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WHO DO PEOPLE SAY THAT I AM? (The Son of a Carpenter) 
Dear friends, for a short while, we are in what the Church calls “Ordinary Time”. Before we know it, Jesus will be “grown up”, facing His Passion and Death at age thirty-three. So I decided to spend some time meditating about Jesus as a Child and as a young Man. Sure, we have all seen Jesus as a child in the famous Infant of Prague Devotion, but I don’t think that’s how the boy Jesus would have looked in the workshop. Even as an Infant, there were conflicting statements about Him: “the only begotten Son of the Father”, “born in a stable” and “yet a King”. Much later, Pilate made it clear that what was written would stay written: “I.N.R.I.” That is, “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Indaeorum” – “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews”. We hear in the account surrounding His birth that He is Emmanuel, “God with us”. This God was born of a woman in a stable, lying in a manger surrounded by animals, the air filled with the smell of manure and the breath of the beasts. There were no fancy linens – Jesus had only straw and whatever cloth His Mother Mary was able to provide with her handiwork. Then, by God’s providence, shepherds came to seek, find and adore Him. They perhaps left some of their cozy sheepskins to provide more warmth and comfort. Is it not wondrous that the Angels first announced His birth to the lowly folks at the bottom of the scale? Later, came the wise men bearing precious gifts. In today’s society, it would be considered a tragedy. Anyone born under such conditions, with that amount of stress, surrounded by strangers, would undoubtedly be destined to develop psychological problems, lacking proper interactive skills. But then there was Jesus, born in the little town of Bethlehem, born during travel arrangements, more than perfectly fine! The wise men found Him by trusting the Scripture passages about the star that they had studied and awaited for a very long time. The shepherds found Him by trusting the Heavenly Messengers. Later in His life, people would say, “Is this not the son of Joseph, the carpenter?” Charles Wesley captured the situation in the lyrics of a famous hymn “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”: “…veiled in flesh, the Godhead see; Hail the Incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.” Who was this little Boy born on Christmas morn? A cozy little babe to some, a wonderment to others. A carpenter’s son to some, a King of Glory to others. A judge to some, a Lover of mankind to others. A preacher to some, a poet to others. A Jew to some, a Brother and Saviour to others.
Today, the question still haunts the populous: “Who was or is He?”
To the theologians of the Third Reich, “He was an Arian”, the child of a German Legionnaire and Mary of Nazareth.
To some, He is pure myth, to others He is “The Prophet”.
To some, He never existed, to others He is Truth and Life!
When Jesus asked the Apostles: “Who do people say that I am?” many of them still did not understand the depth of the question. It was not until the Holy Spirit filled Peter with wisdom that he enthusiastically exclaimed: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God!” It seems to me that without the gift of faith, even for “cradle” Catholics, it would be impossible to see with one hundred percent clarity and assurance that HE IS THE SON OF GOD. John Cardinal O’Connor once said: “Faith makes the difference. You can study Scriptures until your eyes fall out; without the gift of faith, you’re not going to believe that Christ is the Son of God! Let me go back to reflect on the Child Jesus. To me, He was a young lively Boy, full of energy, joy and happiness, always helpful and obedient. I can picture Him hitting His thumbnail with a hammer in the workshop, feeling pain, tears welling up in His lovely eyes. Joseph would more than likely be there to comfort him, to take his foster son into his arms, tenderly telling Him that everything would be all right. I can imagine Jesus running errands, delivering small pieces of furniture that Joseph had made or repaired or perhaps picking up broken ones for His foster father to fix. I can see Him losing Himself in the games He would play with other children, always being fair and compassionate. At the eve of the day, He most probably knelt down with Joseph and Mary to pray and give thanks according to the Jewish customs. Most of all, as He grew up, I imagine that Jesus would spend time in His room in ecstasy, contemplating heavenly things. Then we also get a glimpse of His life when He was twelve years old. Holy Scripture tells us that He lost Himself in the work of His Father. Following this, there is a period of silence concerning His life, a period of obedience as He learned His foster father’s business until He was thirty years old, when He came forth as the Lamb of God, gathering His sheep. He was the SON OF GOD and yet, did not show off. He was born into nothingness and yet King of the Universe! Max Lucado, a Texas pastor once wrote: “THE ONE who owns all the stuff of earth never strutted it. THE ONE who made the stars didn’t keep His head in them.” Lucado went on to say that Jesus could have done all and been all; but His purpose was not to show off but to show up. He went to great pains to be as human as the rest of us. He didn’t need to study but still went to the synagogue; He didn’t need an income but still worked in the carpentry shop; He had known the Angels and heard the harps of Heaven, but still went to the parties thrown by the tax collectors. I believe that this is why Ghandi had a great admiration for Jesus, for he saw that Jesus was one who lived what He preached. In the fourth chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we hear what Jesus Himself has to say as He unrolled the scroll one Sabbath in the synagogue and read:
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