Gospel: Mark 16:13-19
When
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do
people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist,
others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them,
“But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.”Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon
son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly
Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon
this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not
prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven.”
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Reflection:
When
Jesus asked the disciples, Who do the people say that the son of Man is? No one
was able to correctly answer except Simon Peter, who told Jesus: “You are the
Christ the son of the living God. But Jesus immediately told Peter, it’s not by
your own intelligence that you know me; it’s through the grace of my heavenly
Father that you know who I am.
Why did
Jesus told Simon Peter that it was not through his effort that he knows Him? Perhaps
Jesus wanted to temper the behavior of Peter. Perhaps Jesus doesn’t want Simon
Peter to boast about what he knew about Him.
In our
continuing journey with Jesus there may be times also that we might be tempted
to brag or boast concerning what we know about Him. This we must not do because
everything is a gift, everything is a grace. What we know about Him is from Him
alone, not from us; not from our own effort.
How many
times have we boasted about our knowledge regarding Jesus and our faith? How
many times have we acted as if we knew everything about God? Have many times
have we acted as if we are the masters of the universe?
Let us
pause and reflect about this. …