Once we know the truth about Jesus we can then fully embrace the truth about ourselves and live in a way that is in accord to that truth...

September 13th, 2009. Twenty-four Sunday in Ordinary Time
In the past couple of Sundays, Jesus has shown us his authority as the Son of God. Last week he demonstrated His divine authority by curing the deaf and mute man, and the week before, he showed us His divine teaching authority. Jesus was showing His disciples these things to teach them and us about who He really is. These signs, which show forth the truth about Jesus, are not just for show, they demand a firm response from each of us.
So Jesus poses the central question of today’s Gospel and really of our faith: “Who do people say that I am?” Some say, John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet—These responses reveal that the answer is not so easy and that most people aren’t really sure who Jesus is; even those closest to Jesus really aren’t sure who he is. The same is true in our day; many don’t really know or understand correctly who Jesus really is. Yet for us Christians, it is crucial that each of us personally answer Jesus’ question; and that the answer we give truly reflects a correct understanding of the true person of Jesus, of His true identity. Why? Well, because the way that we regard Jesus, actually determines the way that we relate to him, the way that we respond to him; in other words, how we live our lives in correlation to Him.
Your see, if Jesus is just John the Baptist, that is, if He is just a moral instructor who tells us to “be good”, then we look to Jesus only for instruction on moral formation, that is only as an example of how we should act (WWJD). But if he is just this, only one who tells us do this or don’t do that, then he doesn’t have the power to help us “be good”, much less have the power to help us to love as He commands….
If he is just Elijah, then we might regard Jesus merely as a mystical figure who speaks of the end times, but not the One who is supposed to come again to Judge the Living and the dead. As a result, He really has no relevance in our current times, he is merely someone, although significant who live two thousand years ago...good to remember but other that that.
And finally, if Jesus is merely a prophet, then he is only just a spokesman for God, like any other prophet; and so He is not the invisible God visible in a body, God in the flesh, God among us, God Himself. As a result the Eucharist is merely symbolic, but not really Jesus, God among us with the power to save us.
Therefore, Jesus’ question is a challenge that prompts each one of us to probe our own preconceptions, our assumptions, our own ideas, and labels of Him. We just cannot make Jesus to be what we want Him to be; He cannot be made to fit who we think He is or should be. No, we need to know who Jesus really is, in and of Himself, and not who we think He is, but WHO He really is. This so very important, a matter of life and death, because Jesus is truth and we cannot know truth unless we know Jesus. To know Jesus is to know the Truth; and to know the truth is to know the Way and the Life.
You see, unlike other religions, our faith is not based on the teachings of the founder, but on the founder Himself. It is only by knowing Christ that we can know His truth and even know reality itself. If we do not know who He is, then we end up wanting to have life our own way, instead of God’s way. We do our own thing and become disobedient to God, thus losing our way, our truth and our life.
But additionally, if we do not know the true Jesus but only a creation of Him in our mind, then we cannot truly know ourselves. That is why, in giving our response to the question of “who Jesus is,” we can discover the answer to another very important question: Who really are we? Only Jesus Christ can reveal to us who we truly are. Just as it is our friend who really reveals us to ourselves, even more so it is our divine friend Jesus who reveals us to ourselves. Christ is the Light of World and only in this Light can we see ourselves as we are, as He created us. Only Christ can reveal the true beauty and dignity of the human person, and He does so by inviting us to discover who He is. And who is He really? He is "I am" that is, He is true God and true Man, our Way, our Truth and our Life. He is the only way to the Father; He is the only for men to be saved.
So once we know the truth about Jesus we can then fully embrace the truth about ourselves and live in a way that is in accord to that truth, for Jesus is the Way. That is why the next thing Jesus does is “summon the crowd’ and inform them of what a disciple must do in order to follow Him. A disciple of Jesus must not be swayed by what people think, we must ignore the opinion polls, forget our own ideas, opinions, feelings and take on the mind and heart of Christ. We must take up our cross daily, and die to self and begin to live for Christ alone. And we must follow in Jesus’ footstep to avoid pursuing our own will and whim which only lead to the creation of hell on earth and eternal misery. Only when we take up our cross daily for the love of the master, do we live according to His truth, to His commands and thus find true meaning in our lives, true freedom and happiness, and life itself.
To know Christ is to love Him by following after Him. To follow Him is more than just being good, obeying the law and the teachings of the Church. It is these things of course, for we can't love Jesus without loving His Church and following It's teachings and commands which are the teachings and commands of Jesus, but Jesus wants more, He want us to live according to his truth, not out of compulsion, not because we have to, but out of our desire to love Him and in loving Him to posses Him and be possessed by Him—He who our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. To know Jesus Christ as He is, is to fall totally in Love with Him. To know Him is to realize this love of His is available to us through the power of the Sacraments; there we will find His power, the very power of the God who created all that is, the power to live our life according to His truth, not out of coercion, but freely and out of love; There we will find the One, and even obtain the One, the only one, who can, if we let Him, change our stony hearts and make them fleshy hearts capable of Love, true authentic Love. To one who is truly in love, there are no burdens in carrying out love, only the desires of the heart open to please the one we love. No matter what we lose in the process, we end up finding ourselves, because we gain Jesus Christ our only happiness, the only fulfillment to our every desire, our happiness and our life. Let us turn to Mary, Mother of the Church to lead us closer to He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.