“Who do you say that I am?”
( Khrist Premalaya Chapel)
First of all I would like to take you to the catechism classes that we had when we were small kids. About the purpose of our coming into this world as we were told, is to know God, to love God and to serve God. So knowing God is one of the purposes of our life here on earth. Today’s Gospel invites us to reflect who Jesus is for each one of us. In other words, what Jesus means to us? Or what is the place of Jesus in our life, or how much we have done to know God?
It is a general principle in Indian thought that if I want to search God; I must first know who I am. Or in Biblical understanding if I want to love God I must first love my neighbour. I need to first relate to others and that will relate me to God by itself. For this first I must decide my disposition then only I can say how I am related to the other person. If I say to a woman ‘you are my mother’ that means I am aware and know that I am her son, this applies to any kind of relationship. Similarly to relate myself with God I or others, I must first recognize myself. There is a triangle of relationship that we all know. God – me- and others. All are interrelated. So when I want to relate to God, I must first know what I am… for example if I am a sinner than God is merciful and compassionate father for me, if I am a devotee then God is the one to whom I am devoted to.
In today’s gospel Jesus poses before us this same question ‘who do you say that I am?’ or in other words how do you relate yourself to me? Who Jesus is actually? In his magna carta in the Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 4:18, 19, we read, Jesus says God has sent me to proclaim the good news to the poor, healing to the sick, sight to the blind… and so on.
In other words Jesus came to be what one needs most. To a sick person, he is a healer; to a dead person he is life giver; to sinners he is forgiving Lord; to ignorant he is teacher; to the hungry he is bread of life… and to a seminarian like me and you… what is he… that’s what he wants to know today. This is very personal question indeed and requires a personal answer. It is not that Jesus doesn’t know who he is for you and me… he knows everything. Then why should he ask us today, who he is or us? This is probably a reminder for us, and invitation to reflect so as to how do we relate to Jesus? Or in other words how much experience of Jesus do we have in our lives.
It is clear fact that there is nobody here who has not have the experience of God in one or the other way. Of course we may not have realized that experience as god experience, that’s totally different case. We are preparing ourselves to give people the same God-experience. And mind you, if we ourselves don’t have that experience how are we going to share it with others. We are called to be the instruments of love and experience. We all have experience of God, but now the question is, how do we grow deeper in that experience?
This is personal affair; I mean we will have to give our personal time to be with God. At 12:45 we have a bell and many of may not know that it is the time for examination of conscience and I am sure the examination of conscience is done in silence and in a quiet place, but how many of us really bother about this sacred opportunity. Forget about sitting in the chapel, many of us don’t even bother to keep silence during angelus bell. Where is our hunger to experience God? Where is our hunger for experiencing God? If we are not thirsty to experience God, what are we here for? If we have not experienced Jesus personally, we can never answer this question which Jesus asks us today, who so you say that I am?
- B. Johnson Maria
