The Scripture Readings for 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Isaiah 50:5-9a; Psalm 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35, challenge us to see the quality of our relationship with God, in particular, how we trust God, how securely attached to God, because this can affect if we can deny ourselves for God and therefore carry our respective crosses to demonstrate our faith in God by our apostolic mission works even to the point of death. The readings also assure that this is not a mere sacrifice for God but rather depositing our lives to God’s trust to make it eternal, as God is our help.
Are you close enough to
God – is your trust in God and attachment to God – if the quality of your faith strong enough to
deny yourself and demonstrate our faith in your work for His Gospel to the
point of death – as Jesus the Christ suffered and died to save us for his
Father’s will, because of his absolute obedience to Him?
Keep this in mind as we
proceed to explore the readings.
First, let’s review how
Jesus has come to the scene of this Sunday’s (24th Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Cycle B) Gospel Reading (Mark 8:27-35).
With compassion, Jesus
fed the great crowd of at least 5,000 out of five loaves and two fish near the
Sea of Galilee (Mark6:30-44). Afterward, he walked on the water to cross the
Sea of Galilee (Mark 6:45-56). He rebuked hypocrites from Jerusalem for
confusing a human tradition with God’s commandments and taught on the
importance of the purity of heart (Mark 7:1-23). Then, Jesus left Galilee and
began visiting areas where Gentiles were predominant populations.
In the area of Tyre,
Jesus met a Syrophenician woman, who besought him in the hope that he would cast
out demon out of her daughter, and healed the daughter for her mother’s way of
pursuing him (Mark 7:24-30). According to Mark, this is the first known case of
Jesus extending the same salvific benefits for the Jews to a Gentile. Then,
Jesus went around other predominantly Gentile areas and, as read last Sunday
(23rd Sunday), he healed a deaf man with speech impairment in the
region of Decapolis (Mark 7:31-37). By the time he had visited these Gentile
villages and towns, Jesus’ reputation as a great miracle healder, has been
already phenomenal.
Then, with compassion,
Jesus fed a crowd of the size of about 4,000, out of seven loaves, and moved to
the area of Dalmanutha (Mark 8:1-10).
And he was asked for a sign from heaven by the Pharisees but rebuked them (Mark
8:11-13).
After feeding and dealing with the Pharisees who
came to test him, Jesus warned his disciples for the yeast of the Pharisees and
the Sadducees (Mark 8:14-15). But the disciples seemed to have thought that
Jesus spoke of yeast because they forgot to bring bread (Mark 8:16). So, Jesus
had to teach them that he was not speaking of yeast to raise the dough for
bread but yeast as a symbolic metaphor for what corrupts us and makes us into
hypocrites like the Pharisees and Sadducees (Mark 8:17-21; cf. Mark 7:14-23).
After this, Jesus
healed a blind man in Bethsaida (Mark 8:22-26).
Then, Jesus and his disciples came to the Caesarea
Philippi area, which was well-known for being spiritually filthy, because of
Northern Kingdom’s kings promoted Canaanites’ pagan worship and forsaking
Yahweh the true God, ever since the reign of Jeroboam I. During the reign of
Ahab, whose wife was pagan, Jezebel, pushed worshiping Baal-Melkart, Tyrian
deity.
And it is also because of the Assyrian conquest,
resulting in migration of Assyrians being mixed with Jews. Then, it was
conquered by Alexander the Great, thus, being heavily Hellenized ever since, before
being made into Caesar’s territory.
Geographically, the region of Caesarea Philippi is where
the spring of Banias (or Panias) is. And this spring is names after Hellenistic
deity, Pan, and is known as a major source for the Jordan River. Upon Hellenization,
there has been a cult of human sacrifice there, throwing a person into the cave
by the Banias spring. If blood appeared in the spring, it was believed to be a
sign that Pan rejected the human sacrifice offering.
Caesarea Philippi was also where there was the
Temple of Caesar Augustus, as he was divinized. The temple to honor Caesar was
built by Herod the Great in his gratitude to Caesar Augustus for ordering him
to rule the area.
