Scripture Readings: Zechariah 12:10-11; Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians 3:26-29; Gospel According to Saint Luke 9:18-24
In this Sunday’s Gospel, Saint Luke the Evangelist reveals something which Saint Paul, through personal experience, phrased in his own concise way: “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 23).
The Gospel passage begins with stating “Jesus was praying,” which indicates the importance of the event and what is to follow. In Jesus’ prayer, mentioned often in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, Jesus reveals and makes clear the mission the Father has given him, accepting with filial trust and piety the implications of the mission, in all its many facets.
While praying, Jesus asks his followers, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” The question is not to inform Jesus himself, but his followers, about the nature of their Master and what he is about to undergo.
The disciples say to the Lord that there are rumors that Jesus is actually John the Baptist or maybe Elijah or another prophet of old. Jesus, knowing full well the truth of the matter, asks more pointedly: but you, who do you say that I am?” Here is the moment of truth and a question for us as well.
Peter, spokesperson for the other followers of the Lord, gets the answer right when he says, “You are the Messiah of God.” Put another way, Peter recognizes (as we are to also) and states that Jesus is that chosen person, sent and anointed by God to bring about the salvation of the human race. Of course this is a tremendous mystery to express and behold.
It may be difficult for us to fully grasp the depths of the title, “Messiah,” because we are so far removed from the eager longing which had matured over four centuries in the hearts of God’s people. It became part and parcel of their religious life and reflection, day in and day out.
The nearest we come to such yearning for the coming Messiah may be in the liturgical season Advent, when the Scriptures and hymns speak in phrases, for example, such as, “Come, Lord Jesus,” and, “O come, o come, Emmanuel.” Especially in Advent our hearts are longing for the promised Messiah, but actually should be at all times as well.
If we can enter into the spirit intended by the Gospel writers, of awaiting the long-expected Messiah-Savior, then we can experience something of the depth of meaning of Messianic hope and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel text for this Sunday, right after the confession of faith of Peter that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the disciples are told to remain silent, for the Son of Man is to suffer, be rejected, put to death and rise again from the dead. But why remain silent about it? Because, for the moment, that might be more useful, in order for the disciples gradually and more fully to see the full implications of the Suffering Servant, Jesus. Otherwise, they might be scandalized and flee in the face of all that Jesus is to undergo in order to fulfill the Scriptures, that is, doing God’s will, for the redemption of God’s people once and for all.
Jesus then turns to the crowd following him, and we are to recognize ourselves as among the followers, and emphatically states the demand of the call to follow Jesus. What does it entail? Denial of self, taking up one’s cross each day, losing one’s life in order to really save it.
We are called to follow a Crucified Christ, but one who also rose from dead. Christ lives forever and we are invited to be partakers of that glory, now and in the life to come. The same divine call which governed the life of Jesus and led him to the Cross is to govern our lives as Christians also. This is the meaning of true discipleship.
The call of Jesus does not mean annihilation of our personality or our lovability, but losing ourselves within family and Church, nation and world, that we may really find ourselves as alive in Jesus Christ where all are one. As someone recently expressed it to me: it’s all about CALM, that is, Christ Alive and Living within Me, to borrow a notion from Saint Paul the Apostle. Put another way, our religious is not a matter of “pie in the sky,” but walking in the footsteps of the Master, here and now, until our final breath. And after that, sharing the victory of Christ over death itself.
Taking up our cross each day, and of course each one’s cross is different from his or her neighbor, co-worker, community member, classmate, etc., means a daily step forward to our triumph with the wounded, scarred and glorious Lord Jesus Christ in heaven.
In this regard, we find in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles the inspired phrase: “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts of the Apostles, chapter 14, verse 22). A more literal translation of the text, originally in Greek, reads something like: “We must through much tribulations (or afflictions) enter into the Kingdom of God.” May that encourage and never stifle us!
Prior Christian Leisy, OSB
Monastery of Christ in the Desert
Abiquiu, New Mexico
