We have a Filipino dictum that says you will never truly know a person until you live with him/her under the same roof. It is very true, whether you are a married couple or a priest assigned to a parish with another priest. It is in living together, in staying together especially on hard, trying times when we come to know the other person we are living with. This requires openness like the command last week by Jesus in healing a deaf mute, “Ephphatha!”, “Be opened!” Beginning today for three consecutive Sundays, Jesus asks us to be open as He brings us into the very core of His teachings and of His person as the Suffering Christ. From Decapolis where He had healed that deaf mute last Sunday, He and the Twelve today continue their journey into the pagan regions reaching its capital city of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.” Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. (Mk.8:27-31)
Here we find anew the significance of Mark setting the gospel at Caesarea Philippi where a magnificent temple in honor of the Roman god Pan was located. Recall how in telling us that healing of a deaf mute at Decapolis, Mark shows us Jesus would reach out to us even in the most hostile and alien situations we are into. And now in this leading Roman city, Mark is reminding us how in our own time in the midst of all kinds of gods competing for our attention and allegiance is also Jesus Christ present, revealing Himself as the “Suffering Messiah” who would die on the Cross but rose again after three days for our salvation. The invitation of Jesus remains the same, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.”(Mk.8:34-35) What a beautiful setting there at Caesarea Philippi like today when we are surrounded by so many gods offering us fame and pleasures while the True God willing to suffer and die for us, asking us if we still know Him, if we are still with Him.
See the very simple presentation by Mark unlike in Matthew and Luke where Jesus praised Peter after identifying Him as“the Christ.” Right after Peter’s answer, we find Mark with his usual “Messianic secret” when Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about Him being the Christ or Messiah. Jesus, as well as Mark, wanted everyone to experience personally His being the Christ and not just any miracle worker who would give the people’s usual requests for health and wealth. It is an echo of Christ’s groan last week to be opened with God’s thoughts, not with man’s thoughts like Peter always trying to avoid even negate pains and sufferings. In revealing to us for the first time the sufferings He would undergo, Jesus is also inviting us all to live with Him, to stay with Him in His Passion and Death to experience His Resurrection. We can never get to know Him and answer His question “Who do you say that I am?” unless we must first learn to be with Him at the Cross. Jesus had to insist here at how He “must” suffer greatly because that is the reality of love: without sacrifice, without giving of self, it is not love at all. To truly love, one must be willing to give without ifs and buts.
The Cross is the essence of the good news of Jesus Christ. We need to ask for that grace from God for us to accept and embrace this Cross that has always been a scandal and stumbling block for everyone’s faith journey. It is the key in answering His question “Who do you say that I am?” because it was on the Cross where Jesus Christ was fully revealed, the fulfillment of God’s “Suffering Servant” Isaiah had prophesied at the first reading. Despite its violent tones, it is a beautiful reminder to us of the need for total reliance in God alone, of our need to always pray for that grace of God to free our thoughts of the things that go against His plans as Satan would always do. To know who Jesus Christ is to join Him in His Cross. When we refuse to do so, we not only fail in truly knowing Jesus Christ but also mislead others into thinking He is “John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets”as the Twelve told Him at Caesarea Philippi.
After writing this reflection last night, I saw the viral photo of a student in Atimonan, Quezon doing his homework inside their classroom (https://ph.news.yahoo.com/viral-student-stays-classroom-finish-052524025.html). It is a very touching story of a student staying behind in their classroom to finish his homework because they have no electricity at home. His teacher had asked him to go home because it was already 7:30PM with Typhoon Ompong threatening Luzon. The teacher noted in his Facebook post how the student had “befriended” hunger after so many nights of staying behind in their classroom to do his assignments because it was more difficult to study at home using a gas lamp. He said such students inspire him to continue teaching in public school no matter how difficult it may be. See how when we are willing to join Jesus Christ in His Cross, we not only get to know Him but we in fact meet Him as well, introducing Him to more people like that teacher and his student in Quezon. After Jesus Christ’s revelation at Caesarea Philippi, He then made a U-turn to go down to Jerusalem to finally fulfill His mission. Let us join Him, let us follow Him. Amen. Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ni San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022
Photo by the author taken at Betania-Tagaytay, 22 August 2017.
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