Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 19, 2016 - 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Zech 12:10-11; 13:1; Gal 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24]Then [Jesus] said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Christ of God." He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders,the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." Then he said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." [Luke]
SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2016 TWELFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
[Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1; Galatians 3:26-29; Luke 9:18-24]
Then [Jesus] said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Christ of God." He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He said, "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders,the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." Then he said to them, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." [Luke]
The gospels are an effort to preach the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection. They try to tell as much of the story as each evangelist had resources to tell it. It is much like four different plays, two of which [Matthew and Luke] rely in part on the first one to be written [Mark]but have resources of their own, and one of which [John] seems to have a completely different set of resources. All these "resources" were oral (maybe some written) accounts in circulation in the early Christian community. Scripture scholars believe that the stories of Jesus' last days were the first and most prominent, followed by a desire to know more about his life and finally about his origins. It was as if the community began to tell the story beginning with the end and working back to the beginning. Perhaps some of this is at work in the element which is known traditionally as the "Messianic secret." Why wouldn't Jesus want everyone to know that he is the "Christ of God." Why would he ask the disciples to keep it a secret?
Several theories are possible. One of them is that any such talk could attract a hostile response from Jewish or Roman authorities and short circuit the whole ministry. Another theory is that to understand Jesus we have to know the whole story. His identity as the "Christ of God" would not be known until his resurrection. It is only then that the disciples (and we) can understand the line about taking up our cross to follow him. At the point in the story that we have today, there is no such notion to the disciples that Jesus would be rejected and put to death by the religious authorities.
We have the advantage of knowing the whole story, and it is the whole story that we are called to preach. Whatever reason there may have been for keeping Jesus' true identity a secret when he lived on earth, that reason does not exist now. We must tell the whole story and take up the cross if we want to save our lives. AMEN
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