24th Sunday in Ordinary time B. September 15, 2024
Isaiah 50:5-9a; James 2:14-18; Mark
8:27-35
Theme: What Kind of Messiah Jesus is,
and What Kind of Disciples We Are Called to Be
September is the month of the Word of God.
The Church encourages us to regularly study, meditate, share, and pray with the
Sacred Scriptures. In last Sunday’s Gospel, we heard how Jesus healed a deaf
man with impediment speech. We, too, need Jesus to open our spiritual ears and
tongues so that we might hear and “speak” or proclaim the Word of God wherever
we live. Today, the Church suggests we meditate on the kind of Messiah Jesus is
and the kind of disciples we are called to be. The “suffering servant” the
author of our first reading refers to is the kind of Messiah Jesus is and the
kind of disciples we are called to be. Jesus is the Messiah who accepted to
suffer and die to save the world. As his disciples, we should deny ourselves,
take up our crosses, and follow him. This is not just a calling but an
inspiring invitation to a strong faith, which is put into action that Saint
James talks about in our second reading.
According to the setting of the New
American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), the story of the healing of the Blind
Man of Bethsaida (7:22-26), which immediately precedes our text, closes the part
two of the Gospel of Mark called “The Mystery of Jesus.” Then our Gospel text (including
vv.36-38 and ch.9:1 that the lectionary has omitted) opens part three, “The
Mystery Begins to Be Revealed. Mark’s Gospel contains sixteen chapters. Our
Gospel story is at the heart of it all, a pivotal moment that we are all part
of. In the first half of his Gospel, Mark walked us through the ministry of
Jesus in the Jewish and Gentile territories. Now, with our Gospel episode, he introduces
us to the turning point in his account of Jesus’ public ministry: Jesus starts revealing
what kind of Messiah he is and what kind of disciples his followers must be.
Our text is a narrative story. Vv. 27-30 can
be considered an introduction. The body of the text (vv. 31-35) has three
movements: (1) Jesus announces his Passion, Death, and Resurrection for the
first time (v. 31); (2) Peter rejects Jesus’ possibility of dying and Jesus
rebukes him for doing it (vv. 32-33); (3) Based on Peter’s objection, Jesus
teaches all of them about the conditions of discipleship (vv. 34-35). Vv.36-38
and ch.9:1, which the lectionary has omitted, can be considered a conclusion.
The introductory part begins with the
setting and Jesus’ double questions to his disciples regarding his divine
identity, which is hidden so far. On their way to the villages of Caesarea
Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples to tell him what the people and themselves
say who he is. He finds out that the people confuse him with John the Baptist,
Elijah, or one of the prophets, and his disciples, through the profession of
faith of Peter, believe he is the Messiah.
Why do people confuse Jesus with these
three significant figures? John the Baptist, Elijah, and a prophet share a
common characteristic. (1) John the Baptist called the people to radical repentance
to prepare themselves to welcome Jesus, the Messiah. (2) In 800 B.C., Elijah’s mission
was to call the Israelites to repent and remain faithful to God. According to Malachi’s
prophecy, Elijah will return to convert people before God comes for final
judgment (see Malachi 3:23-24). (3) Each prophet had a mission to call the
people of his generation to repentance and remain faithful to God. So, Mark,
already in chapter 6, showed how the people had different opinions of Jesus.
Some, like Herod, believed that Jesus was John the Baptist, who had been raised
from the dead. Others thought Jesus was Elijah. Still others confused Jesus
with one of the prophets (see Mark 6:14-16). In our Gospel passage, the disciples' answer to
Jesus’ first question demonstrates that, in the first half of Jesus' ministry, people’s
opinion of Jesus has not yet changed. They still think Jesus is John the
Baptist, or Elijah, or one of the prophets, but not the Messiah.
Unlike the people who still do not grasp
Jesus’ divine identity, Peter, on behalf of his fellow disciples, confesses
that Jesus is the Messiah (Mark 8:29). In Matthew’s version, Peter’s profession
of faith was the Divine revelation: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.” (Mat
16:17). Then, Jesus acknowledges this identification but orders his disciples
not to reveal it to anyone. Mark again employs the “Messianic secret” here as
he did in the stories of the Healings of a Deaf Man (see Mark 7:31-37) and the
Blind Man of Bethsaida (see Mark 8:22-26). Jesus prohibits his disciples from
revealing his divine identity to avoid confusing him as a political Messiah
whom the Jews were waiting for. He wants to ensure that his disciples
understand well what type of Messiah he is. Many people today still do not
believe in Jesus as their Messiah. We,
Christians, are called to tell them who Jesus really is. Before we do that, Jesus
wants to ensure that we, ourselves, believe and understand well the type of
Messiah he is. To connect it with this month of the Word of, the Church
encourages us to promote the Word of God to our brothers and sisters. But
before we do that, we should first become familiar with the Word of God by regularly
reading, studying, meditating on, and praying with the Bible.
