As Christians we are used to having Jesus in our lives. His image is very familiar to us and we all have an picture of Jesus in our minds, but we need to move beyond the image in the picture or the statue; so, who is Jesus to you?

This is not an odd question. Who Jesus is comes up time and again in the Gospels, including times when Jesus asks this question of his listeners and followers, and we have an example in Sunday's gospel. “are you the one who is to come”?

The author of today’s gospel, Matthew, is clear about who Jesus is. For Matthew Jesus is the Messiah, long awaited by the Jewish people. Though Matthew’s gospel is good news for all people, at the time of writing Matthew’s primary audience at the time were Jewish Christians. Unlike Luke for example, Matthew was not primarily concerned with a non-Jewish readership. His task as he saw it was to prove that the prophesies about, and the promise of the Messiah to the Jewish people, had come to pass in the person of Jesus (though at the end of Matthew’s gospel the mission of salvation does become universal and is not confined to a particular group). Even so Matthew, even with Jesus in front of him, had to ask the question who Jesus was; in a way you can see him working it out as the story of Jesus unfolds in his Gospel.

One thing we have in common with Matthew is how in our minds, hearts and souls our understanding of Jesus evolves over time. We see in Matthew’s narrative how the life and purpose of Jesus evolves over the course of his ministry. Jesus’ mission of salvation is gradually revealed, it evolves from salvation for the Jewish people to salvation for the whole of humanity. It evolves from an expectation of an earthly kingdom to the kingdom of the new heaven and the new earth. It evolves from having the adulation and respect of hundreds of followers to a solitary death on the cross. A solitary death but followed by a triumphant resurrection.

During Jesus’ life there must have been times for Matthew and, as we see in Sunday's Gospel, for John the Baptist too, that Jesus was difficult to fathom let alone understand. But both John and Matthew stick with Jesus and it moves them to a better and deeper understanding of themselves and of God which in turn gains for them eternal life.

How can we be as confident as Matthew and John about Jesus? In Sunday's gospel Jesus shows how his saving work defines who he is. He connects himself with the ancient signs of the arrival of the Messiah and the kingdom by his saving actions. He connects himself directly to the fragility of humanity, sickness, and pain. Jesus desires to save each and every one of us. He wants to give sight to the blindness of our hearts, he wants to strengthen our weary hands, he wants to gently say to us “courage, do not be afraid”. He invites us to look towards a time of joy and gladness where sorrow and lament be ended. Let us pray for the coming of this kingdom, our God is coming to save us.

As always, be assured of my daily prayers for your intentions.

God bless and keep you.

Fr Chris