Who do you 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 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 chosen 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 when 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 emphasizes that as in every generation, what it is the crowds say about Jesus is usually both unpredictable and misguided.  But who do you say that I am? is the ultimate question in Scripture, and also in all theology.  My study bible adds that how this particular question is answered defines the universe.  Let us also emphasize the pointed direction of the question to the disciples, and ultimately, to each one of us.  Peter answers for all.  Christ (in Hebrew, Messiah) means "Anointed One."  My study bible tells us that the declaration of Peter that Jesus is the Christ of God reveals Jesus to be not just another anointed king of prophet (such as King David; see 1 Samuel 16:12), but He is 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."   My study bible comments that Jesus desires to keep His identity as the Christ hidden in order to avoid popular political and theological misunderstandings.  It is only after His Passion and Resurrection that His identity as Messiah can be understood.  His mission must be fulfilled, and unfold in a particular way; all must make their choice for faith based on that mission and its fulfillment.

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 draws our attention to two things of note.  First of all, Jesus phrases His words here to indicate that each person must take up his or her own cross.  That burden, my study bible emphasizes, is different for every person, because each one has been chosen by God to bear certain particular struggles for one's own salvation, and for the salvation of those around oneself.  Second, the cross is to be taken up daily.  The commitment to following Christ isn't a one-time event.  It's a continual practice of both faith and obedience, sustained through prayer and communion, and even to the point of being shamed and persecuted by the world, as the witness of the Church testifies.

"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 that this is a reference to those who will witness the Transfiguration (9:28-36), but also to those who in each generation who experience the presence of God's Kingdom.

Today's reading seems to emphasize a kind of knowing, a particular kind of knowing.  The answer to the question, Who do you say that I am? must come from a place both of experience and awareness of a certain kind.  Surely Peter speaks for all of the disciples, especially the chosen twelve, who are closest to Christ, and have had the most complete experience of living with Him and learning from Him, and of observing all that He does.  But still, the communion within which awareness comes is closer than observation.  It gives us a kind of experience of living with someone that occurs only at a depth of awareness within the soul that is possible through spiritual communion.  In other words, our perception of who Christ is very much depends upon our own encounter with the spiritual side of ourselves, and our willingness to open to God to find more and to know more.  In this sense, our discipleship is intimately connection with a capacity for spiritual seeking, an openness to the things of God which will take us where we haven't gone before, and push us toward a greater acceptance of the spiritual life.  In Saturday's reading, Christ fed "the world" (in the form of the five thousand) with a prefiguration of the Eucharist, as such an image of the spiritual food which co-exists within our material existence as in the Incarnation itself.  But this food isn't something we simply passively accept.  It is something we must eagerly desire, and for which our own personal spiritual hunger ("Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" - Matthew 5:6) encourages us to active participation, a kind of synergy within us in which we cooperate with that grace He offers ("from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force" - Matthew 11:12).   In John's Gospel, after Jesus teaches about His Body and Blood, we're told that many disciples turned away from Him.  Peter's confession of faith in that Gospel comes in the form of an answer to Jesus' question to the twelve:  "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:67-69).   Our impulsive need for and response to those "words of eternal life" tells us something about discipleship and also how we know.   There is a depth of spiritual connection within ourselves -- the spiritual part of ourselves we must feed and that desires also to live side-by-side, part-and-parcel, hand-in-hand with our worldly material life, as we are creatures of both material and spiritual stuff.  We have a body which lives through spirit, animated with a soul, and in the fullness of who we are, we need what Christ offers to us.  It is not a question of separating ourselves from material life, but of fulfilling the fullness of our true natures as created human beings who straddle both spiritual and material worlds.  It is a question of recognizing the depth of our need for what Christ offers to our lives, and not living in blindness or ignorance to that fullness.  As those who grow in recognition of this deep need, we also grow in our capacity and recognition of the choice to sacrifice in order to deepen its fulfillment, by taking up our cross daily, as He teaches.   So, "Who do you say that I am?" remains the question for us all, and hopefully one in which we can continue to grow in our response throughout our lives.