Faith Daily | 24 September 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST APBA p583

Loving Father,

whose Son Jesus Christ has taught us

that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters

we do also for him:

give us the will to be the servant of others

as he was the servant of all,

who gave up his life and died for us,

and yet lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Luke 9: 18-22

18 Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ 19They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ 20He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’

21 He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, 22saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Pamela Davey

“But who do you say that I am?” (V20) a couple of thoughts from:

Richard Rohr - Jesus never sought the “Christ the King” type of power. Some people are more comfortable with a divine monarch at the top of pyramidal reality, and quickly made the one who described himself as “meek and humble of heart” (Matthew 11:29) into an imperial God, both in the West (Rome) and in the East (Constantinople). This isn’t the naked, self-emptying Jesus on the cross. This isn’t a vulnerable, relational one who knows how to be a brother to all creation.

Some people want just enough of Jesus to play it safe, and see Jesus as a great example to live by; however, C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, says this is not enough.

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

But who do you say that Jesus is? When I heard the passage from John 6: 56 today, Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them, it makes me reflect that I need to look at the Jesus in me.

FINAL PRAYER: Prayer by Michael Leunig

We search and we search and yet find no meaning.

The search for a meaning leads to despair.

And when we are broken the heart finds its moment

To fly and to feel and to work as it will

Through the darkness and mystery and wild contradiction.

For this is its freedom, its need and its calling;

This is its magic, its strength and its knowing.

To heal and make meaning while we walk or lie dreaming;

To give birth to love within our surrender;

To mother our faith, our spirit and yearning;

While we stumble in darkness the heart makes our meaning

And offers it into our life and creation

That we may give meaning to life and creation

For we only give meaning - we do not find meaning;

The thing we can’t find is the thing we shall give.

To make love complete and to honour creation.