24th Sunday in Ordinary time
Is. 50: 5-9; elm. 2: 14-'8; Mk. 8: 27-35
The Gospel opens with a very' innocuous question from Jesus about who He is. It takes the impetuous Peter to see and declare Him as the Anointed One, the Christ. Jesus immediately counsels His followers to keep this a secret, because it adds to the popular conception that this Messiah will be a leader who will save his people from Roman subjugation and slavery, whereas what He offers is the way of the cross - suffering, rejection and death. And so He remonstrates and chides Peter for his reply - "the way you think is not God's way, but man's."
This is a crucial turning point in Mark's Gospel: up to this point, Jesus has been proclaiming the Kingdom by word and deed, healing, performing miracles, casting out devils. From this moment on, He will begin to teach more clearly what the Christ's true role is, and the way of life His followers can expect - suffering, rejection, death.
How many times have you heard others say that they have fallen away from God or the Church because He didn't answer their prayers? Of course there's a feeling of abandonment, but God guarantees eternal life, not this life, and the only way to eternal life is through the loss of this one.
Following Christ is not a matter of trying to manipulate God into our way of thinking and comfort - Jesus as we heard, roundly rebuked Peter for just such an approach. Following Him means that we accept losing our life for His sake - the Christian paradox. But to carry the cross with Him isn't a death wish, but a life wish. It may mean losing our friends, our family, our health, our livelihood . perhaps even our good name. But after Good Friday, there is still Easter Sunday! Today, Jesus poses us the question, i.Vho do you say I am? Do you accept Me as your leader? So as Jesus makes His way to Jerusalem to endure the cross imposed by others, we can truly say that He is beginning to teach the only way to eternal life. Do we accept that teaching in our own lives? Are we really prepared to give up this world's attractions for the next?