Every night when we turn on the TV or open a newspaper, a major part of news reporting nowadays is an update on the most recent polling data regarding the issues and opinions of the day. Do you approve or disapprove of how the president is handling the nation? Do you agree with our country’s involvement with the hostilities going on in the Middle East? If the election were held today, who would you vote for?
This kind of reporting appeals to something very appealing and very deeply engrained in the American psyche—participation in the democratic processes in order to determine policy and to form consensus around “the truth”. Even more than that, I’d say that these polls lure us into an even deeper desire in the human heart—the desire to participate in something bigger than ourselves and to let one’s voice be heard. We might very well take for granted our right to vote and participate in the public debates of our day until we realize that such participation has never been possible before due to political and technological limitations. How odd Jesus’ question might have seemed to a Jewish person in the first century.
“Who do the crowds say that I am?”
“Who do you say that I am?
Why do you think he asked these questions? Was he confused about who he was or what his mission was about? Was he trying to decide what he would do or say next? I don’t think so. He was not using the “poll” to determine his popularity or discern the truth which he already knew so well. I think he was asking them to make a personal act of faith and to participate deeply in something which was so much bigger than they could even understand at that time. “You are the Christ… the Son of God.” This reply is full of meaning. This profession of faith is full of life-and-death consequences.
Each time we attend Mass, we are asked to make this same profession of faith, and in doing so, participate in a reality that is bigger than we can fully realize. We are welcomed into the revelation of God in our midst. It is not an opportunity to determine truth, as is often the goal of a poll. Rather, we are invited to participate in God’s truth by responding to it and making our assent to it.
Our expression of faith (or the lack thereof) does not make Jesus greater or smaller. He is God. Truth is truth, regardless of what we say about it. But our positive assent does draw us into a personal participation with this ultimate truth of our existence: Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. These words cannot be said without placing an obligation on the one who says them because there are consequences.
If we truly believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then we owe him our enlightened obedience, our conversion from sin and darkness into his way of life, and our own participation in the cross he will carry for us. Some will become martyrs alongside the Lord because of this profession of faith. Some will be called from family and work to become prophets and preachers of this Word in foreign lands. Some will live in Central Illinois in the 21st century and live out the consequences of this profession of faith by living lives of faith and family and community.
Every time we say “Amen”, we affirm the prayers and professions of faith taking place around us. “The Body of Christ… AMEN.” Do we realize the power of our simple response, “Amen”? In the Jewish world, “Amen” had the sense of, “I bet my life on it.” Our Lord’s question is much more than an inconsequential response to an opinion poll—it is an invitation to see how deep our faith really goes.
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