Twelth Sunday of Ordinary Time 

“But who do you say that I am?"

Luke 9:20  

Zechariah paints with chilling accuracy the image of Jesus’ death—the one who was “pierced,” an only son, a firstborn. But the prophet also promises a flood of God’s purifying grace to lead Israel through mourning and grief. Christ’s pierced side becomes the rock cleft for all in the desert and the living water for the woman at the well, whose chance meeting with Jesus changes her life forever. The psalmist describes the lifeless desiccation of the earth and the soul without God but sings confidently of the abundance and joy that flows from life in the Lord. The familiar, oft-quoted passage from Paul's letter to the Galatians finds our truest identity in Christ through our shared “dying” in baptism that offers us hope of a share in the resurrection. As heirs to the kingdom, we are grafted onto the Tree of Life with Abraham and all his descendants.

As stated elsewhere by Paul, each of us knows that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Here is no pious sentiment but rather the very way of living for any true follower of Jesus. Jesus himself says in the Gospel: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lost it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” That is what being grafted onto the Tree of Life—the cross—means. And it must be a conscious decision by each of us: “But who do you say that I am?”

Prayer

Lord, open my eyes, my ears, and my heart to the many ways you seek me.
My flesh pines for you like a dry, weary land without water.
Give me the abundance of life that I crave, without which life itself has no meaning.
I ask this in the name of your only Son, my Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.