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The Little Matter of You Mark 8: 27 – 38 |
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Summary
The Little Matter of You This passage is the climax of the Gospel of Mark. Yes, I know: There are 16 chapters in Mark. This is just a little past the half-way point of chapter 8. Eight chapters to go, and this is the climax? Yes, indeed it is. Or call it a crossroads if you like; whatever. Everything that has come before has been leading up to this passage and everything that comes after is a direct result of it or an explanation of what these words in Mark 8 mean. Jesus asks Peter and the other 11 a somewhat cryptic question: “Who do people say that I am?” What does Jesus mean by “people”? He means people outside the little circle of followers who have latched on to him and seem unable to let go; not these who have left everything and followed him, but those people, the other ones, the people outside, people who might come around when he’s in town to check him out, and then go back to their day-to-day lives and stand around whatever they had for water coolers back then and talk about him — those people: Who do they say that Jesus is? A prophet Well. Some say John the Baptist, others, Elijah, still others, one of the prophets. That is what “people” said Jesus was, back then. Jesus, they said, was an interesting figure, someone with great gifts and graces, someone who was certainly doing some spectacular things, but not someone you would drop everything and follow. The people of Jesus’ culture and country back then saw him as an interesting figure right out of their own history. Who is Jesus? Well. He’s like one of our heroes that we hear about all the time. He’s another John the Baptist. He’s like Elijah, or one of the other prophets. That is what “people” said back then. And “people” today are saying basically the same things, perhaps using a different set of heroes as their reference point. There are people today who want to make of Jesus yet another incarnation of John the Baptist. He’s a nondenominational religious leader, off by himself with his group of devotees, living simply, taking us back to our roots. To many people today, Jesus is the counter-cultural hero par excellence. And such people — some of them, anyway — are, as we might say, “not far from the kingdom of God.” Yes, Jesus does offer a life of faith radically different from mainline religion, a way of life that radically challenges the popular culture, a whole new way of being in relationship with others, a way of being “family” that goes beyond blood ties and nuclear family relationships. Back then, some said that Jesus was “Elijah,” or “one of the prophets.” Yes, there are people today who are saying the same thing. Those who come immediately to mind are people of other religious traditions — Jews and Muslims, of course; Jews, Muslims and Christians all worship Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Moses; all three claim some kind of spiritual kinship or actual, physical descent from the patriarch Abraham. Some of the Jewish faith and the Muslim faith would see Jesus as some kind of an “Elijah” figure, a powerfully, forcefully prophetic person from out of the tradition of Abraham and Moses, saying some things that perhaps needed to be said at the time. And Hindus and Buddhists also respect Jesus as some kind of prophetic figure, a powerful, self-transcending, spiritually connected human — in some branches of those traditions even worthy of veneration. Son of God; Son of Man There are also people today who would classify themselves as “spiritual, not religious,” and who would honor Jesus as some kind of prophet or great teacher. As it was then, so it is today: “Who do people say that I am?” Why, Elijah, or one of the prophets. But the “Son of God”? No! The “Son of Man”? What does that mean? Well, “Son of Man” means the Man, the Man — the Ideal Human; what God had in mind when God created us, male and female. If that’s the case, no; the “people” of today, spiritual, religious or whatever, are not willing to look up to Jesus as the model of all that we were meant to be. They will honor him as a prophet or teacher of some sort, as long as they’re free to ignore him if his prophecy and his teaching start making demands they don’t want to take on, but Son of God? Son of Man? No — as it was then, so it is today. And these people of other religions, and these “spiritual, not religious” — they are not entirely wrong. We are not to shun Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or those who claim to be spiritual, not religious (whatever that means!). We are to find common ground with them, as best we can. Some say Jesus was “only” a prophet and that some of Jesus’ teachings, anyway, came from God? Okay — we can work with that, as far as that goes, anyway. How shall we apply those teachings to the world we all have to figure out how to live in, together? Who do you say that he is? “Who do people say that I am …? John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” Okay, that’s all well and good, as far as it goes. The thing is — the story doesn’t end there! There’s the little matter of you. “But who do you say that I am,” Jesus asks. To whom does he direct this question? Who is the you in “Who do you say that I am?” With this question, Jesus addresses Peter and the other 11 disciples. Which is to say, he addresses those who, back then, literally dropped everything to follow him. Which is to say for our purposes, in what we are bold to call the Year of our Lord 2009, those who have made following Jesus the number one priority in their lives, that “you.” “You” all for whom Jesus is indeed the Son of Man, the ideal human, you all for whom following Jesus is the number one priority in life — who do you say that he is? Peter said, “You are the Messiah.” It’s really hard to know what people meant by “Messiah,” back then. There were all kinds of opinions about who the Messiah might be, where he might come from, what he would do, and where, and when. Perhaps that’s why Jesus orders the disciples to keep quiet about his being the Messiah; he didn’t want to raise false expectations. Suffice it to say that the Messiah was some kind of savior, one who would rescue the people of God from their troubles, and Peter and the rest of the disciples were convinced that Jesus was it. “But who do you say that I am?” For those of us who cannot be numbered among the “people” — at least for the purposes of this discussion — for those of us who have been captivated by this Jesus, and who have made it our priority to follow him — the answers given by the “people” are not enough. Jesus is more than some John the Baptist confronting a culture that has abandoned the true faith; Jesus is more than some miracle-working Elijah figure; Jesus is more than a prophet. For those who would number ourselves among Jesus’ disciples, Jesus is Messiah, Savior. But he is not what normally passes for a “savior.” He is a “savior” who does not magically lift sufferers out of suffering, but who suffers with those he saves. He is one who brings true religion back to its roots, but in the process is rejected by some of the most visible and venerable practitioners of that religion. He is one who transcends death, not as some kind of angelic superman who has, and shares, the secret of living forever, but by passing through death and on into a barely comprehensible new life. And, as we see in Jesus’ confrontation with Peter, he is one who confounds, not only the expectations of the “people” who can’t and won’t understand him for who he really is, he confounds the expectations of his closest followers. If we would number ourselves among his followers, it is not enough for us to honor him — or even worship him — as prophet, wise man or superman. If we would number ourselves among his followers, we have to follow him! And following him means, not looking for a ticket out of suffering and death, not looking for a separate place removed from inhumanity and injustice, but following him into the midst of everything that ails suffering humanity, and, in his presence, learning that suffering cannot permanently harm us. If we would number ourselves among those who would be his followers, you need to deny what you think is you, put aside the things the culture surrounding us tells us are important, and look to him, every day, for the real you. And you — who do you say that Jesus is? Are you one of the “people”? Or are you you? |
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