READINGS: ISAIAH 50:5-9; PSALM 114:1-6,8-9; JAMES 2:14-18; MARK 8:27-35
THEME: LIVE OUT THE CHRIST
- “But You…?”
In many occasions, we see ourselves living in the belief and words of others that we do not care to ask ourselves “where am I in this?” Sometimes we know much about what others say and do that we forget to ask ourselves “what about me?”
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus asked the disciples “who do people say that I am?” In responding, all the disciples spoke and told him what others were saying about him. But surprisingly, after they told Jesus what people were saying about him, and then Jesus asked them “but you, who do you say I am?” only Peter spoke up and said, “You are the Christ”.
The question is, why were all the disciples able to respond, giving information about what others were saying, but when it was time for them to speak about their own, they all went silent? Generally, we can say that the evangelist wants to highlight the Petrine office as the custodian of the faith in, and correct teaching about Christ.
But what if it was also the case that the rest of the disciples were afraid to speak out because their knowledge of Jesus was just exactly the same with that of the rest of the people? What if in mentioning John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets, as the way other people were thinking Jesus to be, the disciples were also saying what they too believed Jesus to be? Again, what if only Peter spoke out because although the disciples knew what people were saying Jesus to be, they never asked themselves “but who do I myself see him to be?”
We must learn from Jesus today. People will always come to us to tell us what others are saying about our choices, our words, our personalities. But like Jesus, we must always remember to ask them “but you, what do you say?” This is because, it is possible that in presenting what others are saying, the person may also be saying what he/she is saying.
Furthermore, we must always ask ourselves, “what about me? How am I different? When we speak about others, about the love others show, about the weakness of others, about other’s mistakes, about others’ lifestyle, we must never forget to bring ourselves into the picture and ask ourselves “what about me?
- “NOT THAT KIND OF CHRIST…”
Peter responded to Jesus and said, “You are the Christ”. By saying that Jesus is the Christ, Peter affirmed that Jesus is that anointed of the Father, sent to redeem the people. Jesus then immediately started telling them how this redemption through him, the Anointed Messiah, would take place. The way of the redemption through the Christ is as it is expressed in the book of the prophet Isaiah regarding the suffering servant as we have in the first reading of today.
The Christ is anointed for beatings and insults, for mockery and disgrace from men. But he is not going to be alone in this suffering, his Vindicator will be there to help him and to raise him after three days. This explanation of the way of the Christ, was not in line with what Peter wanted. Yes, Peter confessed “You are the Christ” but when Christ explained to him the implication of that name, he wanted to stop Jesus from being ‘that Christ’. So, Peter rebuked
Jesus. The Greek word, epitimao translated as ‘to rebuke’ in English, is not use just to discourage someone from doing something but to literally order someone either to stop what he is doing or what he intends to do.
Hence, Peter was literally ordering Jesus not to undergo what the name ‘Christ’ implied because that was not the kind of Christ he thought Jesus to be when he said “You are the Christ.” Peter understood Christ as ‘God’s anointed one’ and loved it so, but when he heard what that means and what the Anointed is expected to do, he did not want Jesus to be Christ anymore. But Jesus rebuked him and called him ‘Satan’.
Peter was trying to show care and concern to Jesus, but he did not know that his care and concern, and even love, were becoming satanic, that is, obstructive of what God wants of Christ. We must always be careful to know when people’s love, concern, care, protection, are becoming satanic in preventing us from following God’s ways for us. An idea, a wish, a show of love and concern, etc may be so wonderful and wonderfully presented, but when we place them in the light of God’s will for us, they become nothing but scandals and obstructions. Hence, we must be careful because not all accolades, not all praises, not all loves, not all good wishes and concerns, are meant for our growth.
- LET YOUR ACTION EXPRESS YOUR DESIRE
After Jesus had rebuked Peter, the gospel reading says that he called the people and his disciples to himself. This is really interesting because it shows that there were also some people around when Jesus asked his disciples “who do people say that I am?” The question is, if there were people in the scene as shown here, why did Jesus not ask them directly who they were thinking him to be but asked his disciples? This may be because Jesus wanted the response to come from his disciples. He wanted to teach them that it is necessary to know other people’s opinion and beliefs regarding things especially things concerning our faith.
This will help his disciples to know how much their own opinion differs or falls in line with that of other people. Jesus said to the people and his disciples “if anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” In this sentence, Jesus summarizes the steps of growing in discipleship of him.
The first stage is desire (theleo). Discipleship of Christ is never achieved by constrain. It must spring up from personal desire. And this desire is not a one time sometime but continuous. That is, every moment of our life, we must always keep our desire to be Christ’s disciples enkindled and renewed.
The desire will now generate the question “What must I do?” Our “I want to be” must immediately and always be followed by “what then must I do in order to be that?” At this stage, we are allowing our desire to become practical and concrete. Jesus gave us three practical verbs of living out our desire: renounce, take up, and follow. We cannot renounce ourselves if we do not first desire to be no longer of ourselves but of Christ.
No one can renounce him/herself if he/she does not first desire and conclude to be ‘alter Christus’. To renounce one’s life and live Christ’s life is to live as Christ lived. Christ’s life on earth was only heading to the cross. Wishing to be Christ’s disciple, but not wishing to be Christified, will place one in Peter’s situation who wants Jesus to be the Christ but not the Christ of the Father but his own definition of Christ – Christ without Christified contents (that is Christ without thorns, crosses, and Golgotha). No one can take up the cross without first renouncing himself, his possessive attitude to earthly riches and glories, his slavery to his mundane passions and thoughts etc.
We cannot take up our crosses and then stand one place with them. When Jesus was giving a cross at the house of Pilate, it was for a reason. All the Jesus’ mockery, scourging, crowing with thorns etc, all happened in Pilate’s house. Immediately the soldiers laid cross on him, a movement was initiated, a movement from the court of Pilate to the Golgotha of bones. And both the cross and the movement had their finality. That is, carrying the cross, Christ was moving towards the place of his total and entire self-emptying.
Even with our crosses, we cannot be of Christ if we do not follow him through the same journey and path to the place of self-emptying and crucifixion, where everything will be taking away including the last cloth on our bodies, where our cross will be the only relationship and contact we have.
Only by going through these practical verbs (renounce, take up, and follow), can our desire to be Christ’s disciple be actualized. St. Paul expresses this in the second reading telling us that our desire and what we say we are must be seen in the way we live our lives. Peter failed and wanted Jesus to fail in this aspect because he wanted Jesus to be the Christ but not the one that will suffer. Hence, he did not want to be a disciple of the suffering Messiah.
BUT YOU, WHAT KIND OF CHRIST DO YOU WANT TO BE HIS DISCIPLE? WHAT
DOES THE WAY YOU LIVE YOUR LIFE SAY ABOUT YOU?
Fr. Henry Chukwuezugo Nnamah
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri