DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Isaiah 50,5-9a; James 2, 14-18; Mark 8,27-35: 24th Sunday Year B, 12 September 2021)
On this Sunday the liturgy presents us with a very important Gospel episode: Jesus asks the disciples what the people think of him, and then what they think of him; and after Peter's confession he announces his passion. This announcement is prepared by the first reading, which is an oracle of the prophet Isaiah about the Servant of the Lord. The second reading, taken from the Letter of St. James, speaks of faith that must manifest itself in works.
After the first part of his public life, Jesus goes to the region of Cesarea Filippi, a territory North-East of Palestine. Here he asks his disciples: Who do people say I am? His ministry has been very successful; he spoke as no man has ever spoken (cf. John 7,46) and at the same time manifested an extraordinary goodness and an impressive power: he welcomed all the sick and healed many. Therefore, his person raises many questions: people wonder who this character so powerful and so good is. The disciples answer Jesus' first question: for some he is the risen John the Baptist, for others Elijah (Elijah, according to the biblical account, was not dead, but had been taken up into heaven; his return was expected); for others one of the prophets who had a similar fate. So, people are uncertain about the true identity of Jesus. Jesus then addresses a second question to the disciples: And who do you say that I am? Peter replies: You are the Christ. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Peter recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, the promised king of the lineage of David, the king who was to be the Son of God. God in fact had promised through the mouth of the prophet Nathan: I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me (2 Sam 7,14). The reaction of Jesus to this confession of Peter is unexpectedly negative. He accepts this title, but severely requires his disciples not to tell anyone about him, not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah. This is because he does not want to be a political messiah and be made a king. This was exactly the same motive that led him retire into the mountain after the multiplication of loaves (cf. John 6,15). Indeed, the messianic expectation in the Jewish people was manifested then in a way that did not please Jesus. Without doubt he is aware of being the Messiah, but he knows that the fate of the Messiah is not the one imagined by the people. People think of the Messiah as a triumphant king or, more precisely, as a character who must provoke an insurrection, take power and free the Jewish people by force of arms. Jesus does not intend to favor this image of the Messiah; therefore, he forbids the disciples to reveal that he is the Messiah. At this point he begins to teach that the Son of man must suffer a lot. Son of man is an expression that Jesus often uses to designate himself. And a title that has nothing of triumphalism, but that simply means a man called to a mission, without those military resonances aroused by the title of Messiah. Jesus affirms that the Son of man will have to suffer a lot, be rejected by the elders, the high priests and the scribes, be killed and, after three days, be resurrected. He makes this speech openly. Peter then takes him aside and begins to scold him. Peter does not accept this humiliating fate for Jesus. He too thinks of a triumphant Messiah, not of a man reproached by others, who must suffer, be accused, mistreated and killed; therefore, he cannot accept this perspective. Jesus' reaction is decisive and severe. Peter reproached him; now it is he who reproaches Peter and says to him: Get behind me, Satan! Because you do not think according to God, but according to men. God's thoughts are not like those of men, as the prophet Isaiah tells us (cf. Isaiah 55,8-9). In the case of Jesus, God's thoughts go in the direction of having to face a painful and humiliating passion. But this passion will have very positive effects, of salvation for all men: effects that cannot be obtained by means of a military triumph, with the force of arms. This is God's plan, which had already been indicated, although not so explicitly, in the prophecies and, in particular, in the songs of the Servant of the Lord.
Isaiah's oracles on the Servant of the Lord do not speak explicitly of the Messiah, so they leave room for various interpretations. However, they announce a painful fate for the Servant of the Lord: he must present his back to the flagellators, his cheek to those who tear off his beard, not steal his face from insults and spurs. His is a truly humiliating fate. But the Servant of the Lord says: The Lord God assists me, for this I am not confused, for this I make my face hard as stone, knowing I will not be disappointed. In this humiliating fate, the Servant of the Lord is sure of being assisted by God. Therefore, he does not lose courage, on the contrary he shows extraordinary firmness.
After the announcement of the passion, Jesus gives a general teaching, valid for all those who want to become his disciples: If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. These are very clear words, which erase all the illusions of those who want to become a disciple of the Messiah to triumph with him and satisfy their own spontaneous human aspirations. Jesus says that one must deny oneself (therefore, renounce one's human aspirations for triumph, success and domination), take up one's cross and follow him. Then from a general rule: Whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel, saves it. To understand this important principle of Jesus, we must remember that man's vocation is a vocation to love: God, who is love, created us to communicate his love to us and enable us to live in love. Therefore, man's happiness is not found in selfishness, but in love. Whoever wants to save his life loses it, because he sets out on the path of selfishness, and cannot find true joy in it. On the other hand, whoever accepts to lose his life for the sake of Jesus and his Gospel saves it, because he is decisively set on the path of love: for the love of the Lord, he accepts a difficult fate, a hard fight; he accepts also to lose his life to love, and thus reaches perfect and definitive joy. We must always keep in mind this teaching of Jesus, because our spontaneous tendency is to seek happiness immediately, and therefore to put ourselves on the path of selfishness, which does not lead to true joy. We must always accept to lose our life, that is to renounce our immediate interests, to seek the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of love, peace and joy.
The second reading speaks of the faith that must manifest itself in the works. James says: What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? May be that faith can save him? Here James seems to take an orientation contrary to that of Paul, who in several passages of his letters condemns an attitude of trust in the works. In reality, his teaching is not contrary to that of Paul, because Paul properly rejects the trust in the works of the law. He never speaks against works of faith; indeed, in a passage of the Letter to the Galatians he says: In Christ Jesus it is not circumcision that counts or uncircumcision, but faith that works through love (Gal 5, 6). This corresponds to the teaching of James, which requires that faith manifest itself in works, produce works of love or if it does not produce works, faith is dead in itself. This teaching of James greatly displeased Luther, who misinterpreted Paul's words, thinking that he opposed all works, whatever they were. With a certain contempt Luther defined the letter of James a straw letter, not realizing however that Paul and James are in full agreement with each other: they both want faith to be operative, that it is not only an ideology, an abstract theory, but a dynamism that transforms all life. This message of James ultimately also corresponds to the teaching of Jesus in today's Gospel. By faith, we are called to lose our life for love, and thus we will get true life, true joy and eternal happiness. The martyrs had the courage to lose their lives for the love of the Lord, and thus they achieved true joy and eternal happiness. We too must always follow this orientation, having a faith that frees us more and more from our selfishness and that puts us more and more on the path of generosity and love. +John I. Okoye
(graphics by Chukwubike)
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