24th SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
‘Who do you say I am’?
Caesarea Philippi is situated twenty-five miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee. At the time of Jesus it was a significant centre of pagan worship and it was here that He chose to pose a searching question to His disciples and by extension, to His followers of every generation: ‘Who do you say I am’? In other words, do you really know me, and does it show in your life? Many know about Jesus, but few actually know him. It is one of the great tragedies of our time that many have walked away from their faith without ever having encountered the Person at the centre of it all. And all the while, He stands, waiting to be found. English painter William Holman Hunt captured this truth beautifully in his evocative work ‘The Light of the World’ where Jesus is depicted with lantern in hand knocking on a closed door. The message is clear. He can only enter our house if we allow Him in. It begins in little ways. Dutch artist Vincent Van Gough, a contemporary of Hunt, once said that ‘the best way to know God is to love many things’. It is certainly true that, if we begin to see Him in little things, we will come to see Him in all things. He will make His home with us, and we will live in such a way that those who know us, but don’t know Him, will come to know Him because they know us