The Question and the Invitation

(Readings for the Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time: Zechariah 12:10-11; 13:1; Galatians 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24)

"Who do you say that I am? 

This question, posed by Jesus to his first disciples, becomes the perennial question for all baptized Christians. Inevitably, there continues to be various answers to this central question of faith. The diverse and often fractured Churches give witness to this. Scores of theological texts also attempt to provide an answer. Even films and works of art in popular culture give a semblance of a response to this question.

In our very depths, we are confronted with this intimate question: "Who do you say that I am?"

The response is breathlessly given: "The Christ of God." Peter bravely utters the truth of Jesus' identity. The authenticity and authority of Jesus' mission and ministry rests upon this claim.

However, Peter's proclamation is immediately followed by Jesus' prediction of his own passion and glorification. The Christ is not a triumphant king nor a military warrior. He is the Suffering Servant, the long-awaited One anointed and sent by the Father to bring peace and forgiveness by taking the sins of the world upon his shoulders.

The episode from today's Gospel reading does not end here. Perhaps most shocking is the final invitation that Jesus offers to his disciples: "If anybody wishes to follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." Jesus takes up his Cross. And as followers of Christ, we too are called to carry our Cross. Our daily task of taking up our cross is not a solitary burden. Rather, each day, we are called to walk together, to help bear the load of each other. We become selfless in carrying our cross.

In taking up our cross, we trod the same path of our Lord. Our suffering becomes united with that which was endured by Jesus. Moreover, when we take up our cross daily, we begin to walk in solidarity with each other. Taking up our cross means that we experience the weight of our own cross and that of our neighbor's cross. We recognize that we each carry a beam in our own eye and no longer judge those who have a splinter in their eye. Cross-carrying begets mercy. Cross-carrying breaks down barriers.

Pope Francis embraces Vinicio Riva

When we as Christian disciples take up our cross, we see our oneness in the Cross of Christ, leading us to proclaim as St. Paul did in his Letter to the Galatians that there is no longer any division among us. In Christ, there is neither "Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, woman nor man," All who take up their Cross have been saved and made one in Christ. The question "Who do you say I am?" will always elicit an invitation to take up one's cross and follow the Christ of God.