Mark 8, 27-Mark 9-1 (Peter’s
Confession)
And
Jesus went on with his disciples into the region of Caesarea Philippi
(in the north of the land at the source of the
Jordan where the Roman Caesar was worshiped as a divine being). And on the way
there he asked the disciples (and said to them), “Who do people say that I am?”
They said to him, “Some say
that you are John the Baptist; others say Elijah, still others that you are one
of the prophets.”
Then
he asked them, “And you, who do you say that I am?’
Then
Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”
And Jesus warned them not to
tell anyone about him.
And he began to teach them: “The Son of Man must suffer much and will
be rejected by the leaders of the people, by the elders and the teachers of the
law, and he will be killed and after three days he will rise again.” Freely and
openly he told them this.
Then Peter took him aside and began to urge him not to let
this happen. He, however, turned around, looked at his disciples, and
reprimanded Peter, saying to him, “Withdraw from me; now the adversary is
speaking through you! Your thinking is not divine but merely human in nature.”
Raphael |
And
he said to them, “The truth I say to you, among those who are standing here there
are some who will not taste death before they behold the kingdom of God arising
in human beings, revealing itself in the power and magnificence of the spirit.”
1st August/September Trinity
July 22, 2012
Mark 8:27 – Mark 9:1
We have passed the half-way point in the year. Those of us
in the Northern Hemisphere are descending from the year’s zenith. For those in
the Southern Hemisphere, the time of deepest darkness is past. Now begins the
ascent into the light.
In today’s reading, Peter’s recognition of the Christ in
Jesus is a kind of a high point. It allows Christ to further reveal even more
of Himself—He says that the Son of Man must suffer much, be rejected, killed.
But He will rise again. He speaks of a descent into the depths of human
existence, into death, and beyond; for He will rise again.
This revelation seems to spur Peter’s thinking into a narrow
abyss of fear—he urges Jesus to save His skin; but thereby Peter’s practicality
misses the bigger picture, and he inadvertently opposes Christ’s mission. For
in conquering death, Christ will ultimately make the earth itself into His
body.
In our lives too, there are moments when the working of the
divine reveals itself, often in the midst of an ordeal. We may not recognize it
until later. And we may also then see how we resisted it out of fear or pride.
Though it is certainly human enough that we resist
suffering, we ultimately need not fear it. These are indeed just the places
where Christ is most easily found. For He has placed Himself forever into the
depths of human existence. Whether we are ascending into the light, or
descending into darkness, He always there to help us begin anew. As Vaclav
Havel said,
Once I begin, once I try --
here and now,
right where I am,
….-- as soon as I begin that,
I suddenly discover,
to my surprise, that
I am neither the only one,
nor the first,
nor the most important one
to have set out
upon that road.[1]
www.thechristiancommunity.org
[1] Vaclav Havel, “It Is I Who Must Begin’ in Teaching
With Fire, ed. by S.M. Intrator and M. Scribner
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