AIM: To help the
hearers surrender more completely to Jesus Christ.
An airplane flying across an ocean
reaches what pilots call Athe point of no return.@ This is the point after which the
plane would require more fuel to turn back than to continue on. Thereafter the
pilot knows that there is no going back.
He must continue on.
Today=s gospel shows Jesus passing his
point of no return. Up to now people have responded to Jesus= message in large numbers. Jesus= disciples, though always slow to
understand his teaching, were gradually coming to grasp who Jesus was. A
conventional success story still seemed possible.
In today=s gospel, however, Jesus faces, and
states Aopenly@ (Mark tells us), that what has once
seemed possible is possible no more. He can no longer expect popular acceptance
and success. He can only go forward, knowing that ahead lies rejection,
suffering, and death.
Precipitating Jesus= unusually plain statement about the
dark future awaiting him, so different from the veiled manner in which Jesus
normally spoke about himself, is Peter=s confession: AYou are the Christ.@ At once Jesus commands secrecy about
his identity. Why? To prevent misunderstanding. AThe Christ@ means Athe anointed one@ B in other words, the Messiah. The
common expectation in Jesus= day was that the Messiah would be a glamorous hero who would
liberate his people from the hated Roman government of occupation and lead them
to new heights.
Jesus knew that this was not his
role. Ahead of him lay not triumph but, by all earthly standards, bitter
defeat. This was too much for the disciples to accept. Peter takes Jesus aside, Mark tells us, Ato rebuke [Jesus].@ Matthew gives us Peter=s words: AMay you be spared, Master! God forbid
that any such thing ever happen to you!@ (Mt. 16:22)
Jesus= response to Peter is severe. Calling
the man he has just chosen as leader of his inner circle ASatan,@ Jesus tells Peter: AYou are not thinking as God does, but
as human beings do.@ The severity of this rebuke shows that Peter=s words were a real temptation for
Jesus. Passing his point of no return, abandoning the early hopes of success
and accepting rejection, suffering, and death B all that cost Jesus an agonizing
struggle. (Cf. Mark 14:34-36; Hebrews 5:7) Jesus= harsh words to Peter reveal how
intense this inner conflict was.
In the passage which follows,
addressed not only to the disciples but to the whole crowd, Jesus makes it
clear that the road he is traveling will have a parallel in the life of anyone
who wishes to be his follower. Jesus= final words in today=s gospel are addressed also to us.
Listen to them again, in a modern translation.
AAnyone who wishes to be a follower of
mine must leave self behind; he must take up his cross, and come with me.
Whoever cares for his own safety is lost; but if a man will let himself be lost
for my sake and for the gospel, that man is safe.@ [New English Bible]
Jesus is talking about more than mere
self-denial. In telling us that his followers must be willing to Aleave self behind@ and Atake up his cross,@ Jesus means giving up control of our
destiny. He is talking about accepting weakness, disgrace, suffering, and
death, as Jesus himself accepted these things: in the knowledge that those who
do let themselves be Alost@ in this way are found by God. And not only found: they are taken under God=s special and all-powerful
protection.
Jesus is talking (to put it another
way) about abandoning the attempts we all
make from time to time to retain total control of our lives. Life never
belongs to us in an absolute sense. Our lives are a gift, entrusted to us for a
limited time only. Few of us have a century. Try as we may to retain total
control of our lives, we never quite succeed. At death we lose all control.
Most people discover long before that, however, through life=s changes and chances, that they are
not the masters of their fates and the captains of their souls that we all long
to be. Making that discovery can be discouraging. For some it is crushing.
There is One, however, who can save
our lives for us despite death, indeed through death and beyond. He will do so
on the condition, and to the extent, that we begin surrendering control of our lives
to him here and now. That is the only way, Jesus tells us in today=s gospel, that we can save or
preserve our lives: by turning them over to the One who gave life to us; and
who one day will take back his gift, whether we will or not.
Jesus summons us to do this without
anxiety, without fuss, without conditions, and without trying to hold onto a
corner of our lives; but simply surrendering all into the hands of the
Life-giver. The name which the Bible gives for this act of total self-surrender is Afaith.@
To the extent that we achieve this
faith, through surrender to God, we discover the inner meaning of Jesus= life. And with that discovery we are
able to answer the question that Jesus puts to his disciples in today=s gospel B and that he is putting to each one
of us right now: ABut who do you say that I am?@
It is the most important question we
shall ever be asked.
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