"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" From Matthew 16
Something that many Christians may take for granted is the knowledge of the identity of Jesus. Those who have had the faith be part of their lives from an early age likely have an idea or a strong sense of knowing the identity of the person Jesus. During Lent it's worth reexamining our acquaintance with Jesus. Who do we say he is? This is something I mentioned that I wanted to do back at the beginning of the month.
As I grew up being a Protestant the Jesus I knew best was the Jesus of doctrine. That is, I knew Jesus as the Son of God, as the second person of the Trinity, as divinity robed in flesh, as the healer and miracle worker, and as the one who suffered and died on the Cross for my salvation and for all who would believe in him. Certainly, these truths of the faith are not to be denied. Certainly, they possess great value.
However, there is side of Jesus that we may not ordinarily consider in our Sunday school formulations. The identity of Jesus is revealed in the way he manifests himself in sharing his humanity among us. Indeed Jesus is the Son of God, and in his humanity he shows us a special side of being the Son; it is the side that stands with us as human beings and as such shows solidarity with us in our needs.
As we heard in the weekend readings Jesus went into the desert and was tempted. In that he shares with us the trials and ordeals that we face each day. As we face temptation and often fail, we may look to Jesus who did not fail but withstood temptation. We may keep in mind that Jesus shares all aspects of his humanity with us. So when we face temptation, and even if we fail in it, we may turn and place our humanity within his, for he freely gives us all that he has.
In today's gospel we see Jesus sharing with Peter. The aspect of Jesus' personhood revealed to Peter has to do with his authority. Peter recognizes this authority and Jesus gives him a share in it. Peter becomes, by the Lord's word, the rock on which Jesus is to build his Church.
As Lent progresses I hope to reflect more on the person of Jesus—perhaps on those aspects of him that we do not ordinarily notice or consider. As I do so, I plan to bear in mind that the Lord shares something with us. He shares humanity and gives of himself. I have heard that he shares our humanity but another way to look at it is that he shares his humanity, which conquers sin and death.
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