Given the above background, you can imagine how
spiritually filthy the region of Caesarea Philippi was. And in such a
spiritually corrupt area, Jesus brought his disciples and asked them how he was
seen in the public and how they see him (Mark 8:27-29).
The disciples said that some people think Jesus as
John the Baptist, while others think of him as Elijah or one of other prophets
(Mark 8:28). But, Jesus did not seem to care so much about how people thought
of him at that point. So, he pressed on the disciples on this question:
But
who do you say that I am?
(Mark 8:29a).
And out of the twelve, Peter answered:
You
are the Messiah (Mark 8:29b).
And Jesus ordered the disciples to keep this to
themselves (Mark 8:30).
Why Jesus did not want the public to know that he is
the Messiah?
In thinking of this, we need to remember why Jesus
ordered not to tell anyone about his healing to a man whose deafness and speech
impairment were completely healed by Jesus (Mark 7:36) and why Jesus ordered
not to go to village to the man, whose blindness was healed by Jesus in Bethsaida
(Mark 8:26).
Simply put it, it was because Jesus did not want the
public to disturb his mission until it is completed. He knew that the public
could be divided to those who would force him to be their king (John 6:15) or
could try to destroy him even though it was not his time to die (John 5:16-47;
7:1, 14-36; 8:12-59; 11:45-57).
Jesus’ reluctance to have his miraculous works and
his true identity be known prematurely in public is known as “Messianic secret”. But, in this spiritually filthy place, Caesarea
Philippe, Jesus wanted his disciples to know who he really is by asking them, “Who do you say that I am? (Mark 8:29b).
To the public, Jesus wanted to keep the “Messianic
secret”, though he wanted his disciples to know him as the Messiah, so that
they could understand Christological and soteriological significance of his
miraculous works and signs. And this is, in fact, reflected in these words of
Jesus in response to being asked why he spoke of the Kingdom in parables upon
speaking of the parable of the sower:
The
mystery of the kingdom of God has been granted to you. But to those outside
everything comes in parables, so that they may look and see but not perceive, and
hear and listen but not understand, in order that they may not be converted and
be forgiven
(Mark 4:11-12).
To Jesus, his disciples were the “insiders” while
the general public were “outsider” at that time – while Jesus had begun closing
a gap between the Jews and the Gentiles (Mark 7:24-37). So, the “insiders” to
whom Jesus was willing to reveal who he is, are also those who truly believe in
him without trying to make him king or politicizing him –whether they are Jews
or Gentiles.
This is also reflected in these words of Jesus in
terms of the importance of child-like humility:
I
give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have
hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the
childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been
handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no
one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal
him (Matthew 11:25-27).
This is also echoed in a punch line of the Gospel
Reading for the 25th Sunday, Cycle B:
Whoever
receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives
me, receives not me but the One who sent me (Mark 9:37).
Jesus wants his “insiders”, those who are worthy to
have his revelation, are to be of child-like humility.
Jesus’ primary “insiders”, the twelve disciples, knew
of Jesus’ Christological identity, upon Peter’s identification.
So, Jesus wanted to go further on who he is as the
Messiah (Christ) by openly foretelling of his death and resurrection, to the
twelve, for the first time.
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
(Mark 8:31).
This is foretelling that Jesus, as the Messiah, is
to fulfill Isaiah 53:3-11.
And the First Reading (Isaiah 50:5-9a) indicates why
Jesus can suffer greatly, being rejected and killed. In particular:
The
Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; Therefore I have set my face
like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. He who declares my
innocence is near. Who will oppose me? Let us appear together. Who will dispute
my right? Let them confront me. See, the Lord God is my help; who will declare
me guilty? (Isaiah 50:7-9a).
Note the repeated expression of “The Lord God is my help” to draw the
necessary strengths to endure the great suffering and death. And to draw such
strengths from the Lord God, one must be so intimate with Him, as reflected in
the Responsorial Psalm (116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9). To put this in terms of Erik
Erikson’s psychosorial development theory and John Bowlby’s attachment theory,
one must be securely attached to the Lord God and trust Him as “my help”, as
trust is drawn only when secure attachment is established. And Jesus, the Son,
is perfectly securely attached with the Father (John 10:30, 38).
