Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 12, 2021 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - B
[Isa 50:4-9a; Jas 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35][Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." [Mark]
"But who do you say that I am?" Jesus addresses this question to his disciples after asking them what they hear about him among the various audiences. They offer a wide variety of responses. Peter, speaking as the leader, responds, "You are the Christ." This was correct as far as it went, but it did not go far enough, because he [Peter] and the other disciples still had only a partial faith [like the blind man in the story that just precedes this one in the Gospel According to Mark]. Their notion of a messiah did not include someone who would be killed by the scribes and Pharisees and rise from the dead! The prophecy of Isaiah [in the first scripture for today] about a "suffering servant" did not apply to their notions. Jesus challenges them to think like God instead of humans!
In the Gospel According to Mark, the disciples would not completely understand the identity of Jesus until he had suffered, died and risen from the dead. We are in a different position, but the same question remains, "Who do you say that I am?" Which image forms in our minds? Is he the challenging and inspiring itinerant preacher? Is he the bloody pitiful body on the cross? Is he the glorified risen Lord? The disciples had only the first of those three in mind. God's plan was bigger. We are in the position of having the complete story in the scriptures. What do we have to say about Jesus? AMEN