Who do the crowds say that I am?

And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah and others say that one of the old prophets has risen up again."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."   Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?   For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."

- Luke 9:18-27

In yesterday's reading, Jesus sent out His twelve disciples on their first mission.  Luke tells us He gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.  He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.  He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bad nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.  Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.  And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them."  So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.  When Herod Antipas heard about Jesus, he wondered who He was; some said Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected, whom Herod had beheaded; some said He was Elijah returned.  When the Apostles came back from their mission, Jesus withdrew with them to a deserted place near Bethsaida, but when the crowds heard Jesus was there, they flocked to Him.  Jesus spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, and healed those who needed it.  At the close of the day, the Apostles told Jesus He should send the crowds away to find food, and places for shelter.  But He said to them, "You give them something to eat."  They said they had only five loaves and two fish -- where were they going to get food for this crowd?  There were about five thousand men there (and more women and children).  Jesus told the disciples to make the people sit in groups of fifty, and they did so.  Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of the leftover fragments were taken up by them.

 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  So they answered and said, "John the Baptist, but some say Elijah and others say that one of the old prophets has risen up again."  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God."  My study bible has an important note here:  "What the crowds have to say about Jesus is of little importance.  The disciples learn that lesson here.  In the New Testament, the opinion of the crowd is seldom, if ever, clear, and often completely wrong."  It also says, "A great moment in the ministry of Jesus comes when Peter, on behalf of the disciples, acknowledges Jesus as the Christ of God."  In other Gospels, Jesus adds that it is the Father who has made this known to the disciples, revealed it to them.  But we get the strong flavor here of the difference between the crowds, and the intimacy of the disciples' relationship.  We come to know Christ truly in the heart.  Jesus will teach elsewhere, and repeatedly, that we cannot judge by appearances, but must judge by good judgment.  If the story of Jesus tells us nothing else, it tells us this truth.

And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day."  My study bible tells us, "Jesus desires to keep His messiahship hidden to avoid (1) popular political misunderstanding and (2) quick intervention by the Romans."  It also points out that Luke omits Peter's objection to Jesus' announcement of His Passion -- just as it also omits Jesus' statement about the Father's revelation that He is the Christ.  But the basic importance here is not lost on us:  just as He is revealed to be the Christ, the adversity that will come to Him is also revealed, both to us as readers and to the Apostles.  Even without Peter's objection, it is a stunning, shocking revelation.  In the life of the Church, we will come to understand it as scandal and stumbling block.

Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.  For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?   For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God."  The real message of the Cross is here, delivered to the Apostles, and given to us and all who would follow in the disciples' footsteps.  We are all to take up our crosses daily.  This is a strong message to the Apostles, and the lives that they will lead as His followers and bearers of the Kingdom into the world.

What does it mean to you to take up your cross daily?  Have you had experiences where you have had to choose between your faith and something else that was precious to you?  Really, I find that these choices can come in all kinds of forms.  In the present reading, we can see the juxtaposition of appearances, of what the crowds think, and what Jesus is teaching His Apostles here.  Not only is it truly revealed to them who He is, in opposition to the opinions of the crowds (and the wondering of Herod in yesterday's reading), but juxtaposed against the "power" of the crowds, and the "power" of Herod Antipas, is the power of the Cross, and what will come to be in Jesus' Passion.  Perhaps it's the most powerful message of the Gospel, that Jesus' life isn't one of ease and comfort and material power.  It's not that this power isn't there -- but the power in this Kingdom is one that allies itself with all things within us, one that will teach us to value soul and spirit as well as body.  It is a kind of power that has to infuse all of our lives and make of us a wholeness and completeness, and one that continues to grow.  But the growth of this Kingdom comes through the cross, and for each one of us, growth will come as we shed lives that often are structured by appearance.  Above all, we see the intimacy of relationship which Christ establishes with His Apostles.  What He will ask of each one really comes down to each one.  How God will develop their talents is a question of that relationship, and the relationship each has to the Body, as a separate and unique part of the Body.  And so it is with each one of us.  Like new wine in old wineskins, this life will ask us to grow, and also to cast off our own "old wineskins" it must ask us to grow out of -- and that is the life of the Cross.  There will be ways of relating and thinking that we need to grow out of; we need to learn how not to "follow the crowds."   We will "put away childish things."  How do you take up your cross daily, in His name, as one of His followers?