So, now the depth of the Christological identity of
Jesus, his fate to die and resurrect, was revealed to his “insiders”.
But, Peter, the one who identified Jesus as the
Messiah reacted against this by protesting to the prospect of Jesus’ death
(Mark 8:32). And Jesus rebuked Peter with these harsh words:
Get
behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do
(Mark 8:33).
This is not to call Peter “Satan”. The expression, “Get behind me, Satan”, is rather a
hyperbolic expression to say, “put behind your inability to think like God”, in
contrasting God against Satan. And, typical human minds, without belief in God
as “my help”(Isaiah 50:7a, 9a), is susceptible
to Satan’s influence and unable to think like God.
Then, Jesus draw “outsiders” (crowd) to his “insiders”
(the twelve disciples) and said to speak of what it means to be his “insiders”,
his disciples:
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 (Mark 8:34-35).
There are two conditions to this: self-denial and taking up one’s cross. It means that the discipleship demands one to shrink one’s ego as it can be a major impediment, to do the works on mission, which can risk one’s life (Matthew 10:16//Luke 10:3). By self-denial, we can lessen fear of death and, therefore, reluctance to carry our respective cross, which symbolizes what these words of Jesus mean, “must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed”(Mark 8:31).
And, what did Jesus mean by, “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” (Mark 8:35) ?
This is a paradoxical truth about a problem of
typical human thinking of helping themselves by themselves. It is the truth about
human efforts per se will not attain eternal life – life beyond death and
resurrection, patterned by Jesus himself (1 Corinthians 15:12-58). Those who
are entitled to eternal life are the ones who can carry on their given missions
for the sake of Christ’s Gospel, even it may cost their lives.
The ultimate way to carry our respective cross is to
lose our lives for the sake of Christ’s mission of the Gospel. And this is,
indeed, first demonstrated by Christ himself, just as he himself foretold as
the core of his Christological identity to his twelve disciples.
What we learn from the Gospel Reading (Mark 8:27-35)
is that his death and resurrection constitute the essence of Jesus’
Christological identity. And this is not just be revealed to us so that we
believe in him but, more importantly, so that we can follow him as his
disciples by denying ourselves and carrying our respective cross – doing our
Christ-assigned mission works for the sake of his Gospel, even it may cost our
lives.
As the Second Reading (James 2:14-18) reminds us,
our faith would mean nothing unless it is demonstrated in our works. And, Jesus
gives the ultimate way to demonstrate our faith in him through our work, and it
is to carry our respective cross by doing our apostolic mission works to the
point of losing our lives.
The First Reading (Isaiah 50:5-9a) gives an
assurance of God’s help so that we do not let our fear prevent us from
attaining eternal life by carrying on our apostolic mission works for the
Gospel as our cross bearings.
The fact that Jesus asked the disciples who they
think he is and revealed the essence of his Christological identity by
foretelling his death and resurrection in Caesarea Philippe, which was rather
synonymous to spiritual filth, was to contrast his way, which is God’s way,
against worldly ways, which are nothing but human ways and ways of Satan. And,
in places like Caesarea Philippe, the latter may ridicule the former way,
saying things like, “Why do you have to be stupid to sacrifice your life for
God, when you can gain for yourself?”
But, those who practice God’s way can say, “What can
we gain for ourselves by forsaking God’s way?”
So, following today’s Gospel Reading text, we find
these words of Jesus:
What
profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? What
could one give in exchange for his life? Whoever is ashamed of me and of my
words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed
of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels
(Mark 8:36-38).
To those who practice God’s way by their works of
faith know that what the world says “sacrificing life for God” is not really a mere
sacrifice, like pagan sacrifices, but to deposit one’s life to God’s trust to
enjoy it to be returned as eternal one.
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