12th Sunday in Ordinary Time
This Gospel speaks of our most important relationship. It speaks of how belonging to Jesus transforms our lives. About trust that is stronger than death. About how the Lord stands by his disciples despite their weaknesses. It is this relationship that forms our foundation. Who are you? However, when asked, “Who are you?”, the answer “A disciple of Jesus” is rarely given. As experience shows, amongst the various relationships and events that shape who we are, very few people actually place their relationship with God, His love and His care for our existence on earth and in eternal life, at the top of the list. Perhaps this truth is so obvious that we cease to appreciate it, or even to notice it. Perhaps, however – and this is particularly sad – despite our formal membership with the Church, our relationship with Christ holds little significance for us, and we fail to see its real impact on our lives. It is precisely this kind of indifference—which is, in fact, a rejection—that Jesus is referring to when we hear: ‘Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven.’ We remember the story of Simon Peter and many saints throughout the history of the Church who, out of fear, under the threat to their lives, or because of human weakness, denied the Lord. However, it was another experience that proved to be the key – an encounter with His love, under the influence of which their grief did not turn to despair but became a source of hope and the beginning of a new life, of clinging to Jesus and of transformation. What matters here is not so much the stumble along the way, but the realisation that we have someone to lean on so that we do not fall again. What matters is not so much wallowing in guilt as feeling grateful for the forgiveness received and having the courage to start afresh. What prevents Jesus from recognising someone before the Father is not, therefore, human weakness or sin, but a denial of Him in a deeper sense – pretending that He does not exist, indifference, and a rejection of love. Don’t be afraid of people – He encourages those who do not always have the courage to profess their faith in Him, those who are weak, who sometimes waver in their faith, who stumble –
– in short, each and every one of His disciples. After all, we are all familiar with experiences of great zeal, and even heroism, as well as moments of petty cowardice – moments when we succumb to social pressure and brush aside questions about our deepest identity with silence. He knows this. He knows how fragile human hearts are – that they are capable of both greatness and failure. He knows how hard it is for people to trust. He knows all this, but His love is greater than the total of all human failings and ‘Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.’ – says the Lord. You cannot kill the soul, for you cannot kill the love that gives life. There is no safer, better place for us than in the hands of God himself, for whom we are ‘more value than many sparrows.’ The paradox of our human relationship with the Lord is that, whilst for us it is not always the most important thing for which it is worth giving our lives, for Him, His relationship with humanity is always and invariably the most important thing.
After all, it was for this bond that he gave his life on the cross; it was for this bond that he became human, to share our lot; and it was for this bond that he became the Bread, so that we might experience his closeness every day. And yet it is still rejected, condemned to oblivion, passed by with indifference. The most important love in the world goes unrequited. ‘Love is not loved,’ as St Francis of Assisi used to say. Does that interest us? Will this unrequited love ever be answered? That is the essence of the alternative Jesus speaks of: ‘Everyone who acknowledges before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in haven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.’