24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 8:27-35

JESUS and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, “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.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

He 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.”

REFLECTION

The Gospel story today contains a very important, albeit, complex lesson about Jesus: who Jesus is, what his mission is about, what it would take for him to live up to his identity and accomplish his mission, and, consequently, what it would take for someone who wishes to follow him to become truly his disciple. The story was set on the road to Jerusalem. Jesus and his disciples were “along the way,” and although still quite far from their final destination which is Jerusalem, he already had in mind what was about to happen once they arrive there. Perhaps, in order to prepare his disciples to an eventuality that was not yet within the range of their comprehension or expectations, he took a moment to ask them a very crucial and pertinent question: “Who do people say that I am?” This led to the next and even more important and imperative question for his disciples to answer, “But who do you say that I am?”

Evidently, what appears to be important to Jesus was not so much what other people thought of him as how his very own disciples or followers regarded him. He knew and understood that people outside the circle of the disciples naturally had a very limited and superficial knowledge of him. But his disciples who had been with him for quite some time should certainly have a better idea of who he is whom they had been following all along. So now came the test question, as it were: did they really know Jesus? If so, what exactly did they know of him? To these questions, it was Simon Peter who, in behalf of the disciples, replied : “You are the Christ.”

That appeared to be generally what they had come to know about Jesus through their intimate and personal encounter with him, through their own witness of what he did in their sight. Yet, Jesus appeared concern about what they thought they knew about him, what they supposed the title Christ mean. Hence, “he warned them not to tell anyone about him.” And with this came the important lesson; he began to teach them about his fate that he “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days.” Upon hearing this, it was the disciples' turn to get worried and be so concerned. After all, being his followers, their fate had become intertwined with his. His success would be their success; his failure their failure; his fame their fame, his ignominy their ignominy. Naturally, they were expecting the better turn of events. Who would want failure, who would want disaster? Certainly not they who just like any other persons in their normal frame of mind prefer to see only the bright side of things.

Again it was Peter who tried to articulate this view. He rebuked Jesus for talking about the tragic destiny that he pictured for himself. But imagine a student, a disciple for that matter, rebuking his teacher, imagine a follower refusing to follow and to learn from his master, but wishing to teach and be followed instead! And yet, it was not so much for Peter’s affront as for his trying to tempt Jesus to abdicate his mission that the latter called him, “Satan” (meaning, tempter). Jesus must have felt that the devil whom he thought he had already vanquished and banished for good in the wilderness of the temptations, had returned—this time, in the very person of his disciple, the one whom he considered to be the rock of faith. Jesus wasted no time in putting Peter in his right place, where he should be, which was exactly to be right behind Jesus, not before him. Simon Peter was supposed to be a follower, a firm and faithful supporter and not an obstacle to his path; he should be one who thinks in divine rather than in human terms. But Simon Peter was, in today's Gospel, still Simon—a simple and weak human being in need of conversion, correction and hard lesson about true discipleship. And so, again, Jesus taught him what discipleship means and what this demands of a true follower, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”

Discipleship is all about Jesus and not about us. The focus is really on him: our Leader, our Teacher, our Master, our Lord. Thus, following him requires self-denial. After all the Kingdom that Jesus preached was all about God, His justice, peace and love which Jesus tried to make known by all and understood by all, especially and primarily by those who have come to know and follow him. Following Jesus is learning Jesus: learning his mind, his feelings, and his ways. All of this requires us to embark on a journey of self-forgetfulness and self-denial—for love of him, faith in him, and hope in him. Discipleship with Jesus is a journey of total embrace of this Jesus as our Teacher, Messiah, and Lord. This journey becomes more difficult as we progress towards the goal, but this difficulty means that we are in fact being drawn much closer to him who has called us and loved us in the first place. Oh, indeed, we have so much to learn about the Master and from the Master; we have so much to give up and to suffer for the Christ who had suffered and died! Ω