Our Gospel passage, from Matthew, leads us to take a serious look at whether our lives give God the glory He deserves. It comes in the form of a question that Jesus poses to the disciples. He leads up to it gently enough: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they offer varying responses. Then, Jesus gets personal with them. “But who do you say that I am?” Peter gets the answer right: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
 
Jesus is getting personal with us today. He poses the same question to each one of us who call ourselves His stewards and modern-day disciples. Surely we would not hesitate to answer just as Peter did, that Jesus is the Christ, Son of the living God. 
 
But do our lives truly reflect this answer? If we really believe that Christ is the Son of God, sent to save us from our sins and lead us to Heaven, then we must say so, not just with words but with our actions. Do my ambitions and priorities in life say that Christ is my Savior and I am His disciple? Does my budget, my family life, my entertainment say so?  
 
The gifts and blessings that God has given us — our time, our talents, our material possessions — are meant to be used in a manner that says "Christ is my Savior and I am His disciple." The most eloquent praise we can offer Him is a life lived in grateful response to His unfathomable love. This is the beauty and power of a stewardship way of life.

Our Gospel today from Matthew reminds us to trust in Him even when it seems He is not answering our prayers.
 
God wants to lead us to the joy of heaven to spend eternity with Him. For that, we must be strong in faith and live our lives as an act of love and gratitude to Him. In other words, we must allow Him to transform us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to do. Sometimes, that will feel painful to us. Often, it will be challenging. 
 
Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel passage from Matthew. She called out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was being tormented by a demon. What did Jesus do in reply to this mother’s desperate plea? Nothing. He “did not say a word in answer to her.” Undeterred, the woman continues to call out to Him, yet He still does not give her what she asks for. Instead, He continues to challenge her faith. 
 
And she rises to the challenge to such an impressive degree that Jesus exclaims, “O woman [a term of deep respect in that day], great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Imagine hearing those words proclaimed over us by God. Truly there could be no higher honor than hearing our Lord say that to us. 
 
So we must accept the difficulties that come with the stewardship way of life. Some days will be a true challenge to our trust in God. But those are the days when God is making saints of us. Let’s embrace the hard days during these difficult times. The deep joy that eventually comes, the eternal reward He promises, will be so worth it.
 
But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, letting go of a tight hold over our money, time, and talents, our lives become a grand adventure, rooted firmly and gratefully in the God Who always cares for us.

Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that all that we have is a gift from Him. 
 
While today’s readings remind us that, of course, God is always in control of His creation and His creatures, they illustrate what amazing things can happen when we fully permit God to take charge of our lives — in other words, what can happen when we embrace the stewardship way of life.
 
When we take our eyes off God, we fail to see that all is gift from Him, we lose trust in Him and we do not make our lives a grateful response to Him. 
 
Peter makes this mistake in our Gospel passage from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples in a boat ahead of Him to the other side of the shore. Later that evening, Jesus casually strolls up to the boat, walking on the sea. He invites Peter to join Him. As Peter begins to walk on the water, he momentarily takes his eyes off Jesus to notice the strong wind surrounding them. With that, he sinks.
 
But what if Peter had not taken his eyes off Christ? What a grand adventure he could have had out there walking on the sea with Jesus! When we take our eyes off Christ, the many blessings He has given us, and the loving way He treats us, we sink, too. 
 
But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, letting go of a tight hold over our money, time, and talents, our lives become a grand adventure, rooted firmly and gratefully in the God Who always cares for us.

The Book of Daniel, from which our First Reading is drawn, was written some two centuries before the birth of Christ. This is only significant in that many of the prophets (Daniel is considered one of the major prophets) lived as many as six centuries before Christ. However, regardless the timeline, we need to be moved by and appreciative of the prophecies we find in the Old Testament. In the passage in today’s reading it states, “The one like a Son of Man received dominion, glory, and kingship.”

Today, of course, is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and this reading very much parallels what is portrayed in the Transfiguration. The interesting point within this reading from Daniel, however, is that it refers to the “Son of Man,” which is the term Jesus Himself used most often to describe Himself.

We have referenced this fact previously. In fact, the term “Son of Man” occurs 85 times in the Gospels, and in 83 of them it is Jesus who uses the term. (It appears 32 times in Matthew; 15 times in Mark; 26 times in Luke; and 12 times in John, and it is in John where it is used twice by someone other than Jesus.)

The important point for us is that Jesus calling Himself the Son of Man explains that He was born of a woman, and He shares in our earthly conditions and sufferings. That fact should make us want to embrace Him as our Savior, our Friend, and our Shepherd even more.