Who do you say that I am?

26 SEPTEMBER (Lk 9,18-22)

Between the being of a person and the understanding, the science that others have of Him, there is an abyss. This non science and non understanding according to truth is the result of sin. Reading the first pages of Scripture, we can see that it is right the sin that generates this unbridgeable gulf. Adam’s words are perfect light.

The Lord God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” So the Lord  God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the Lord  God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The Lord  God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken” (Gen 2,18-23).

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves. When they heard the sound of the Lord  God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord  God among the trees of the garden. The Lord  God then called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me – she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it” (Gen 3,6-12).

Adam is in the state of justice and shouts to all creation that he finally found what he was looking for. The woman is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. From justice he then passes into sin. The woman becomes a stranger, he no longer recognizes her. She is a being placed by God beside him. She is no longer the life of his life, the being that gives fulfillment and perfection to his humanity. Sin has created this abyss. However, it is a gap that encompasses the entire universe. It embraces the God himself. The true knowledge of God becomes idolatry, wickedness, deceit and error.

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Messiah of God.” He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He said, “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.”

It is sin that always turns the truth of the knowledge of God and of men and of the whole universe into a monstrous falsehood. It is always sin that alters the revelation itself, giving it a completely extraneous meaning. If sin changes every truth of what exists and is visible of the history that falls under our eyes, much more what is unseen will be changed. God, his words and his prophecies will always be crushed by sin and reduced to a great falsehood.

Jesus is the Messiah of the Lord. This is his eternal and historical truth. The people that does not live in the grace of God, knows nothing of this truth. It goes by approximation. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ of God, his Messiah. He confesses it by the grace of the Almighty, even if he does not know yet, he does not have the perfect knowledge of the Person and work of the Messiah of God. Not even he has passed yet from the state of sin to that of grace. This abyss of imperfect science, non vision according to God of Jesus also reigns in him. His is a vision of sin, a human vision.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints free us from all sin.