This frequently asked question about Jesus in the Gospels is not explicitly asked today, but the answer is given.
In Hebrews, it is like someone who has answered a question or tried to explain something about five times without being understood; so, finally, they say: “OK, let be put it as plainly as I can.”
Then they spell it out and everyone gets the point.
So, Hebrews tells us that this Jesus the Christ is the High Priest and the offering he will make is himself.
Still don’t get it? Then hear this.
There won’t be any blood of lambs or goats. He will spill his blood. He is the sacrifice. His blood is the blood that will take away sin, that will wash us clean.
+ In the Gospeltoday, it is the exact opposite — or at least the answer that people, even in his own family, are coming up with is: “He is out of his mind.”
This answer was so clear to them they sought to seize him.
Their “Who is he?” provoked their own inner answer: “He is out of his mind.”
+ So, the question remains in each one of us: “Who is he?” for you and me.
The inner answer that bubbles up in us is crucial to our faith; it is crucial to how we will be engaged by the Christ and how we will engage him.
It is crucial to the way we will experience God’s grace.
We must ask, and we must deliver our own answer.
Father Perry D. Leiker is the 14th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com. Follow Father Perry on Twitter: @MrDeano76.
