The God Who Speaks: Who do we believe Christ is?
By Br Vincent Antony Löning, O.P. | We need to keep looking for God, but keep in mind that we won’t find Him like we find lost keys. Instead, He will find us. As the Psalmist says, “I sought the Lord and he answered me; from all my terrors he set me free.”
Mass readings: James 2:1-9; Psalm 34: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7; Mark 8:27-33.
This is the central question which he asks us in today’s Gospel. “Who do people say I am?—But you, who do you say I am?” Who, or what are we seeking when we come into a church? Who, or what were the disciples seeking on Easter morning when they came to look for Jesus’s body? Think of Mary Magdalene’s surprise at finding the empty tomb. Our own encounters with the Lord should be just as surprising, even challenging perhaps. She does not recognise him at first sight. What about myself? Do we even look in the right place? Shouldn’t we listen to the angel asking us, why are you looking for him here?
On the face of it, we have more answers than the easily puzzled disciples. We know what comes next: Christ is risen. If we ask, “Who is Jesus?”, we have some ready-made answers given to us by the Church. He is the Word and the Power of God, the second person of the Trinity, true God and true Man. He has taken flesh from a true human mother, Mary, he was actually crucified and actually died and actually rose again—all this in order to save us. But who is he, and whom do we seek when we seek him?
The ready answers are good, but really they only begin to answer what we probably will not ever fully answer this side of Heaven. Ultimately, it is Jesus himself who has the answer, who is the answer. And this answer can save us. There are many things that can and should puzzle us, this side of Heaven. Broken lives, broken families, human beings capable of cruelty, and yet also human beings capable of simple acts of love, often expressed in the most mundane ways. We need to keep looking for God, but keep in mind that we won’t find Him like we find lost keys. Instead, He will find us. As the Psalmist says, “I sought the Lord and he answered me; from all my terrors he set me free.
MORE ON: YEAR OF THE WORD, GOSPEL REFLECTIONS
The year 2020 has been declared a year to reflect on the importance of the Scriptures in our lives as Christians, coinciding with the 1600 years of the death of St Jerome and the 10th anniversary of Verbum Domini, Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of the Lord. Here you can find more information about activities coming up in the dioceses of England and Wales.
