denarii and expects us to do the same. In our day, what is our image of Jesus? Do we see him as our brother, who could be our best friend and who knows us through and through? Do we see him as a policeman, who is out there to catch us with every little sin that we commit? Do we see him as a father or mother, who would provide us with all that we need? Whatever that image is, it would depend on our relationship with him and hopefully it is a relationship that will make us closer to him.

Secondly, the gospel passage today also speaks of the kind of life ahead of us if we follow Jesus. Jesus warned his disciples that those who would follow him must pick up their cross daily. Nobody who becomes a Christian and who faithfully follows Christ would have an easy time. Throughout the history of the Church, especially in the first centuries of the church, if one decides to follow Christ, the expectation is that persecution is not far behind. And one is expected to die as a martyr if needed. And they came in the thousands especially in the first three centuries of Christianity. So maybe you want to ask why? Most probably because of the last part of today’s gospel passage, “for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” Christians who sincerely follow Christ will find more meaning in life than those who live a worldly life. For the promise of worldly life will fade with death but the promise of eternal life will live forever. And until this day, there are still Christians who are willing to risk their lives by living in countries where Christianity is still outlawed.

So as we reflect further on this week’s gospel reading, there are two main questions that can help us. First, what is our image of Jesus? Is he like a brother to us, a policeman, a stern judge, a father/mother, and a best friend? Second, are we willing to take up our cross and follow him? Or do we think that Christian life is an easy life? I hope not because we would be badly mistaken. Let us allow ourselves to lose our lives for Christ because Christ himself will save ours by offering us a more meaningful one.