Gospel: Mark 8: 27-33
So much of Church life and the professional evangelizing industry is all about proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah and the self-promotion of the Church to the world. It is a world where money and power are pursued and pushed toward ourselves in this constant cycle of self-promotion and shouting of Jesus name in the public square through TV ads and media empires.
But then we read today's Gospel. Jesus asks us who we say he is. We say, "The Messiah," and he replies in the affirmative. But then he strictly orders us to tell no one. Tell no one that Jesus is the Messiah. What are we to do? We've been conditioned to believe that's what Christianity is all about. But we are wrong and we now have to reimagine what it is to be the Church.
What would it look like if we actually lived as Jesus asked: to seek repentance, to accept the mercy of God, and to then go and be mercy to others in the world through a life of loving-kindness and caring deeds? What if, instead of teaching people to say who Jesus is to actually live as Jesus lived, to teach others about how to live a life of mercy extended outward to others? The simple reality is that judgment day is not a catechism quiz; it is a reflection on how much we have loved.
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