24th Sunday in ordinary time, Cycle B. Today’s readings: Isaiah 50:5-9a; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35
In an episode of the TV series Blue Bloods, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan – ably played by Tom Selleck – investigates possible corruption and insubordination within the NYPD. Late one night, a colleague finds him still working and asks what he’s worried about. Reagan replies: “It’s about the fact that I have to root out the bad apples with the same pride and sense of purpose that I hang medals on the good ones.”
Anyone entrusted with some measure of authority can sympathise with the commissioner’s predicament: the need to balance rewarding excellence with the difficult task of disciplining those who fall short or engage in misconduct. Both actions require a sense of duty and integrity, yet they evoke different emotions and pressures.
I suspect that Jesus must have faced that struggle quite often with his disciples. In the first part of today’s gospel, in answer to Christ’s probing question: “But who do you say that I am?”, Peter answers unequivocally: “You are the Christ.”
In a 2012 homily, Pope Benedict XVI noted that: “It is the right answer, of course, but it is still not enough, since Jesus feels the need to clarify it. He realises that people could use this answer to advance agendas which are not his, to raise false temporal hopes in his regard. He does not let himself be confined to the attributes of the human saviour which many were expecting. By telling his disciples that he must suffer and be put to death, and then rise again, Jesus wants to make them understand his true identity. He is a Messiah who suffers, a Messiah who serves, and not some triumphant political saviour.”
Being a Christian means allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us so that we no longer think solely as mere creatures, but are enabled to see reality through God’s eyes
For this reason, Jesus segues into an announcement of his upcoming passion and death. Yet Peter disapproves and vehemently remonstrates with him. Although we can safely surmise that Peter’s protestation comes from a place of love and concern for his beloved master (combined, perhaps, with a dose of self-preservation), it still earns him a stinging rebuke from the Lord: “Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
The force of Jesus’s rebuke might shock us, but it is simply his way of driving home an essential and life-saving lesson. Consider how we scold children for dangerous behaviour, like crossing the road recklessly, or playing with fire, or attempting to stick their fingers into an electrical socket. The reprimand may sting, but it is meant to protect them.
In addressing Peter thus, Jesus is underlining how gravely out of line his friend is, and how much he still needs to learn about Christ’s identity and mission. He does not merely tell him off for being wrong, but he also shows him where he went wrong: thinking as a mere human being, rather than like God.
We might object and say: “But Peter was only human; how else could he think?” Yet being a Christian means putting on the mind of Christ. It means allowing the Holy Spirit to guide and teach us so that we no longer think solely as mere creatures, but are enabled to see reality through God’s eyes; like Isaiah’s suffering servant in today’s first reading, for whom even torture and death are a victory when endured in communion with God.
If, like Peter, we acknowledge that Christ is the anointed saviour sent by God, then we must accept him and his mission on his terms, not ours. Not to do so would be akin to accepting to undergo life-saving surgery while at the same time imposing upon the surgeon what tools and techniques he should employ as he operates upon us. Jesus will accept no back-seat drivers.
bgatt@maltachurchtribunals.org