Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B September 16, 2018

First Reading
Isaiah 50:5-9a
The suffering servant of Yahweh is assured of God's help.

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 116:1-2,3-4,5-6,8-9
A prayer of praise to God for his salvation

Second Reading
James 2:14-18
James teaches that faith must be demonstrated in one's works.

Gospel Reading
Mark 8:27-35
Peter declares that Jesus is the Christ, and Jesus teaches that those who would follow him must take up his or her cross.

Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages 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.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them,
"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."

Background on the Gospel Reading

Today's reading is the turning point in Mark's Gospel. In the presentation
of the life and ministry of Jesus found in the Gospel of Mark, the deeds
of Jesus have shown Jesus to be the Son of God. Yet many, including Jesus'
disciples, have not yet realized his identity. In today's Gospel, Jesus
asks the disciples for a field report by asking what others say about him.
He then turns the question directly to the disciples and asks what they
believe. Peter speaks for all of them when he announces that they believe
Jesus to be the Christ.

The word Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah,
which means "the anointed one." At the time of Jesus, the image of the
Messiah was laden with popular expectations, most of which looked for a
political leader who would free the Jewish people from Roman occupation.
Jesus does not appear to have used this term for himself. As we see in
today's reading, Jesus refers to himself instead as the Son of Man, a term
derived from the Jewish Scriptures, found in the Book of Daniel and in
other apocryphal writings. Many scholars suggest that the phrase Son of
Man is best understood to mean "human being."

Now that the disciples have acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, Jesus
confides in them the outcome of his ministry: he will be rejected, must
suffer and die, and will rise after three days. Peter rejects this
prediction, and Jesus rebukes him severely. The image of Christ that Jesus
is giving is not the image of the Messiah that Peter was expecting. Jesus
then teaches the crowd and the disciples about the path of discipleship:
To be Chris's disciple is to follow in the way of the cross.

We can easily miss the fear that Jesus' words must have evoked in his
disciples. Death by crucifixion was all too familiar as a method of
execution in Roman-occupied territories. It was also an omnipresent danger
to the Christian community for whom Mark wrote. The path that Jesus was
inviting his disciples to share meant tremendous suffering and death. This
is the kind of radical commitment and sacrifice that Jesus calls us to
adopt for the sake of the Gospel.

Family Connection
Peter had expectations about what it meant to call Jesus the Messiah, the
Christ. Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but his life and death would show a
different understanding of what it means to be the Messiah. We, too, have
expectations of God and our own ideas about what we think God ought to be
doing in our world. Like Peter, however, we may risk limiting our image of
God by thinking only in human ways. God's plan is always more that we can
ever imagine.

As you gather as a family, talk about what we expect God to be doing in
our world and in our family life. Then read today's Gospel, Mark 8:31-35.
Why do you think Peter was so upset by what Jesus was saying? Notice how
Jesus reprimands Peter. Do we sometimes forget to let God be God for us?
That is, do we sometimes get discouraged because God doesn't act in our
world in the ways that we expect? Pray together that we will remember that
God is always working for the world's salvation in ways that are beyond
our imagination. Conclude by praying together today's psalm, Psalm 116.


Sources: Loyola Press; Sunday Readings