Daily Gospel Reflection for September 24, 2021

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Luke 9:18-22

When Jesus asked Peter, “Who do YOU say that I am?”, Peter relied that Jesus was the Messiah of God. Rather than praising Peter for his spiritual insight, Jesus rebuked him and told the disciples to keep quiet about his true identity. At first glance, Christ’s response is startling and perplexing because Peter could only have known who Jesus was through a revelation from the Holy Spirit.

However, we must remember that timing is everything in the Kingdom of God. Jesus’s reason for secrecy was that God’s plan for salvation had to be be fulfilled, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised”.

If the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes had embraced Jesus as the Messiah, they would have acted from their limited perspective and exalted Him as an earthly king, foiling the Father’s plan of redemption. If the disciples had their way, they would have protected Jesus from the agony of the crucifixion.

Jesus did not blurt out the truth to everyone; he did not answer questions from the cynical or perform miracles for those who were merely curious or jaded. He only did what His Father in Heaven told him to do, only said what the Father told him to say.

We must follow Christ’s example because we never see the big picture like God does. The only way to fulfill the Father’s plan for our lives and those we meet is to obey His word. The only way to obey His word is to study scripture and pray, pray and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit withing us, then do and say what he tells us to do and say.

Ponder:

Christ asks each of us, ""Who do you say that I am?"

Pray:

When Jesus asked his disciples to remain silent, He was asking them to wait with Him until the right time. I pray that I may know when it is best to speak, and when to wait in silence.