Sermon : Publicity is like poison: it does’nt hurt unless you swallow it

In the liturgy of the twelfth Sunday of the year, Jesus teaches humanity another hard lesson on public opinion. Do you often get worried because of other people’s opinion about your character, personality, the way you do or don’t do things, your intelligence, your abilities, the way you look, your likelihood to succeed etc. Jesus handles it differently; he simply acknowledges that some people have certain opinions and that is ok. There is no problem at all in knowing what people think and say about us. It is true that public opinion is often formed upon a wrong basis, but generally it has a strong underlying sense of justice that we have to be aware of. That is why when at Caesarea Philippi Jesus surprised his followers as he turned to them with a rather queer question: “Who do people say that I am?” When he noticed how uneasy they became as they gave their impersonal answers, he made it simpler: “But who do you say that I am?” In order to grasp the gravity of Jesus’ question at that material time, it is essential to remember its geographical background. Caesarea Philippi where Jesus was standing then was a Greco-Roman city about 20 kilometers north of Galilee. It was an international city, a center of trade and commerce, as well as a marketplace of religions, cults and all sorts of ideas. Consequently, many people engaged in a philosophical discussion of relative merits of Jesus’ message and credentials. Such people were eager to know where he might fit in the spectrum of teachers and prophets of their times. Among common people too, Jesus had become a kind of household name. He was the topic everywhere, around the wells as they filled their water-pots, at the town gates and in their feasts as they reclined around their tables. They were all eager to know: What he said on Sabbath in the synagogue and the last miracle he had performed etc. Most probably, it is this kind of turmoil which might have made Jesus interested in people’s opinions about him. But why ask that kind of question! A number of people think that public opinion does not matter at all. The philosopher Bertrand Russell once asserted that one should respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny! But some other people hold public opinion in reverence as the voice of God. Jesus teaches us that either way, public opinion cannot harm you without your consent just as Joe Paterno put it: “Publicity is like poison; it doesn’t hurt unless you swallow it.” The reason why Jesus asked the above question compels us to ask ourselves many things. The above question is still put to each one of us, and in our answer he does not want to hear us repeat what others call him but to hear us say: “You are the Christ, you are the one, you are the saving grace of God for me.” When we answer like that, then Jesus knows that his life is our life; his fate, our fate and his love, our love. In answering this question we need not be shy. Peter teaches us how to do it. We should imitate the bold and impetuous Peter who stepped up as he had recently stepped out of a boat in a storm, tempting Jesus to save him, and sank into the waves! This is the same disciple who never quite understands, but speaks out anyway! It is Peter who would deny that he ever knew Jesus three times the night of his arrest and trial. But there is some thing special about Peter as he says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It is not that he figured it out here. He did not put it all together by himself. It was God who gave him the charisma to identify the Christ. Thus the Petrine Ministry became a divine institution. Lastly Jesus teaches each one of us a lesson that there is a time when we too should raise our head and dare to ask ‘who do people say I am”. But since our story is definitely different from the story of Jesus we must be armed with the truth as we ask that question if we are not going to be hurt. The truth is that nobody out there knows yourself as well as you do. You know best who you are and what’s right for you; and that’s the only opinion that really matters; the rest is like a piano: You just have to know what keys to poke. Ends