The body of our Gospel story (vv. 31-35)
contains three movements. (1) Jesus declares his Passion, Death, and
Resurrection. (2) Disciples reject the type of Jesus’ Messiahship. (3) Jesus
teaches them the conditions for discipleship.
(1). After he finds out that his disciples
know he is the Messiah, Jesus starts revealing to them what kind of Messiah he
is. “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. He spoke this openly.” (Vv. 31-32a). Notice this detail the
evangelist added here: “[Jesus] spoke this openly.” He said it plainly, not in
a parable as usual, because he wanted his followers to understand the type of Messiah
he is and, consequently, the type of disciples they are to be. This is the
first time the disciples have heard about this shocking declaration. At this
point, they follow Jesus because they expect him to be a conqueror and a glorious
Messiah. To hear that their trusted Master is going to die is a shock. What is
their attitude now? Well, they are lost and deeply disappointed. Remember, Mark
puts this big announcement in the center of his Gospel to mean that it is a
very important issue to think of. This is the personal experience Jesus wants
his followers, including you and me, to do. As we follow Jesus, we must
understand very well that we are the followers of a suffering Messiah who is
ready to do everything that it takes, including laying down his life, to save
the people of God.
(2) Through Peter, the disciples reject
the type of Messiah Jesus wants to be, and Jesus rebukes them for doing so. “Then
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this, he turned around
and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” (Vv. 32b-33). In Matthew’s
version, the narrator tells us the words Peter used in his rejection: “God
forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” (Mat 16: 22b). Here,
Peter not only refuses “such thing” to happen to Jesus, but he also refuses it to
happen to them because he knows very well that as Jesus’ disciples, they are
called to follow their Master’s footsteps. Peter’s idea of not accepting the
cross is not the will of God but the will of Satan. That is why Jesus calls him
“Satan”. When he professed that Jesus was the Messiah, Peter was inspired by
God (see Matthew 16:17), but here, the fact that he rejects the type of Messiah
Jesus is, he is inspired by Satan. Like the disciples, many of us still prefer
to follow the glorious Messiah, who performs miracles whenever we call upon
him. Our Holy Mother Church teaches us that we should look at our Messiah first
of all as a suffering Messiah who denied himself, took up his cross, and died
for the salvation of humankind. His glory and power are demonstrated in his
cross. Therefore, we, his followers, are called to follow in his footsteps to
save our brothers and sisters.
(3) Based on the disciples' objection,
Jesus teaches them the three conditions of discipleship. To be Jesus’
disciples, his disciples and all of us Christians must deny ourselves, take up our
crosses, and follow Jesus. To deny ourselves means God’s mission is first, and
we are next because there is nothing more important than the mission of the
Church, which is to save the souls of God’s people. To take up our crosses means to accept with
courage and faith any suffering related to the mission of the Church. Prophet
Isaiah gives us his own painful experience as an example in our first reading.
he did not run away from those who tortured him. Rather, he courageously faced
them, believing God would not abandon him. To follow Jesus means we must learn
from him, imitate him, and so become “another Christ” where we live. Through
these three conditions of discipleship, Jesus wants his disciples and all of us
to know this paradox: “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.” (V. 35). When we accept to give up our lives (which means, we accept
suffering for his sake and the sake of the Gospel), we save them in the kingdom
of heaven, which begins here and now; but when we do not accept to be his
disciples (which mean, we avoid suffering for his sake and the sake of his
Gospel), we lose eternal life. We cannot say we are Christians or disciples by
the time we do not accept the conditions of discipleship. In our second
reading, Saint James says the same thing when he teaches his audience and us
that faith without works is dead. We need to demonstrate our faith from our
works (James 2:14-18).
Mark concludes our Gospel episode in Vv.
36-38 and Ch. 9:1, which the lectionary has omitted. Jesus declares, “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.” Notice how Mark associates Jesus with his Words or Gospel. He uses Words
and Gospel interchangeably. In v. 35b and 10:29, he employs “Gospel.” By linking
Jesus with the Word of God, the evangelist wants to teach us that we cannot
love Jesus without loving the Scriptures. September is the month of the Word of
God. Our Holy Mother Church encourages us to promote the Bible wherever we
live. To do that, we are called to study, meditate, share, and pray with the
Sacred Scriptures often and often without being ashamed.
Jesus is a Suffering Messiah, and we are
the Christians and disciples who accept suffering for his sake and the sake of
his Gospel. May the liturgy of this Mass strengthen our faith and give us the courage
to demonstrate our faith from our works without shame by denying ourselves,
taking up our crosses, and following our Lord wherever we live. Amen.
Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD
SVD USS Province Biblical Apostolate
Coordinator &
Retreat Center Director
No comments:
Post a Comment