Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 9:18-24
To borrow another story from my friend, Fr Bel San Luis, SVD: There was a man who just came back from church after attending mass. He looked for his wife and he picked her up and started walking around the house carrying his wife. His wife, obviously delighted, with the experience asked, “What did you learn from mass today, did the priest teach you how to become romantic?” The husband said, “No darling… Father said in the mass that we should learn how to take up our cross daily.”
There are two things that are happening in the gospel for today. First is the identity of Jesus, of which Jesus directed them not to tell anyone. Second is the reality of the kind of life if one chooses to follow Jesus.
In the first part of the gospel for today Jesus maybe wanted to have a check on how his message was being understood and how his disciples knew who he was. So Jesus asked the question, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Some answered “John the Baptist”, perhaps because his brand of preaching in some ways resembled John the Baptist, who at this point must have been beheaded already. Again some answered, “Elijah”. Elijah is one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. Elijah may not have written anything but he is considered the greatest prophet by his deeds despite overwhelming odds when he was battling the prophets of Baal and his life on earth ended not in death but by being carried by a chariot of fire. The third answer was “one of the ancient prophets has arisen”. Perhaps, there were some people who couldn’t make out who Jesus was because of his unique style of preaching and also by the way he healed people. What Jesus was looking for was the answer from his disciples who were with Jesus all the time. Peter, as the informal spokesperson of the disciples, declared “The Messiah of God.” The gospel didn’t tell us why Peter was rebuked and was instructed not to tell anyone. Is Peter’s answer correct? Or Jesus didn’t want everybody to know who he really was yet? Whatever the answer is it draws us to one thing; who is Jesus to us? Is he a part of our lives as saviour and redeemer? Or do we acknowledge that Jesus existed but we don’t want him to participate in our lives?
Many times in our lives we only call on Christ whenever it is convenient. He is a part of our lives when we are in trouble or when we need him to answer our prayers. How many times we say, “Lord, please help me in getting a new job but don’t interfere with my relationship with my mistress.” Or “Lord, help me become closer to my children but don’t do anything with my illegal business transactions.” If we really want the Lord to touch our lives it should be in all aspects. Let us give our whole lives to him and not just in parts.
The second part of the gospel is a reality check for everybody who decides to follow Christ, that they should be ready to carry their crosses. Have you ever wondered why the greatest saints that we have never had a comfortable life? There was even a time that the church only canonised saints who had given their lives to God through martyrdom. The church never runs out of martyrs from the time it was founded by Christ two thousand years ago and even until now. It seems that people who want to follow Christ should not expect a bed of roses but should expect the cross and a crown of thorns. There was a time when the church was just starting when it was a “death sentence” to be a Christian. And yet, it has proliferated and the numbers have increased and still increasing after two thousand years. This is not because we wanted to save our lives but because we wanted to lose it for Christ.
As we continue to reflect on this gospel passage, we can meditate on two points, first, who is Jesus for us and are we willing for Jesus to take over our lives not only in parts but our whole lives. And second, as baptised Christians, we are all followers of Christ but are we willing to carry our crosses. We can’t be true Christians if we don’t carry our crosses and if we are not willing to give up our lives. But let us remember that Jesus is there willing to help us if we can’t carry our crosses. The only thing that we have to do is ask.