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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 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
On Saturday, we read that Jesus called His twelve disciples together and 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. And He said to them, "Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag 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. Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him; and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again. Herod said, "John I have beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things?" So he sought to see Him. And the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. Then He took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. But the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing. When the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here." But He said to them, "You give them something to eat." And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people." For there were about five thousand men. Then He said to His disciples, "Make them sit down in groups of fifty." And they did so, and made them all sit down. 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 again." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered and said, "The Christ of God." My study bible suggests that, "as in every generation, what the crowds have to say about Jesus is usually unpredictable and misguided." It adds that "Who do you say that I am?" is the ultimate question both in Scripture and in all theology. The answer to the question really defines the universe and its nature. Christ (Messiah in the Hebrew) means "Anointed One." Peter's declaration thereby reveals that Jesus isn't just another anointed King or prophet, but rather the long-awaited Savior.
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." Jesus wishes to keep His identity secret (that is, His identity as the Christ) so that He may avoid popular political and theological misunderstandings. When He preached about "new wine" needing "new wineskins," it was an indication of the broadening out of faith concepts that comes with His ministry and mission. It is He who must define this Himself. My study bible tells us that it is only after His Passion and Resurrection that His identity as Messiah can be understood. Despite the growing hostility of the religious leadership, Jesus calls all to faith through love -- not based on outward signs, nor "worldly" power of any kind.
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." My study bible suggests two things here: First, each must take up his or her own cross. This may mean a different sort of burden for each person, and each "has been chosen by God to bear certain struggles for his own salvation and the salvation of those around him." Second, the cross is to be taken up daily. This faith commitment isn't just a one-time event, but rather a continual practice of faith and obedience to Christ -- and this is before all things, even to the point of persecution and shaming by the world. We're called to be like Him.
"But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God." My study bible tells us this is a reference to those who will witness the Transfiguration (which follows these verses), as well as to those in each generation who experience the presence of God's kingdom.
This is a turning point in Jesus' ministry, in the sense that now His identity as Christ is fully revealed -- at least as far as the Gospel is concerned. Peter's confession of faith brings it out into the open and confirms all the "signs" we've seen, all the things Jesus has done as part of His public ministry and His teachings to the disciples. Listening to a lecture by Fr. Thomas Hopko on the names of God in Christian tradition, I was struck by part of his lecture in which he noted that in the Jewish tradition, a name is given in response to what someone or something does. For example, in the Old Testament, Adam gives the animals names based on his observation of them. It reminds me of Jesus' teaching that "by their fruits you shall know them." In this sense, doing becomes a key to identity, to being. That's another important way we can look at Christ -- at Jesus. We observe His ministry, we watch what He does, we listen to what He teaches, and all of these things have, all along, been clues to who He really is. The thing is, if we come to Christ in love, then it becomes about how He's truly identified, and not by simply knowing a name. We see His love, we observe what He does for others, we note His relationship of love to the Father, His loyalty to His disciples, His kindness and compassion, His deep feelings for His friends, and protection of His disciples -- and desire to do so even for those who reject Him. All these things are clues to who He is. They are the things that compel us to love Him and to want to know Him via a depth of relationship to Him. In today's reading, He also immediately calls all of us -- truly all of us -- to be like Him, in ways that He predicts but haven't been fulfilled yet in the Gospel. He tells Peter and all of the disciples that awful things are going to happen to Him at the hands of the religious leadership and that He will be killed. But immediately His teaching goes to what we must do: we must be like Him. We must take up our cross daily. We deny ourselves. And, "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." He lives out these words Himself, and there is so much more to come, so many trials and traumas, and so much faith that must be drawn upon, made strong, tested, and built up through experience. All of this is to say that our very human Jesus is also the Christ, which we know not just because He says so, and not just because somebody thinks so, but because of what we know and what we see and what He does. This extends into our own lives where His presence, and our dialogue via prayer, can play a great role in shaping how we know who Christ is. We are able to enter into an intimate relationship, a true dialogue, and know what He does in our own lives. Given all of this, we can think also about His call to us to take up our own crosses and to be like Him. We can think about how whatever we do reflects who we are, and think about our choices in life. This isn't an easy judgment of people. There are plenty of things Jesus "does" that seem offensive, in particular to the religious authorities who will deem Him not only a sinner but a blasphemer. This is not to say that we judge by appearances, which Christ Himself has spoken against. Rather, it is a way to understand that "a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks" (see this reading from Luke 6). We're to look to what we do, to what we say, how we affect others, what kindness we can practice, what hope and reconciliation we can bring, and -- perhaps most importantly -- how we handle averse situations. We do "like" He did. We turn to God and find our way, so that what we do or choose reflects this commitment, this faith. In this sense, His teaching about losing our lives to save them takes on the condition of giving up our ideas of who we are or can be to Him, and bearing His likeness into the world.
