SURVEY

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 16:13-20

In this day and age, surveys are very popular. The approval of the President is rated by surveys conducted by different agencies. The opinion of the people on the impeachment case against the present Philippine President and her proposal for amending the Constitution and changing the form of government are topics for survey. The various radio and television networks are evaluated by surveys. The popularity of candidates in the “American Idol” or our own “Starstruck” and “Star Circle Quest” are also known through surveys via short message sending or SMS. Even prior to the latest conclave, surveys were unofficially conducted as to who would become Pope John Paul II’s successor. There are surveys everywhere, for almost everything and everyone, and for every period of time. Anyone can make a survey too. Today, Jesus Himself makes a survey. He asks His disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples give Him different answers, for just as there are many people so is there many opinions about Him. But Jesus is not keen about how the crowd sees Him as He is ardent to know what His own disciples, His friends, His close circle, think about Him. And so He presses further, “And you, who do you say that I am?” When we ask our close friends about what and who they think we are, we are taking a risk. We are risking receiving from them either a false view that may hurt us very deeply or an honest view that can be flattering or threatening. Flattering because we may be too highly regarded than how we think about our own self or threatening because we may be too highly regarding our self than we should. But there is no other way we can measure how deep are the ties that bind us to our loved ones than somehow taking the risk of knowing how they regard us. Jesus takes that risk today. Jesus wants to know who His disciples say He is because He wants to see how deep their friendship really has become. He has a valid reason not to focus on what the crowds say who He is because He cannot expect them to really know Him in the raw as His own disciples know Him. His disciples have practically been living with Him for almost three years. They should know Him better than the crowd does. When John and Andrew, two of His close disciples (one is nicknamed “The Beloved” while the other is a brother of the Prince of the Apostles, respectively), first followed Jesus, they asked Him, “Rabbi, where do you live?” Jesus answered, “Come and see” (Jn 1:38-39). To inquire from a rabbi where he lives is to ask more than the address of his house. For the Jews, it means requesting to be a student, a disciple, a protégée of the rabbi. “Rabbi, where do you live?” is the same as saying, “Master, may I live with you?” Living with the rabbi is being a disciple of the rabbi. Living with the teacher is learning from the teacher. Living with the master is having the spirit of the master. The relationship between the Prophet Elijah and the Prophet Elisha in the Old Testament is a classic example of this disciple-rabbi relationship. When Jesus told John and Andrew, the day they left John the Baptist and started tailing Him, “Come and see”, Jesus took them not only under His roof but into His heart. Itinerant preacher and teacher that He was, Jesus educated His disciples not inside a classroom but within His heart that, according to the Gospel, “always loved those who were His own in the world.” His heart became their school By loving He educated them. Living with Jesus is being a disciple of Jesus the Rabbi. Living with Jesus is learning from Jesus the Teacher. Living with Jesus is having the Spirit of Jesus the Master. Being His disciples, learning from Him and having a share in His Spirit, the disciples are understandably expected to know Jesus better than the others. For to those whom the Father gives Jesus the Father likewise reveals Him. This is true for all genuine disciples of Jesus anywhere and anytime. From the Gospel Jesus conducts the same survey today. He looks straight to our eyes and asks each one of us, “And you, who do you say that I am?” Having called us and made us His own, having chosen us and made us His disciples, having lived with us and given us His Spirit, He also takes the risk of asking us who He really is for us. He wants to know if we truly get His point after all. He waits for an answer from each of us, individually and communally. Will Simon Peter be multiplied in each of us to give Jesus the right answer? Are we worth the risk? Jesus makes a survey about Himself among us. After we have broken bread, after we have partaken of this Holy Meal, when we have concluded this sacred gathering, as we go home and back to our daily affairs, the result of the survey will inevitably show. Just as every student must be measured by examinations, so are we as disciples of Jesus evaluated by the answer we give in His survey. And the answer we give reveals what kind of disciples we really are. Our way of life betrays the quality of our discipleship. Jesus Himself said during the Last Supper, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples – by your love for one another” (Jn 13:15). What will the survey show? Perhaps the survey is really about our identity as it is about the identity of Jesus.