August 24, 2008 - Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

I am not sure about you, but at least for me every time I heard Oral Exam in school I would panic even more than a written exam. It was something about the ring of it, an oral exam, and you kind of feel less prepared without a pen in your hand.

Jesus gives every single one of us an oral exam in the Gospel today. He asks all of us the question “Who do you say that I am?” To take it a step further, he asks us as individuals and he asks us also as a Church.

So if you are ready, let’s take a good look at how to pass this most important oral exam.

The first fact to consider is that He asks Peter the question. Let’s take a look at Peter, our first Pope. This is a man who had some issues. He was emotional but probably most notably he had many fears going into his responsibilities as a follower of Christ. Why do you think he had these fears? It is very possible that he doubted his own abilities, but I think a lot of it was centered around the chaos going on, people out to get Jesus, people challenging Him openly and many other factors. Peter’s reaction is normal, it is to pull back from all of this and hide in the corner. Jesus would have none of this. He tells him that he is the rock upon which the Church will be built.

We too can see what goes on around us, and yes some of it right here in the midst of the church, but Jesus is asking us too to be a rock of some sort and certainly it is strongly related to the question “Who do you say that I am?”

So in order to pass this oral exam we must, like you might expect, do our homework. For this test, the homework is rooted in the first reading and leads to the question “Who do we say we are?” Yes, we must first answer this question before we answer who Jesus is.

You should not need more than about two or three minutes to answer the homework question. To assist us, let’s look at the image of the rock Jesus gives us. Like any good teacher He provides us with help.

If you are a sharp rock, you are dangerous to yourself and others. If you are a soft rock, you will break under pressure. If you are a shiny impressive rock, objects and people can slip off of you much too easily.

This being the case, we lead very effectively into who Jesus is since we are made in His image. Make no mistake about it, no matter what anyone else is doing, the Church included, we are being put to this oral exam for a reason.

There are people out there whether you realize it or not who consider you a rock and you must be a dependable rock for yourself first and then for them.

Beyond that, your future today and tomorrow are on the line.

Fear not though, the teacher awaits your answer but He has already given all the answers.