Word to the Wise
Thursday, May 15, 2008 - Thursday in the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
[James 2:1-9 and Mark 8:27-33]"Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply, "You are the Christ."
There's an old song that has a line in it that says, "....and then I go and spoil it all by saying something stupid like....." Well, leave it to Peter to do that. He makes the sublime confession of faith in Jesus as Messiah and then, when Jesus tries to explain what it means (suffering and rejection and death), Peter tries to rebuke him! Obviously Peter has a different idea of what being a Messiah means than Jesus has. The result is that Jesus rebukes him right back, "You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Well,...yes, I guess that's true. Perhaps that is where the lesson lies. Each of us has his or her own vision of the Messiah. Yes, there are certain dogmatic statements about Jesus that are part of the Catholic creed, but I don't notice that those are primary in people's lives (Second Person in the Trinity, hypostatic union of God and Human.....). The crucifix is a common image, but different cultures present that image in different ways. Stained glass windows and pictures in the Bible or devotional pictures such as the Sacred Heart or Divine Mercy, etc. I wonder if we would accept a wandering rabbi, the son of a carpenter from a little village, any easier than the people of Jesus' time? Clearly Peter had trouble, once deciding Jesus was the Messiah, understanding what that might mean. He had his own notions. So do we, but at least we know what Jesus meant by them and can compare! AMEN