TWELFTH SUNDAY

1.  The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson ran for over 25 years. Each night he show would begin with Ed McMahon saying, "Here's Johnny" Why did he say that? I do not think anyone was in ignorance about who the Talk Show Host was. There is someone who has been around longer than Johnny Carson - 2000 years later, the question is still being asked by Jesus, "Who do you say I am?" the wonderful and amazing thing is that the way you and I answered this question 10 years ago is quite different from the way we answer it today. The answer to the question says more about ourselves than about Jesus.

2.  Who is Jesus and what do we really know about him? About a decade ago, a group of theologians had a conference which dealt with the Search for the Historical Jesus. Many people were very scared about digging up that past. What if Jesus turns out to be something totally different from the one we were taught by our parents, our priests & sisters, our teachers, our Bibles that we read. First of all since Jesus is the Truth - any more truthful knowledge of Jesus will only help never hurt.

3.  So what did they find? First that 84% of the what we read in the Bible were probably not the actual words of Jesus. Now that stands to reason. I just read the Gospel Luke ch: 9 vs 18-24. There are 163 Words in that small passage, I wonder how many can repeat the whole passage word for word. You heard only it five minutes ago. Suppose you were asked to repeat it 30 years later, when the Gospel were actually written - would it not be more difficult.

We find that we know Jesus was a young man like all of us, - except sin he grew in Wisdom before God and people. Hence he did not know certain things.

     he spent a lot of time in prayer to get to know God.
     he did teach a lot, did wonders and all these were handed down to us orally by his disciples and followers.
     these repeated this teaching and adapted them to suit either their Jewish audiences or Gentile hearers.

However this does not make the Gospels unreliable and only hearsay material.

4.  God continues to inspire and guide us through the Gospels. Our church has produced many saints, who did not have the Scriptural research to tell them what were the exact Words of Jesus or not.

St. Francis of Assisi heard the story of the Rich Young Man – and rejected the material possessions of this world. We have the great gift of Franciscan poverty and detachment today.

St. Francis Xavier we are told was moved by the words, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul." He gave up all and went to the ends of the earth in trying to save souls.

St. Benedict formed the Benedictines with the spirit of "Ora et Labora" Pray and work. And so the Word of God continues to work without expertise. The Word of God continues to tell us Who Jesus really is. What does he say to you and me.

5.  Some look on Jesus and see him as a Saviour who died for me on the Cross. They take the hardships in life, they accept the Cross, they see in crippling  sickness not a time to whine and groan, but rather "not my will but thine be done."

Others see Jesus healing the blind and the lame and the leper. They do research, they run marathons, they donate to the Heart and Stroke Foundations, they help with Cancer research. They want to continue the work of the Healing Christ.

Others hear Jesus saying Blessed are the Poor in Spirit. They empty out their RRSPs, they sell all their goods, they give to the poor, they try and imitate the life of a Poor Jesus who had no place to lay his head.

Still others saw Jesus eat with Tax collectors and Prostitutes. They work in the Red light areas of our cities, trying to relieve the women from being used to satisfy men's perverse pleasures.

6.  Who do you say I am shows a different Face of Jesus and each one of them is important. They are like different notes of a melody, and because we all sing a different note, we can produce a harmony.

As I said, the Evangelists all arranged the miracles and sayings of Jesus for a purpose, and it is very interesting to see the particular context of our Gospel passage today.

 1. Luke puts this passage between two brackets. The first part of the bracket is the healing of the Blind Man at Bethsaida. The second part of the bracket is the healing of the Blind Man, Bartimaeus at Jericho.

 2.  Right in the middle, Jesus asks his disciples: Who do you say I am. Both Blind men can see Jesus, and the Disciples who have eyes and who  are with Jesus for three years - fail to see who Jesus really is.

 3.  In saying that Jesus is the Messiah, they commit themselves to following Jesus and all he stands for. In this small passage three times Jesus says that to be the Messiah, He must suffer and die.

The first time he speaks of the Cross, Peter takes him aside and tries to change his way of thinking. The second time Jesus speaks of the Cross, the Disciples are arguing about who is going to be the greatest. The third time Jesus speaks of the Cross, John and James ask to give them places of honour in the Kingdom. They have eyes, but they cannot see. So how can they answer the question, "who do you say I am?"

7.  When I say today in 2004, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. I also accept the Cross. I also accept to be a messenger and prophet of peace. I accept that I will not see revenge, but seek to forgive. I accept that my heart's desire is "Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done... on Earth. - before I go to Heaven. And so the question still is today: WHO DO YOU SAY I AM?

The story is told of a group of six or seven priests living up at a Monastery. The atmosphere and spirit of the house was really bad. They were constantly quarrelling with one another, spreading gossip. They were selfish and mean. Needless to say people stopped visiting the monastery - they became a bunch of lonely and friendless men. There were no vocations either. In one of their discussions they decided that they needed help, but even here they could not reach a consensus. They finally decided to go to a Jewish Rabbi who lived across from the monastery. He was old and lived in a dark room since he could not stand the strong sunlight. He greeted them warmly, Ah my friends welcome. When he heard their story a smile broke out on his face. My friends we seem to have the same quest. We Jews do not believe in Jesus and so we are still awaiting the Messiah. You believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but you say at Mass: Christ has died...Christ will come again. I am waiting for his first coming, you are waiting for his second. Strangely enough only last night I received a message that Jesus has come and he is one of you. Hence I was expecting your visit today. But I am blind and so I cannot see which one of you is the Messiah come again. When you find out please let me know.

As they went home, each of the priests was silent. I cannot make fun of Fr . Peter and call him fat, because he may be Jesus. I cannot scold Fr. James for being slow. He might be Jesus. I cannot yell at Fr. Andrew for stammering. He might be Jesus. Gradually things began to change at the monastery. One priest realised that the washroom was dirty, so he cleant the toilet bowl, and the seat, and the ground around. It was so clean that you could eat off the floor. Jesus might come here, he thought. Another cleant the kitchen, the third the dining room, the fourth cleared the garden of weeds and planted fresh vegetables. In a few months, the monastery regained its former fervour. It looked fresh and clean, the birds began to sing, people came to visit.

One day, one of the priests slipped off quietly and went to visit the Jewish Rabbi. "You tricked us, didn't you?" he asked the Rabbi quietly. No replied the Rabbi, the Messiah is really one of you.  You need my glasses to see him. When he removed the glasses, the priest saw that the Rabbi was totally blind.

Perhaps you and I need to go and find a blind Man, a blind woman - and with their glasses we may be able to see the Lord. Who do you say I am?