Posted by The WORD in other words by Fr Gerry Donato SVD – Divine Word Mission Institute Tagaytay City
Saturday 8th Week in Ordinary Time
“Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Several years ago, I saw a poster with the following words: “Christ is the Answer.” One day, somebody saw this same poster, and made a comment: “Yes, Christ is the answer, but what is the question?” Definitely, we have many questions in life that we want to ask God. Many times, we get an answer, and a few times, we don’t get it.
In today’s gospel, JESUS tells the crowd, “Answer me.” It is his answer to the question posed to him by the priests, scribes and elders. Perhaps, it was JESUS’ way of knowing if they really understood, knew and accepted him as a person who came from God. Sadly, not. JESUS for them was a mere son of a carpenter from Nazareth, not a person with divine origin.
Why does our Lord demand an answer from us? We may say that JESUS has no need to do that for He knows whatever answer we give to him. I believe this is also one way of testing our faith in him. If we have a profound faith in him, it would not always be difficult for us to answer “yes” to his call “to come and follow” him, to forgiving others, to carrying our daily crosses, to his call for compassion and mercy to others.
“Answer Me” is what we have to confront ourselves daily with. What is our answer when he asks us about how we are serving and loving him today, how we are using our talents and gifts that he gave us? He demands an answer now not another day. Are we ready to give him a good answer? Let us not disappoint JESUS.
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