Self-discovery is part of every person's life. To a greater or lesser extent, individuals learn about themselves as they go through various stages of maturing. Adolescence is an early period of self-understanding, when teenagers begin individualizing themselves, sometimes rebelling against parental values, sometimes integrating them into their own lives. College years and young adulthood are another period when men and women begin to uncover more about their own place in the world. A traumatic experience in middle age-job loss, divorce, serious illness-may also provoke a time of self reflection, during which a person may question what the meaning of his or her own life is.
The story in Luke's Gospel this weekend (like many of the Gospel stories) can be read in several different ways. Is the human nature of Jesus seeking an understanding of who he is, uncovering the mystery of his divine nature during his time of prayer? Or is the story written by the disciples many years later in their own quest to understand who Jesus was even as he walked among them? Or is this an account of the inspirational action of the Holy Spirit, giving Peter the insight to speak accurately about who Jesus is? Or is this a teaching of Luke the Gospel writer, putting the death and resurrection of Jesus in a context that unites the day-today experience of a believer with the final act of Jesus? Or is it all of these, and more, at one and the same time? Biblical scholars can give us a lot on which to reflect.
As the Gospel points out, for believers, the quest of self -discovery includes an identification with Christ. As he says in the Gospel, a follower "must deny himself and take up his cross daily...whoever loses his life for my sake will save it" (Lk 9:23-24). Here is the true path to self-discovery for the Christian. It is revealed in our connection to the death and resurrection of Christ.
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