Fr Robert Hendrickson (09.12.21)

Dear Friends in Christ,

In the Gospel today, Jesus asks the simple question, “Who do you say that I am?” He’s leading his disciples into a deeper knowledge of the fullness of his identity and, ultimately, what it will mean to follow him. Shortly after he asks them who they say he is, he then says that those who would follow him must take up their cross.

Jesus could be asking us the same question today, “Who do you say that I am?” The question, for those who would be his disciples, might also be framed differently.

He might ask us, “Who do you say that you are?”

The way we answer that will say something about who we say he is. In America, one of the habits we have is that when someone asks us to tell them about ourselves, we almost always begin with the work we do. Our work is a crucial component of who we are and how we identify ourselves.

We often follow with other things about ourselves. We will mention family, where we grew up, where we went to school, and more. We mention each of these markers of identity to help people know us. The question, I wonder, is where our answer about being Christians falls into that list?

Who we say we are will say something about who we say Jesus is. A simple exercise from which we could all benefit is simply moving up, in our sense of who we are, our prioritization of Jesus. We could all benefit from saying that he is Lord by more easily and more readily identifying as his followers.

All of the other identities we claim are some small part of the fullness of what it means to live as followers of Christ. The way we work. The way we care for our communities. The way we carry our responsibilities as parents, children, grandparents, siblings, and more will all point toward who we say Jesus is.

Do we live those various roles with mercy, love, joy, compassion, forgiveness, charity, and hope? Then we will have said something of who Jesus is — the pattern and perfecter of our lives.

All of our other identities are shaped and formed by being more conscious followers. So next time we’re asked to say something about ourselves, maybe we can remember that in answering that question we might also be answering Jesus asking, “Who do you say that I am?”

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert