Fr. Manuel João, comboni missionary
Sunday Reflection
from the womb of my whale, ALS
Our cross is the pulpit of the Word
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Mark 8:27-35: “You are the Christ”
THE TIME OF TESTIMONY
Today’s Gospel passage presents us with the so-called confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi, an episode also recounted by St. Matthew and St. Luke. The Gospel of St. Mark, written primarily with catechumens in mind, revolves around the central theme of the identity of Jesus. One question runs through it from beginning to end: “Who is this man?” (Mk 4:41). The title St. Mark gave his Gospel was: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1). With today’s passage, we have reached the central point of the journey proposed by his Gospel: “You are the Christ!” This confession of faith in Jesus’ messianic nature marks the first great milestone and signals a turning point towards the second stage: the recognition of His divine sonship, which will occur at the cross: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (15:39).
“You are the Christ!” While the crowds perceive Jesus as a special figure but interpret him through past categories (John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets), Peter sees in Jesus the Messiah, the one Israel had been awaiting for centuries, foretold by the prophets. A figure, therefore, who comes “from the future,” as a promise of God, projecting into the future as the hope of Israel.
The Hebrew word Mashiah or Messiah, translated as “Christ” in Greek, means “Anointed.” Kings, prophets, and priests were anointed (with fragrant oil) at the time of their election. Over time, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One par excellence, came to be seen as the eschatological liberator awaited by the people of God, considered by some to be of priestly lineage, by others of royal lineage.
Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ. He acknowledges this himself during his interrogation before the Sanhedrin: “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” Jesus replied, “I am!” (Mk 14:60-61), causing the high priest’s scandal. So why did Jesus impose silence on the apostles, “sternly ordering them not to tell anyone about him”? Because that title was laden with earthly expectations and ambiguities. Israel expected a terrestrial and glorious Messiah, while Jesus would be a defeated and humiliated Messiah. Only after his passion and death, when it became clear what kind of messianism was his—that of the “Servant of Yahweh” of the first reading—did the title “Christ” become his second name. We find it more than 500 times in the New Testament, almost always as a compound name: Jesus Christ, or Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly… and he spoke this openly.” “Began”: this marks a new beginning! Every milestone reached becomes a new starting point because God is always beyond. The new stage is that of the cross, a word that appears here in Mark for the first time. Here Peter, proud of having won the previous stage, immediately stumbles, indeed becomes a stumbling stone himself (Mt 16:23).
This new beginning corresponds to a new vocation, addressed to both the disciples and the crowd: “Calling the crowd with his disciples, he said to them: ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’” This new stage is not for mere sympathizers or amateurs. The road becomes arduous. It involves carrying the cross (every day, says Luke), that is, accepting one’s own reality without dreaming of another, and following Jesus. The stakes are high: to gain or lose one’s life, the true one!
Points for Reflection
“But who do you say that I am?” This question challenges the disciples of Jesus of all times and demands from us a personal, conscious, and existential response. We know well the opinion of the people. For many, Jesus of Nazareth is a special figure of history, a man of God, a dreamer or a revolutionary. For the majority, however, he is a figure of the past who has had his time. “But for you, who am I?” The adversative conjunction “but” preceding the question will always set us apart from the common opinion. The disciple of Jesus distinguishes himself from the anonymous crowd by a profession of faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, the Christ, anointed and sent to bring liberation to the world (Luke 4:18-21).
For the Christian, Christ is the key to history and the meaning of life. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the One who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty,” “the First and the Last, the Living One,” “the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 1:8; 1:17-18; 21:6; 22:13). Without His “I Am,” I am not. As Hilary of Poitiers (+367) prayed: “Before knowing you, I did not exist, I was unhappy, the meaning of life was unknown to me, and in my ignorance, my deep being eluded me. Through your mercy, I began to exist.”
Confessing that Jesus is the Christ implies being ready to endure his same destiny. Our time will increasingly be a time of martyrs, of witnesses. It will not be a glorious and heroic martyrdom, but humble and hidden. The Christian is one who welcomes and keeps “the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 1:2, 9; 12:17; 19:10; 20:4), the “faithful Witness” (1:5; 3:14) to communicate it to humanity: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).
Fr. Manuel João Pereira Correia, mccj
