Survey Says....

Yesterday's gospel reading from Matthew 16 contained one of my favorite dialogues in all of the New Testament. For me, it's like one of those "grasshopper" moments from Kung Fu. A great mystery is encountered, and questions like fingers fumble their way through the mind's knot. Possible answers start to unravel and shimmer on the surface of the soul, each inviting one to take hold of them. But which train of thought carries the precious cargo of the Truth? THE QUESTION: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” Jesus, the Master Teacher, leads them into the Mystery. He doesn't blast a trumpet, pass out literature, get a lush campaign going to get everybody to follow Him. He just lives... exists... each day, preaching and teaching and walking and breathing, being Who He Is in utter simplicity. And those miracles aren't like flashy fireworks you know. Read the gospels. They fall from His fingertips so nonchalantly. No airs, just His actions. Wasn't this all prophesied anyway? This is how Jesus begins His "campaign." Not very conventional, eh? And then He invites some feedback. The first Gallup poll. How incredible, how humble, how disarming is it that He wants to know what we think of Him? This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship! And He wants us to take a really good look at what He's saying and doing, He wants us to get to know Him so we can give an informed answer when it's time to vote. I know that for us today, the invitation still stands (it always has and always will, until the curtain falls in the western sky). Now all we have to do is sit down for a little while each day and read the gospels to illuminate our minds, to experience what He said and did ourselves (because He is still doing it). May we discover in this sincere quest for the truth what so many others have found... Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Yes, Grasshopper, you have chosen... wisely!