That I May Learn to Think Like You

That I May Learn to Think Like You

Mk 8: 27 -35

24^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Introduction

In today’s reading, Jesus asks his disciples who they think he was. Apparently, it was Peter who was able to correctly identify and confirm who Jesus was. Notwithstanding this, Peter’s understanding of Jesus didn’t match Jesus’ own understanding of himself especially in matters relating to his suffering and death.

The Gospel

As Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples who do people think he was. The disciples offer different answers. They tell Jesus: “ John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asks them: “ But who do you say that I am?” Peter then replies: “ You are the Christ.” The word "Christ" comes from a Greek word which means the “anointed one.” Peter’s reply seems to have been accepted by Jesus since he tells his disciples not to divulge to anyone what they know about him.

Strangely, right after this, Jesus speaks about his own passion and death, saying: “ 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. “

At hearing this, Peter takes him aside and rebukes him. Peter must have been surprised to hear what Jesus said. He couldn’t imagine Jesus, whom he has just called the “Christ,” to suffer and die under the hands of religious leaders.

Jesus then strongly reacts to Peter’s rebuke. He turns around, looks at his disciples and rebukes Peter, saying: “ Get behind me Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. “

Then Jesus speaks to those who were following him, saying: “ 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. “

Reflection

There are four things that this Gospel presents to us.

Firstly, the identity of Jesus is that he is the “Christ.” He is the anointed one, the messiah who is to be the savior of the world.

Secondly, his identity as the Christ and as the messiah becomes well-defined and established through his rejection, his suffering, his death and resurrection. This second point is where Jesus and Peter diverge.

Like Peter, we cannot imagine someone who is called the “anointed” and who is to be the expected savior of the world ending up humiliated and killed. A suffering and rejected messiah just doesn’t fit well with our mental map.

True enough, Jesus rebukes Peter for this kind of thinking, since it is “not the way God thinks” but “the way man thinks.” In fact, this way of thinking becomes a stumbling block to God’s purposes. This is the reason why Jesus calls Peter, Satan as Satan is one who always blocks the Lord’s plans.

Thirdly, all those who want to follow Jesus must necessarily follow him to the way of the cross, a path where one must deny oneself and take up one’s cross. The willingness to embrace rejection, suffering and death must also be the mark of all those who want to follow Jesus.

Lastly, the passion and death of Jesus end with his glorious resurrection. Jesus said that he will “ rise up after three days.” This promise of new life is bestowed to all who follow Jesus to the cross. Like him, all followers of the suffering Messiah are destined to live with and live like Jesus now and forever.

So long as we continue to think the way we humans think, we could never fully understand the way God thinks. So long as we fail to understand God’s ways, it will be difficult for us, like Peter, to accept suffering as part of our life; we will always keep on asking why we have to deny ourselves and carry our own crosses in order to follow Jesus. We will always be questioning God why all the suffering and the pain. Ultimately, so long as we don't think as God thinks, we will continue to be like Peter, a stumbling block and a hindrance to God's plans. 

Let us then ask the Lord for a better understanding of his will so that we may little by little, in time, learn to think like the Lord.

Prayer

Lord, help me change the way I think. Make me understand how you think so that in time, I may learn to think like you. Amen.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  - Isaiah 55: 8-9