The Ultimate Hero Story

The reading for today is loaded with a variety of good opportunities for reflection and blogging. One could write about the question Jesus poses to the disciples … or the response that Simon Peter gives to Jesus… or the foundation of the Church … or the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Like Ms. Souders noted yesterday, I feel a significant amount of pressure to get this blog entry right because the readings are so rich and intertwined with the history of the Church and the mission of Jesus Christ. And like I do when I feel pressure, I turned to prayer to guide my reflection.

I found myself drawn particularly to the first portion of the reading: the question asked of the disciples:"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
and Simon Peter’s response: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Initially, I was confused about why people would compare or identify the Son of God as John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah. How could they not give the same response of Simon Peter? Attempting the strategy of imaginative prayer, I tried to imagine myself in the scene, the time and space of this reading. If I did not have access to theology classes, the Bible, or the internet, I would likely associate the title of “Son of Man” with the most humble, forgiving, or mystical person in my world at that moment. The Old Testament characters the disciples mentioned all had impressive stories but they were only relatively heroic. The reality that Simon Peter exposed in his response ("You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.") was that Jesus Christ possesses the blessings and heroic attributes of all of the prophets...and then some. 

Jesus was (and is) the ultimate hero.

Using that idea of relative heroism as a framework, I started thinking about the people in my life who strive(d) toward living a life like Christ. It is a fun exercise and I encourage you to try it. Although my heroes are only “relative” heroes when compared to Jesus, they are heroes to me because they constantly and intentionally strive to exude the qualities Jesus perfected and preached. I challenge you read the Gospel for today and spend time listing the heroes in your life. If you want a challenge, list the people in your life who would consider you a hero and also those who would likely not list you as a hero. 

Why did you chose those people and what do you need to maintain or change those lists?

Author: Ben Kirby, Assistant Principal of Academics