But you, who do you say I am? (Mt 16:13-20)
21 Sunday – Year A
In my mother tongue, Tamil, while speaking about great people, speakers and writers often refer to: “the Buddha, Jesus and Gandhi”. These three persons are mentioned as a matter of fact in the same breath. We Christians may feel proud that even non-Christians refer to Jesus as a great man. Looking at it at a deeper level, this expression may not reflect the authentic experience of Jesus.
Who then is Jesus for you? Is he merely a great man? The gospel text of today once again invites us to reflect on this question.
This event – of Jesus asking his disciples – “Who do people say the Son of man is?” and “But you, who […]
Jesus Experience
Step 7 – Proclamation & Mission
Mission One: Proclamation
In the story of the Samaritan woman, we remind ourselves that she came to the well at 12 noon, obviously because she was avoiding people. She was a victim of human relationships. Her wounds had made her an addict. However, her encounter with Jesus healed her of the wounds, and “the woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people, ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?’ (Jn 4:28-29). Her encounter made her free of her addiction, and as a result she returned to people; returned to the people as a herald of “Good News.”
Experience of Jesus is positively contagious. The two disciples, John and Andrew, who went and stayed with Jesus for the rest of the day, would like […]
St Barlow’s Mission Week – Day 6 – Transformation
Introduction
When she experienced Jesus as the I AM, the Samaritan woman’s thirst was fulfilled. The “seventh man” that she met had perfected everything. She did not need the empty water jar anymore: “The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town…” (Jn 4:28). This was her point of conversion, which was the result of her encounter with Jesus.
After their encounter with Jesus, the magi “returned to their own country by a different way” (Mt 2:12). If they had used the same way, they would have betrayed Jesus. Peter’s reaction to his encounter with Jesus was a feeling of unworthiness, as we mentioned earlier. Jesus assured him that the journey had only begun, then “bringing their boats back to land they left everything and followed him” (Lk 5:4-11). […]
St Barlow’s Mission Week – Day 5 – The Encounter
Emptiness of the Potter-world
One of my New Year resolutions for 2002 was to read Harry Potter – Book 1. I must confess that I was really out of step with the euphoria that was building up in the rest of the world, with four books already published in the series by then. In fact, it was that euphoria that had caught my attention even in the bush in East Africa. I was proud that it did not take me too long to put the resolution into action. I enjoyed reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Since then I have read four of the seven books and watched as many movie-versions of them.
What led me into this “Pottermania”? I was intrigued by the reports in the press, including the five page […]
St Barlow’s Mission Week – Day 4 – Invitation
As it has been the pattern in our reflections, in the first part we are going to revisit the general structure of our Christian life journey based on the text of today. In the 2nd part we will focus on the theme of Invitation.
Part 1: Christian Life Journey
1. The thirst: Zacchaeus was anxious to see Jesus (Lk 19:3)
Why did Zacchaeus want to see Jesus? It was perhaps a mere curiosity. But could this eagerness be an indication of something deeper – a thirst, a desire? And where does that desire come from? I think the source of that thirst to see Jesus is God Himself. The thirst arises from the truth that we are created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Since we all bear the image of God – […]