TWENTIFIRST SUNDAY OF THE YEAR A 23

21ST SUNDAY, 27 AUGUST 2023: ISAIAH 22. 19-23; ROMANS 11. 33-36; MATTHEW 16. 13-20: “Who do you say I am?” Punch line: Faith is Intimacy! Guideline: Faith is not a matter of mere knowledge or familiarity, but an experience, a relation and a commitment 1.      “Who do people say I am?”, “Who do you say I am?” A question posed by Jesus to his disciples. Is it a sign of an identity crisis? Is it a sign of a psychological process of self-realisation and self-discovery? Is it a sign of natural human curiosity or inquisitiveness to know what others say about oneself? Is it a sign of an ordinary human seeking recognition and affirmation? 2.      Nothing of these. But rather it is a question that invites and challenges us for a sincere and authentic self-discovery and a profound and core identity. We can discover our true self, and realise our core identity, only in relation to Jesus, only in bonding with him, in intimacy and communion with him. What he is to us, makes us what we are. 3.      It is not a matter of merely saying who he is but living and experiencing who he is. It is not enough that words and expressions do abound unless experience does abound. All our acclamations and assertions, all our professions and proclamations should not be mere collections of formulations. Rather they should be expressions, extensions and expansions of a deeper and consistent experience and love of the Lord. 4.      What others say, what we learn from others, and what we receive from them, comes on only to a certain point of the journey. Ultimately, it is each one personally that has to make the journey with the Lord. It is this personal encounter, personal relationship that counts the most. 5.      Therefore, it is not enough to say ‘Lord, Lord’, but is also needed to surrender to him. Not enough to call him ‘master’, but is needed to be loyal to him and to follow in his footsteps. Not enough to acclaim him as Saviour, but it needs to be saved and liberated. Not enough to praise him as a ‘healer’, but is needed to show the effect and signs of healing, that we are healed. Not enough to proclaim him as a ‘guide’, but is needed to be guided. Not enough to attest him as Light, but is needed to be illumined and enlightened. Not enough to sing him as Love, but is needed to love him totally and passionately. Not enough to claim him as our strength and power, but is needed to be strengthened and empowered by him. Not enough to believe him as our nourishment, but is needed to be nurtured by him. 6.      Yes, we must go beyond, we must rise above the minimum, the just ordinary, toward the maximum, toward a more harmonious living of grace. Our creed must go together with our deed, intention with action, feeling with healing, ability with humility, capacity with simplicity, competence with benevolence, intelligence with temperance, education with dedication, qualification with edification, specialisation with realisation, beauty with duty, convenient with commitment and modernity with modesty. This is the real experience and love with Jesus. Lifeline: Expressions alone do not make one a person of great faith, however eloquent and powerful they may be. Every expression must be rooted in a profound experience of God, flow into a passionate bonding with God and concretise in an authentic life of devotion and dedication.   (Reflection 2)   Focus: Learning and knowing more and more about Jesus is very good and needed. But it will not suffice. All our knowledge must lead to a personal experience of Jesus   1.         “Who do you say that I am?” was the question of Jesus to his disciples. This is not a question for self-knowledge or self-boost. This is also not a search for the discovery of self-identity. The purpose is to make them aware of his true identity. It is to make them aware of who he is to them. 2.         The question, “Who do you say I am?” becomes more important than the question, “Who do people say I am?” Personal encounter with Jesus, personal experience of him, and relationship with him are greater priorities than all the knowledge about him from others and various sources. 3.         The purpose of knowing the identity of Jesus is not intellectual but experiential and relational and thus personal. I will try to know who Jesus is because I want to experience who he is to me personally. I will discover his identity so that I can discover my own identity and live it. 4.         I will realize that my identity is only in relation to his identity. My identity ceases if it loses its essential connectivity to the Lord’s identity. I will not be who I am if I do not experience who he is. 5.         If I really know and experience him, then I must become like him. I must put on his mindset. I must set my mind on the things of God, and not on the things of the world. Like Christ, my core identity of belonging to him as his disciple must be seen and shown in doing the same mission. And this mission essentially includes suffering and the way of the cross. Anything that contradicts and resists this way of the Lord is satanic.   Direction: All our increase in the knowledge of Christ and familiarity with the Bible is something praiseworthy. However, all this is worth it if only it leads us to a deeper experience of the Lord and commitment to him   (Reflection 3)   Indicative: Knowledge and familiarity with Jesus would be deficient if they do not lead to a profound personal experience and conviction   1.        In today’s gospel, Jesus poses two questions to his disciples. The first question is: Who do people say I am? That is one level. We need to rise to the next level of a profound experience of intimacy with the Lord. 2.        What others say, what we learn and know from other sources help us to a certain extent. But What we gather from others’ experiences, however genuine and deep they are, will always remain others’. Hence the second question is: Who do you say I am? 3.        The two questions of Jesus in the gospel indicate this tension between expression and experience. Knowledge and experience must go together. Only then does, a person change, and life changes. 4.        In the time of Jesus, certainly, at least some had good knowledge about Jesus, his greatness, his great teachings, and his powers. But they remained only at their knowledge level, and could not go to the experience and relationship level. That is why, they could not see in him the Son of God, the Saviour. 5.        The situation today is much similar. Today there is a tremendous increase in the knowledge about God and the Word of God. There are many who know so much about God but are least impressed and inspired by it to live according to God’s will. 6.        There is so much eloquence and expertise with regard to spiritual matters. Unfortunately, there is a tendency and danger that knowledge and preaching substitute experience and intimacy. We see many teachers, preachers, professors, writers, scholars, and Bible readers and learners who learn and know so much about the Lord. 7.        But the whole point is, whether this search for and pursuit of knowledge help for a profound personal experience of the Lord. All these should help one to grow in personal experience and intimate relationship with Jesus. 8.        Knowledge without experience becomes shallow and unproductive. It will not touch, affect and change the person. All our knowledge should confirm and foster us in a steady communion with the Lord and in an authentic transformation of life. 9.        Otherwise, our knowledge and efficacy of the spiritual gifts become shallow and points of self-pride and self-glory. This is what we see in the case of some who have an abundance of spiritual knowledge and efficacy, but their life is a contradiction. 10.     Thus, there can be heaps of prayers without really living their spirit. There can be clusters of religious activities without fraternal service. There can be bundles of knowledge without corresponding acts of charity. This is where the practice of religion and spirituality becomes shallow. All this is because of the lack of a deeply personal experience of God. 11.     The various sources of knowledge should only be supplements and complements and not substitutes for our personal experience and relationship with Jesus. All our loud proclamations and eloquent preaching should spring from genuine and profound communion with God.   Imperative: When we personally experience the Lord, then it will express itself in words and concrete actions. Expressions without experience will be only shallow