21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jesus brings his disciples to a great pagan temple today with hundreds of niches housing the statues of all kinds of different gods.  With all these other gods in the background, Jesus asks his disciples, point-blank, “Who do you say that I am?”  Most of us have been taught since we were young to answer,”Jesus is God, the Christ.”  While we might know the right words, our daily  actions and decisions also speak on our behalf about who Jesus is to us.  In the busy-ness of our lives, does Jesus ever become for us just another concern among all the many others?  Does Jesus fade into the background and fill another niche?  (I know that’s a tendency for me).  Or do our thoughts, decisions, and actions invite Jesus to stand front and center in our lives by proclaiming, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!”?