Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 16, 2012 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Isa 50:4-9a; Jas 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35]Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.
It can be a dangerous question to ask, "Who do people say that I am?" We cannot be certain why Jesus asked it, We are warned that if we try to answer it, we had better think in a way different from our usual way. Peter, in the Gospel of Mark, gives the right answer on one level, but not on the level that Jesus wants. We learn that when Peter reacts negatively to Jesus' teaching about what will happen to him (Jesus) when he gets to Jerusalem! Obviously Peter's notion of the "Christ" did not include what Jesus had in mind. Isaiah's vision in the first scripture of the day is closer to the reality. We should also remember that in the Gospel of Mark the disciples don't really learn or understand who Jesus really is until his death and resurrection.
This still leaves us, in our day, with the same question. What does our own idea or understanding of Jesus include or exclude? Do we prefer to think of the gentle shepherd? The challenging prophet? The bloody body on the cross? The glorified risen Christ? Is he the "suffering servant" of Isaiah's majestic visions? Does the very question make us uncomfortable? Why? Is it easier to think of a healer and moral teacher without going to the deeper question of divinity? Centuries of Christian reflection have struggled with these questions. It's our turn now! Can we think as God does? AMEN
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