Twenty Fourth Sunday -Ordinary time
Sept 17, 2006

Isaiah 50:5‑-9a Psalm: 116: James 2:14‑-18 Mark 8:27‑-35

And the question is?

Our readings pose three questions today:

1. Who will contend with me? Who are my adversaries?

2. What good is it, if you have faith but no good works?

3. Who do you say I am?

1. Our readings today would fit beautifully during the Season of Lent. We have a picture of Isaiah which remind us of the Sorrowful mysteries: Agony in the Garden, scourging at the pillar and the crowning of Thorns. The Gospels would be the fourth/fifth mysteries: the Carrying of the Cross and the Crucifixion. But our readings pose three questions which we also meet in daily life even when we go through good times.

Who will contend with me? Who are my adversaries? The moment we decide to live up to our Baptismal Promises, we find that we are confronted with a set of values which are so foreign to the Gospel.

Our secular and materialistic society is at odds with our Christian messages and values.

There is an emphasis on individual rights has put common good in jeopardy.

Community and Social structures, that once supported religious faith and encouraged family life, have been displaced. The Media and technology tell us what is right and wrong.

Religious instruction and catechesis compete against entertainment and sports for time in people’s busy lives.

Those who contend against us, those who are our adversaries are often ourselves, our brothers and sisters !!

3. And so holding on to “I believe in God the Father, I believe in God the Son, I believe in God the Spirit” will not get us through life. We can say this with the deepest sincerity, with the deepest conviction, what we also need St. James tells us is a way of life that reflects this belief.

A certain woman came to a stop at the traffic lights. The lights turned green, but the man in front of her was on the cell phone. He did not move. She blew her horn, rolled down the window and cursed a blue streak, she even gave him the “proverbial finger” but to no avail. However, he realised the change of lights, as it turned amber and sped through the lights, leaving the fuming lady sitting at the Red.

The next thing she knew, there was a policeman taping at her window. He ordered her to step out of the car. She found that she had handcuffs on her hands and she was taken to the station, while his fellow officer dropped her car to the station. She was there for an hour or so. Then the officer came and handed her keys and apologised. He said that he had seen a rosary hanging on her rear view mirror, “follow me to the church” bumper sticker, the “fish” symbol of Christians on the boot of her car, and “honk if you believe in Jesus” on the fender. He said he had her swear, give the finger, blowing her horn and he concluded that the car must be stolen with all those Christians symbols and her actions.

What good is it, if you have faith but no good works?

4. However, our acceptance of the Suffering of Isaiah, our faith showing itself in good works - only make sense when we answer the question:

“Who do you say I am?”

Jesus is not asking a ‘tricky question” here to catch his apostles or us. He is not interested in what the media say about him. His question is not a matter of semantics or head games !

Who do you say I am is a call to relationship. It is a call to accept not only the teaching of Jesus. It is a call not only to follow him through the streets of Galilee and Judea, it is a call to accept the Kingdom of God and all that it entails. Carrying the Cross daily is only one part of answering the question: Who do you say I am. The response to that question means, I accept

Jesus, who on the Cross, said: Father forgive them for they know not what they do.

Jesus who invited Peter to forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven.

Jesus who said to the Rich man, sell all !

Jesus who came not for the saints but for the sinners.

Jesus who said that for men all things were impossible.

Jesus who said, the last will be first. Remember in the Kingdom nothing is fair. The disadvantaged, the disabled, the outcasts have the advantage, are enabled, are in the “in group.”

In our Secular and Commercial world, we want to be in charge and in control of the situation. I want to work out my own salvation. It is the Media and Laboratory which will give me the Truth and the parameters in which to work. I want to know what are the fringe benefits of each action, especially whether what I give is Tax deductible.

Who do you say I am? This makes my Measuring stick or Model - the very person of Jesus. And Man oh Man, it goes against every thing I learnt in school, every degree I have taken, every bit of common sense.

If you save your life, you will loose it

The Last will be first, - when I want to be #1 and take care of #1.

the tax collectors and prostitutes will be first in the Kingdom, when I have said my rosary each day, never missed a Mass on a Sunday and said the novena to every known saint - and then some.

These are not examination questions, given three answer one. However, it is the answer to the last: WHO DO YOU SAY I AM? Will make the other two a logical response.