DAILY- HOMILY

Apparently the apostles, particularly Peter, did give serious thought to the question Herod asked but didn't pursue, "Who is this man?" Jesus asked the apostles, "who do you say I am?" "The Messiah of God," Peter blurted out with no hesitation. Obviously Peter and the others must have been having conversations and getting into discussions about Jesus and who he was.

Intellectual adherence to a statement about who Jesus is, however, falls short of the answer Jesus is seeking. Faith in the person of Jesus rather than in a statement about who he is, demands a personal commitment to him.

The question, "Who do you say I am?" is really asking Peter and the apostles, "Who am I to you . . ." "Who am I in your lives?" The real question is, "Are you committed to me?"

And so Luke brings up the question of Jesus' Passion. Note that here Luke has Jesus talking not only to the Apostles, but to all the crowd, to all his disciples down through the ages. Belief and commitment to Jesus means taking up the cross daily and following him. It means therefore total obedience to the Father, total commitment to the Father's will. We may not understand the reason why suffering and death are necessary for salvation, but our commitment to Jesus and his Father's will does not ask such a question, it simply says, "Amen."