“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time—A

As Catholics aligned with Peter, we know the answer to Jesus’s second question: “Who do you say that I am?” However, perhaps the more pressing question today is his first: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” In other words, what do those outside the church, who have left the church, or are indifferent to faith say about Christianity? What is their take on today’s followers of Christ? If all they have to go on is what they see Christians doing or hear them saying, then I’m not certain we want to repeat their answers.

By God’s grace, we have many Christian exemplars today whom even non-Christians admire and who inspire many to become disciples. But then there are those among us who profess faith in Christ but whose actions publicly mock Christ’s Gospel. If we are honest, we, too, have not fully reflected Christ’s image, whether by own sinful contribution or silent complicity.

Our saving hope is Jesus’s response to Peter: “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail” against the living stones of the church. At every liturgy, we practice Peter’s confession that is at once an acknowledgment of our sinfulness and a proclamation of Christ’s victory over sin. With every Eucharist, we pray the Spirit will continue to build us, the church, into a visible, credible sign of God’s reign.

This post was first published in “GIA Quarterly: A Liturgical Music Journal.”

Image credit: Photo by Masaaki Komori on Unsplash.