Sparkles of Light (Mk 8"27-33)

16 February 2012, Thursday, 6^th Week of the Year

 GREAT EXPECTATIONS

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."

Mk 8:27-33

In the Gospel for today, Jesus asked his disciples an important question.  “Who do people say that I am?”  They presented Jesus what they have heard from others as if Jesus was asking from an outsider’s perspective.  The answers were not close to who Jesus truly is.  And then Jesus asked them personally, “but who do you say that I am?”  The eager Peter immediately and confidently replied, “You are the Christ.”  By the looks of it, Jesus was so happy with such response and reminded them not to tell anyone about it.  It seems that the disciples, after all the miracles in the previous chapter of Mark, knew this time who Jesus is.

However, our Gospel story didn’t end there.  Jesus continued his discourse by teaching them about the passion and resurrection that will take place.  Such revelation of Jesus immediately stirred the disciples in disbelief, particularly Peter because he rebuked Jesus.  Jesus also rebuked Peter because he was definitely wrong.  Jesus said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan… You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”  And Jesus is right.  The disciples were thinking that they have found the Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets that would free them from any foreign rule, the one who will bring back the glory of Israel.  We have found the Christ who would liberate us.  This was their great expectation.  Jesus was the fulfilment of that expectation.  Yet Jesus is the Son of God who came into this world as a poor carpenter, in this particular time, in this particular circumstance, to save us from our sins by giving up his very earthly life so that we may share in his divine life.  The disciples were happy that they have found the Messiah, yet this Messiah said that he will suffer and die.  How does it feel to hear that?  

I think I know the feeling of Peter and the disciples.  When were kids, my sister and I would attend voice/singing classes every Saturday.  We were in this class for several years, training regularly in front of our classmates, preparing for a recital at the end of the year.  During one of the sessions that we attended, my sister and I were the only veteran students and the rest were new ones who were perhaps still struggling to hit the right notes from the exercises.  Our voice teacher then bragged to the new ones about my voice, that since the time I started, I have improved a lot and even became a better singer.  Of course coming from my teacher, I have felt proud about it.  To show that she was right, she asked me to sing several scales using some middle range notes which I believe I did fairly well.  Still as a proud teacher, she then asked me to sing some more scales using high range notes.  Before I reached “la,” I was already squeaking and struggling to hit the notes.  And I saw how my teacher’s face turned from smile to frown.  I have felt that I was being rebuked that time.  My teacher was expecting me to do great, but I was only limited to certain ranges.

In our lives we expect so many great things to come.  We have lots of expectations.  Perhaps some of these expectations come into reality, but also there are expectations that don’t fulfil what we anticipated.  The Gospel for today teaches us that though we have expectations, we must also learn to accept things as they are.  Just like Peter, his protest was born out of his love for his Lord but also his ignorance of God’s word. One minute Peter was a “rock,” and the next minute he was a stumbling block. Peter did not yet understand the relationship between suffering and glory.  When Jesus rebuked Peter, he looked at his disciples for they too needed to hear.  When we are tempted to try and expect Jesus to fix everything in our lives, like a kind of Messiah in our materialistic generation, we must hear this same rebuke.  “The Son of Man must suffer” said Jesus.  He uniquely came to die in our place because he loves us.  This is what is expected also in our way we live our Christian lives.