What do people see and remember of Christ in us?

Homily for June 19, 2016 (12th Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1; Psalm 63; Galatians 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24

“Who do you say that I am?”  That’s the question posed by Jesus to his disciples in today’s gospel passage.  But we and every generation of disciples that has followed them over the centuries have also had to answer that question.  The disciples today gave us a few answers, and a web search on “names for Jesus” would yield lists with well over 100 names.  But the only one that mattered to Peter was “Christ.”

Calling Jesus the Christ had implications for the disciples and it has for us, too.  Over time they realized that who he was and what he would do were very different from their expectations.  The Christ/Messiah/Anointed One that many people hoped for was a powerful warrior and king who would lead them to throw off the oppressive yoke of Roman occupation and restore Israel to the strength and glory that it had under David.  As we just heard at the end of our gospel reading, however, Jesus challenged them to put on a different yoke:  to daily take up their crosses and follow him.

We all have our own crosses to bear:  sickness, broken relationships, disappointments, economic limitations, etc.  The loss of a loved one can feel especially heavy.  This past week we witnessed it on a massive scale in the horrific attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando.  We also witnessed it on a more intimate level in that same city when a 2 year-old boy was killed by an alligator as his parents tried to save him.  These events evoke our compassion.  They also invite us to reflect on our own crosses and ask, “Am I bearing this as a child of God baptized in Christ Jesus and clothed with Christ?”

Even as we’ve grieved for all the people who died in Orlando, for their families, and for their unfulfilled promise, we’ve also been inspired by pictures showing their neighbors standing in a mile-long line the hot Florida sun in order to give blood to those who were injured, and still others bringing food and water to those standing in line.

Scientists tell us that our visual memories are more powerful than our verbal or auditory ones, in part because as babies we access and make meaning of the world around us primarily through our vision.  So it begs the question:  What do people see and remember of Christ in us?  How we answer that question and especially the question of Jesus—“Who do you say that I am?”—is less a matter of words than of deeds.  It’s not so much what we say as how we live.  If we say that “a picture is worth 1000 words,” how much more the pictures that we paint with our actions?  We live in a world that, in the words of Psalm 63, pines and thirsts for the presence of God.  As we are strengthened by God’s word and in this Eucharist, may we renew our commitment to that be that presence for others with whatever gifts God has given us. +