Morag, the church gossip and self-appointed arbiter of the Church’s morals, kept sticking her nose into other members’ private business. The Church members were unappreciative of her activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence. She made a mistake, however, when she accused Angus, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his van parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon. She commented to others that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing. When Angus, a man of few words, learnt of that, he didn’t explain, defend, or even deny; he said absolutely nothing. Later that evening, Angus quietly parked his van in front of Morag\u2019s house… and left it there all night!<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s gospel Jesus asks his disciples a rather strange question: \u2018Who do people say I am?\u2019<\/em> On the face of it, it looks like he\u2019s interested in people\u2019s opinions of him and their comments about him. His disciples eagerly draw on what they have heard. In this particular passage, the reported gossips are of a pious kind: \u2018Some say you\u2019re John the Baptist, some [the prophet] Elijah or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.\u2019<\/em> But we know, from other parts of the gospel, that the reality was that many were highly critical of Jesus\u2019 regular dealings with people they themselves regarded as \u2018low-lifes\u2019: prostitutes, cheats, collaborators, the religiously-irreverent, and so on. Many \u2018decent people\u2019 were appalled by Jesus\u2019 apparent acceptance of such people with their unacceptable, immoral attitudes. The gossips were swirling around Jesus, and \u2013 as with gossips in general \u2013 they were mostly of a negative, even nasty, nature. Once, Jesus commented on them when he recalled those people\u2019s opinions about John the Baptist and about himself: \u2018John came, not eating like other people or drinking wine, and people say, \u2018He has a demon inside him.\u2019 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and people say, \u2018Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine. He\u2019s a friend of tax collectors and other sinners.\u2019<\/em> (Matthew 11:18-19). In other words, Jesus admits that it\u2019s impossible to win everyone over. So, he concludes with a philosophical observation: \u2018Wisdom is shown to be right by what it does.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n Let\u2019s go back to that question Jesus asks of his disciples, \u2018Who do people say I am?\u2019<\/em> After listening to all the gossip they shared with him, he asks them another question: \u2018But you, who do you<\/strong> say I am?\u2019<\/em> This is a question that is much harder to answer. I imagine there must have been a prolonged silence; perhaps the disciples stared intently at their own sandals, racking their brains at the same time to find an answer that would hopefully please Jesus. Making up your own mind about things, events or people is a much, much harder job than simply being a conduit for someone else\u2019s opinions. It\u2019s much harder, because it requires real effort to discover the truth behind appearances that can be deceptive. It\u2019s much harder, because it requires talking to people face-to-face instead of talking behind their backs. When you think about it, gossiping is a sign of cowardice.<\/p>\n Eventually Jesus gets an answer to his question from Simon Peter: \u2018You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.\u2019<\/em> A common perception is that Christ<\/em> is a surname to the first name Jesus<\/em>. In fact, it\u2019s a Greek translation of the Hebrew term Messiah<\/em>, a distinguished powerful figure sent by God to liberate His people. There were many, sometimes contradictory, concepts of what that liberation<\/em> would ultimately mean. We know that up to Jesus\u2019 crucifixion and a bit beyond, Jesus\u2019 followers clung to a false, political concept. But, at this very moment, it\u2019s important that Simon Peter recognises Jesus\u2019 special status and the mission he\u2019s driven by. In return, Jesus announces Peter\u2019s participation in his mission, which is described concisely as \u2018to find lost people and to save them.\u2019<\/em> (Luke 19:9) This is the mission of the Church of which we are members, each and every one of us. The Church is a community of imperfect, flawed, sometimes broken, people called to support each other, to find strength in weakness, to make sense of things that seem to make no sense, to mature in every aspect of life; all that in Jesus\u2019 name. The only person to whom Jesus has nothing to offer is the one who doesn\u2019t recognise his or her own imperfection.<\/p>\n
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