Fullerton T

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Today the 11^th of September  is the 20^th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. As we know nearly 3000 people lost their lives on that day and all of us remember where we were at the time of the attacks in New York and Washington. I am sure there are many people out there still wondering why this happened and still hurting because of their loss even now. We pray for all those who lost family members friends and colleagues in the events of 9/11 and we pray for peace. Peace for our world and peace for ourselves and all those who are dear to us wherever they are.

In our gospel reading this Sunday we hear Jesus asking Peter and the disciples the famous question “Who do you say I am the apostles guesses all lead us  to someone else, Elijah or John the Baptist or one of the prophets, the people  who were celebrated for pointing to the Messiah. In contrast to what others think, Peter speaks on behalf of the disciples who have shared Jesus’ life intimately: he identifies Jesus as the Christ. Jesus then tells his disciples that his way to glory is only via suffering and the cross.  The first reading is one of the great poems of Isaiah on the theme of suffering.  The servant of God is described in clear unambiguous terms. God gifts the disciple with a well-trained tongue.  This is not an orator’s tongue, capable of delivering prize-winning speeches, but a tongue with the ability to rouse the weary from despair, the ability to bring comfort and compassion to the suffering. We know this response to the pain of the other does not require words but is an attitude of the heart and spirit. In the Gospel Jesus speaks to us about himself using the figure of the Son of Man, the suffering servant who will be rejected and put to death. Not only must he suffer, but experience comfortless suffering in being rejected. That rejection robs the suffering one of his dignity. He has to face the forsakenness and the loneliness of the cross. He will not die of natural causes, but be put to death by the authorities of the time. And this experience of dereliction and emptiness will be answered by God who will raise him up on the third day.  Although the message given to the Disciples was only vaguely and dubiously grasped, Christ had forewarned his Apostles, in order to prepare them for the scandal and folly of the cross.

While it did not really prepare them because they were still too worldly-minded, it did help to strengthen their faith once the facts of the empty tomb convinced them of the resurrection. When they realized that their beloved Master was more than Messiah, that he was in fact the Son of God, who freely accepted his humiliations and shameful death for their sakes and ours.  The apostles gladly gave their lives to bringing the Good news of God’s great love for all people  to the four corners of the world. From being a scandal the cross became the emblem and the proud standard of God’s love for all of us. If Jesus was to stand beside us today and ask who do you say I am? What answer would we give would we answer the same way as Peter when he said you are Christ the son of God or would we answer something else given all that is going on around us these days?