Fr Agustinus Sutiono O.Carm

Just now, we heard from the Gospel how Jesus, after knowing what people said about who he was, asked his disciples: “But who do you say that I am?” It seems that Jesus did not want that his disciples knew who he was on the basis of the terstimony of other people. He wanted that his disciples knew Him personally, through a direct and personal encounter and with a clear conscience, not on the basis of rumours. For this reason, Jesus also warned them not to tell anyone about him after the correct answer that they gave him “You are the Christ of God” towards his question: “Who do you say that I am?”

To have faith in Jesus is only possible if we have the required knowledge about Him. An so is to have faith in God. As Jesus wants us to establish our knowledge and understanding about Him and about God on the basis of personal encounter, we can assure ourself that Jesus expects us to have an intimate, profound and complete knowledge and awareness about his own reality, about the reality of God as far as manifested in his words, thoughts, wills, concerns and works. Jesus and the completeness of His reality include not only the wonders that he made but also the lowest states of being, undertaking faithfully his suffering and death with total obedience.

Only by understanding integrally His ups and downs, we will get the complete knowledge and understanding about Him. From His example of how undertaking these ups and downs, we will have the practical knowledge about how to live in God’s favour. So the complete knowledge about Jesus may include His state of being before the incarnation, the incarnation, and after the period of incarnation.

To follow Jesus is to follow the Father. It means that our discipleship to Jesus consists of a curiculum concerning how to recognise the will of God and how to distinguish it from mere human will. The failing of Peter to recognise God´s will happened when he thought about his own salvation, pleasure, and glory. The suffering of Jesus was to be seen as an integral part of the whole mission of God. Through Jesus, God wants us to know that the right obedience to God is a true worship to Him, a true love to Him, a true faithfulness. May God increase in us the spirit of understanding about His will. Amen.