Christ as the Suffering Servant and Meaning of Our Discipleship of the Christ – Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

The entire humanity needs the Christ (Messiah), the one anointed by God, to redeem the humanity’s original purity, which has been compromised by the fall of Adam and Eve. In fact, God had already made it clear about the coming of the Christ to destroy Satan, who tempted Adam and Eve to fall (i.e. Genesis 3:15). During Exodus, Moses also foretold the coming of the Christ (Messiah), as a prophet like him (Deuteronomy 18:15-22). The Israelites knew that he would come as a great light to turn name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace, to rule the world (Isaiah 9:1-6). Also, they knew his coming would also mean the judgement (Malachi 3:2-5,20-21 NABRE). But, who among the Israelites would have thought that the Messiah (Christ), the anointed by God, would be handed over to pagan authorities by their own religious leaders to be tortured and killed but raised from the dead on the third day from his death?

Probably, nobody, as they rather preferred to stick to a kingly image of their Messiah (Christ) for restoration of Israel and for just and prosperous dominion of the world (Zechariah 9:9-17), unless they interpreted that the four servant sons in the Book of Prophet Isaiah (42:1-7; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) refer to the Messiah.

Certainly, any of them could easily figure out that the Messiah would come as Israel’s holy redeemer to restore Israel, be alight for the Gentiles, and to bring salvation to all the ends of the earth in the first two servant songs (42:1-7; 49:1-6). But, how could they imagine the redemptive Messiah would endure suffering, inflicted by unrighteous people and be put to death by them, as reflected in the last two servant songs (50:4-9; 52:13-53:12)?

As evidenced in the Gospel Reading (Mark 8:27-35), certainly, Peter just could not imagine that the Messiah (Christ) would have to suffer and die, though, to be raised. Otherwise, how he would be rebuked rather so harshly by Jesus for protesting his foretelling of his suffering, death, and resurrection (Mark 8:31-33)?

Jesus has been in public for more than a year at the time when he asked his disciples how he had been seen in public and who they thought he was (Mark 8:27-29a). And it was Peter who identified Jesus as Christ correctly (Mark 8:29b).

The scripture readings of the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B, Isaiah 50: 5-9; Psalm: 116: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8: 27-35, have mainly two themes to reflect: Who Christ is and Our position as his followers. For the former, we see Christ as the suffering servant as described in the third and the fourth servant songs in Isaiah (50:4-9; 52:13-53:12), from the First Reading (Isaiah 50:5-9) and Jesus’ foretelling of his suffering, death, and resurrection (Mark 8:31), upon Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ (Mark 8:29b). For the latter, knowing that the Christ is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s suffering servant prophecy (Isaiah 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12), as he foretold (Mark 8:31), we must deny ourselves first and carry our crosses respectively, to follow him as his disciples (Mark 8:34). It also means that we are not attached to our earthly lives and worldly matters (Mark 8:35-37) and that we are neither afraid nor ashamed to walk his path, even though it may mean that we suffer and die (Mark 8:38).

Now we know that the Christ has come to fulfill the prophetic servant song in Isaiah, for the salvific redemption of the humanity, consummating this prophecy through his suffering, death, and resurrection (Isaiah 42:1-7; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12). So we shall walk before the Lord, with our confidence in him, for having us free our souls from death in our exodus from this world to his Kingdom, as reflected in the Responsorial Psalm (116: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9). But, we are not merely walking before the Christ toward the Kingdom but we are also demonstrating our faith in him through our works, keeping our faith alive and well, as reflected in the Second Reading (James 2:14-18). Mainly, we put our faith through works of mercy, to be merciful as the Father is so (Luke 6:36). Reflecting St. Thomas Aquinas’ argument of mercy (ST II-II-q30), the Catholic Church describes works of mercy as:

The works of mercy are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbor in his spiritual and bodily necessities. Instructing, advising, consoling, comforting are spiritual works of mercy, as are forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently. The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447).

Putting our faith in the Christ through our works of mercy, as we walk before him with confidence, means to imitate him, especially his works of mercy for us. We cannot let nothing stop us from our works of mercy, as our works of faith, even we may suffer and it may cost our lives, because our Christ has suffered and died for us, for our salvation. But his resurrection proves that his suffering and death have vindicated us (Romans 4:25; 8:34), and validated his teaching and our faith in him (1 Corinthians 15:14), as he himself was vindicated upon his suffering and death (1 Timothy 3:16; cf. Romans 8:11), fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy (50:7-9; 53:11-12).

Regarding Jesus as the Christ and his vindication and its salvific effect on us,  in his Pentecost speech, Peter said to those who witnessed the descent of the powerful Holy Spirit upon the disciples in Jerusalem:

My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the holy Spirit from the Father and poured it forth, as you (both) see and hear. For David did not go up into heaven, but he himself said: The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2:29-36).

Now, in the Gospel Reading (Mark 8:27-35) you may wonder why Jesus asked his disciples, who they think he was, when they were in Caesarea Philippi, which was heavily populated by spiritually filthy pagans, who worshiped Pan (Πάν) by practicing sexually immoral acts, child sacrifice, and so forth. Mark does not explain. But we can speculate that Jesus might have wanted his disciples to identify and know that he is the Christ, who was sent by the Father to conquer such spiritual and corporal evil, as to imply God’s declaration to destroy Satan by His Son born of the woman, namely Mary (Genesis 3:15). This is also a message that the Christ came to deliver people from demonic influence of evil deities, such as Pan. For this, he has suffered and died, And for the vindication of him and his Christological (Messianic) truth, he was raised from the dead. Now, we are in the new exodus, which Jesus was speaking with Moses and Elijah during his transfiguration (i.e. Luke 9:31), upon being delivered from things like Pan.