First Reading: Is 50:5-9
Second Reading: Jas 2:14-18
On this twenty-fourth Sunday
of Ordinary Time, we are called to embrace the lifestyle of Jesus. In the Gospel,
Jesus enquires His disciples about what do people say about Him. Ordinary people
who perceived Him as great preacher and miracle worker identity Him with historic
persons or heroes of their history such as Elijah, John the Baptist or with any
other prophets of ancient times. The disciples of Jesus, especially the
Apostles – close circle of friends of Jesus – could recognize the identity of
Jesus better than those ordinary people. Simon Peter, the spokesperson of the
close circle of Jesus’ friends acclaim Jesus as the Christ; Son of God (Mk 8:29).
In other Gospels, Jesus would reply to peter that the knowledge they (or He)
have of Him as Son of God comes not merely from their human reasoning, but
proceed from the revelation of God which they had received intuitively because
of their association with Jesus (Cf. Mt 16:17). God the Father has given them
the privilege of knowing who Jesus is. It is the Father who beckons every
disciple to Jesus (Jn 6:44). As apostles, Peter and company are much more than
God the Father’s summoning, they are chosen to be with Jesus and be sent out later
to the world (Mk 3:14).
Immediately after the declaration
of peter, Jesus starts revealing His upcoming passion, death and resurrection. Simon
peter who could profess his faith in Jesus with the assistance of God the Father,
fails to seek the same assistance in comprehending Jesus’ decision to be a suffering
messiah. He refutes Jesus for choosing the cross, the shameful punishment of
the Roman Empire to manifest His glory. Jesus replies to peter by calling Him a
Satan (Mk 8:33). Jesus uses the word ‘Satan’ to chide peter not out of anger,
rather purposely to make peter aware that the power of Satan is also at work in
him. Jesus says that the thinking of peter is human not godly. What is wrong in
thinking like human when peter is a mere mortal being? There is nothing wrong
in thinking like mortal person. It is perfectly alright to think like human when
one is a mortal being. Also, thinking like human person affirms the identity of
that thinking person as human and distinct from other lesser beings in degree. Then
why does Jesus belittle peter who thinks like an ordinary human person? yes, we
are humans, we have our own way of thinking that is peculiar to our human
nature. Having a thinking and forming a judgment that is in arrangement with
our nature is not wrong. The problem with peter is that, his declaration about Jesus’
true identity as Son of God few minutes earlier did not proceed from his human
thinking. If peter were to think like human, he also should have acclaimed
Jesus just the way ordinary people were saying about Him. Peter’s profession of
faith in Jesus as Son of God, was not mere a product of human cognition, rather
an outcome of operative grace which gave ascent to his human thinking. As humans
we are given a possibility to have recourse to divine grace which could take
our human reasoning to another level and elicit better assessment. We are humans
and contingent beings but we are not limited to reasoning that is proper to our
nature alone. With the help of God’s grace – indwelling of the Holy Spirit – we
can rise up to the level of thinking like God. And, we are called to become
Gods; deification of humans is the goal of Jesus’ depreciation. Thus, we are
called to enter into the lifestyle of God; thinking like gods is Christian, heavenly
and other worldly.
In the second reading, St. James
asks us to show our faith in action. Without works faith has no meaning, it becomes
a superstitious belief. Our Christian faith inherently has the quality of explicating
it in action. Jesus showed His faith in God the Father by embracing the disgrace
of the crucifixion. In the first reading, we hear about suffering servant which
is associated with future messiah that is Jesus. The suffering servant is not appalled
by unjust suffering inflicted on him by humans. He has strong faith in God that
he will receive justice from God. This suffering servant thinks like God, which
could not be appreciated and chewed by humans. We humans get disgusted upon
encountering suffering and pain. We prefer to choose the way that seem to relieve
our pain. As author of our thinking we intuit the possible outcome. On the
contrary, when we allow God’s way to take place in our life, rather allowing God’s
thinking to overrule our human thinking we become restless because we are not
able to predict the outcome as we are not the source of that thinking. Nevertheless,
the outcome of Godly thinking is always good as it proceeds from God, the source
of all good. When we realize this logic, we become calm and serene like the suffering
servant in encountering pain and suffering. This is how we enter into the
lifestyle of Jesus, who is not humiliated by the humiliation of humans. The denouncement
of Jesus by humans could not yield the denouncement of Jesus from God the Father
as His beloved Son. Jesus’ crucifixion is the expression of Jesus’ total faith
in God the Father. Our faith will take into action when we embrace the
lifestyle of Jesus.
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