Everyone who acknowledges me before others

Gn 49,29-33; 50,15-24; Ps 102; Mt 10,24-33
13 JULY

Jesus asks each of his disciples to recognize him before the world, to be recognized by him before his Father, today and for eternity. But what does recognizing Christ before men mean? It means to publicly attest the truth of Jesus in the same way that He attested to the truth of his Father. As Jesus always affirms that He is from the Father and lives to fulfil his will, so the disciple must confess that He is from Christ and lives to fulfil the will of Christ.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life (Jn 5,24-40).

The disciple, like Jesus, must not only confess that he is from Christ, but also that he lives in Christ, with Christ and through Christ. He will do this if he does the works of Christ, as Christ did the works of the Father. The works are the perfect obedience to every Word of Jesus. Jesus brought to fulfilment the Word of the Father. The Christian completes the Word of Jesus. Without perfect obedience to the Word, Jesus is not confessed and neither will He confess us before his Father. But if He does not know us before God, for us the gates of Paradise will not open forever.

No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

Just as Jesus confessed his Father to death on the cross, the disciple must also confess Jesus to death on the cross. The life of the Master was a total gift to the Father. The life of the disciple will be a total gift to Christ. All Christ is of the Father. The whole disciple is of Christ. It is the only way of true confession of Christ in the world.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every Christian recognizes Jesus before men.