“Who do you say that I am?” This is the question Jesus asked in last Sunday’s gospel.  Peter’s response was on the mark verbally, “You are the Christ.”  Another word for Christ that is used in the same sentence is “Messiah.”  The Christ or Messiah was longed and hoped for by the Jewish people.  He was the one who would save them.  The imminent situation they sought to be saved from was having their nation occupied and controlled by the the Roman army.  Salvation would be the restoration of their dignity and autonomy as a nation followed by wealth, prosperity and prestige.  That was the furthest thing from Jesus’ mind as the Savior.  In explaining who he was as Savior he said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.  He said this quite openly.”  How someone who would have such a course of action for his life ever be a Savior?  In revealing who he was and how he came to save us, Jesus made it clear that he came to live with us and among us.  He did send a messenger with instructions.  Jesus came to be one with us in the joys, sorrows, messiness and confusion of life.  In the prayer the priest prays when he pours the water into the chalice after the wine at the offertory at mass he says, “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”  Jesus became one with us and one of us.  He experienced what we all experience as human beings.  Most of all he gave us what we all long for and need - the unconditional love of God.

This point is a sharp contrast to what I see happening in our nation with the debate about health care for everyone.  A little over a week ago the President spoke to the nation in the presence of all the members of Congress about the need for a health care plan and his solution.  There was acceptance by some and disagreement by others.  People without health insurance are looking for help, looking for the members of our government to save them from the insecurity and fear of not being able to get proper medical care in time of need for lack of funds.  The contrast I see here is that the President and members of Congress all have medical insurance provided for them through plans they have legislated for themselves and supported through our tax dollars.  They have what so many others need.  They are not living as so many of the people they serve.  The irony is that our public “servants” are well taken care of personally.  But not being “one of us” they cannot agree on a plan to help us.

The word compassion comes from two Latin words and means to suffer (passion) with (com).  We all know the comfort from those who reach out to us in our times of need.  Most times they know what we are going through because they have experienced what are going through.  Every time we reach out to someone who has lost a loved one in death, we draw on our own experience of how important it is to be there for others.  We frequently call to mind those who have been there for us.  It is not the words of wisdom, but the simple but profound act of taking the time to be with them.  I always remember the time my father died and one of the parishioners from the parish I was in drove out to Greenport to express his condolences, to be compassionate.  This man was angry at me because I could not validate his second marriage because his second wife needed an annulment.  For a long period of time, his anger resulted in his not coming to church and not speaking to me.  But when my father died he came and said to me, “I owe you this.  You came to bring communion to my first wife when she was dying.”  I also celebrated the funeral of his first wife.  That simple human act of being with him in his hour of grief was not forgotten.  In fact it sparked the same compassion in him and led to his coming to peace before he died.  Our common human experiences help us to understand and share life with one another.  Jesus shared life with us and calls and trusts us to share life with him and one another in the same way.  It is his compassion, mercy, patience, and unconditional love that saved us from life without God and filled our lives with God’s Holy Spirit.  Now we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, children of God with him and brothers and sisters with one another.  A rabbi asked his students how they could tell when light came into the world.  The first said, “When you can tell a cow from a sheep.”  That was not the answer.  The second said, “When you can tell an oak tree from a cedar tree.”  That was not the answer.  The rabbi gave the answer, “When you can look into the eyes of other people and see your brothers and sisters.”  That is how Jesus sees us and trusts us to see one another.

Father Walden