(See also the Soul Food for Hungry Adult Communities, on this site, re World Hunger, the G8 summit, Desmond Tutu, Bono, Bill Gates, and many others in the ‘Enough Food for Everyone IF’ campaign. )

Dear Sinead, Mark, and Friends,

Ever been asked a direct question, that puts you on the spot? A question about where you stand? A question that make you think and make you decide, makes you come down on one side or the other? One that leaves you no wriggle room, no room for humming or hawing?

Sometimes when a person asks you that kind of question, it may come from that person’s need for a definite answer.

Well, here today we find Jesus with just that kind of need, and asking just that kind of direct question of the Twelve closest to him. He had been praying alone, and his disciples were nearby. Then he got up and came to them and asked them, straight out, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ That was the opener. They mumbled and gave him various answers, but then came the direct question, to themselves. “But you, who do you say I am?’  Not the crowds any more,- but ‘you’. No wriggle room left here. Imagine yourself in the shoes (sandals) of any of the Twelve. Jesus saying to you, today ‘Who do you say I am?’

It was as if Jesus was really wondering where all this work of his was going. ‘Do they know who I am? Do they know what I am about? Do you know who I am and what I am about?’  If his closest followers didn’t know, then was he getting anywhere?

Good ol’ Simon Peter spoke up first,- as usual! He blurted out ‘You are the Christ of God’. In other words, you are the One Sent, the Chosen One, the Anointed One (‘Christ’ comes from ‘chrism’ meaning oil). You have been sent by God!

And Jesus was relieved! They were beginning to grasp that this Jesus of Nazareth, with whom they travelled the roads of Galilee, this human being was the One who was SENT. He was from God.

The Twelve were just beginning to grasp that Jesus was different, and was special. It took a good while longer,- in fact until after his appearance to them following his resurrection- that they remembered and believed the things he had said all along about himself,- ‘I am the Light of the world… I am the Way…I am the Truth…I am the Life’.  ‘Whoever sees me sees the Father!’ ‘I and the Father are one’.  ‘Before Abraham was, I am!’  (See footnote below about ‘I AM’)

And then, remember Thomas, the sceptical one, the doubting one, – the one member of the Twelve who missed out on that Easter Sunday and didn’t see Jesus? He just would not believe, he told the others, unless he could put his fingers into the wounds in the hands of Jesus, and put his hand into the wound in his side made by the soldier’s spear. And when Jesus appeared to them a week later, Jesus invited Thomas to come and put his fingers in the wounds, his hand into his side. And Thomas blurted out that great act of faith that has echoed down the twenty centuries since then, ‘My Lord and my God!’

Who do you say that I am? Peter had his answer. Thomas had his. Millions have had theirs. And now us,- ‘Who do you say that I am?’  The moment is now, the question is today, for us.

On Youtube, click on this to watch a ten minute presentation to a Young Alpha Course group, on ‘Who is Jesus?’  It might whet your appetite. It will address some of your questions.

‘What do my mates say?’ No! ‘What do I say?’- that’s the question.

I can’t answer it for you. Only you can look into the face of Jesus of Nazareth, for yourself.

‘Here’s lookin’ at you’, he says.

Thanks!

Fr. Seamus  (seamus.devittcssr@gmail.com)

A Footnote: ‘I AM’ was something that rang all sorts of bells for Jewish hearers, which is what the first hearers of Jesus were. ‘I AM’ reminded them of the beginning of the mission of the great prophet Moses, when he first encountered God. Moses was tending sheep, and he was up on the side of a mountain, in scrub land. He saw a bush on fire, but yet it was not consumed. He moved closer. Then he heard a voice saying to him ‘Take off your shoes, for the place you are on is holy’.  That began a conversation with ‘God’, the unspeakable One, the One with no Name. At the end, Moses asked this mysterious Presence ‘Who will I say sent me?’ And the voice answered: ‘tell them I AM sent you.’

‘Tell the I AM sent you’.  (Read the story for yourself in Exodus 3,verses 1 to 15)

And all through St. John’s Gospel, the same question is beneath the surface ‘Who is this Jesus?’ And again and again, Jesus uses the word ‘I AM’… I AM the light of the world, I AM the Good Shepherd, I AM the gate, I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, I AM the resurrection. ‘Before Abraham was, I AM!’

Jesus is God among us,- the Word become flesh, who dwelt among us. He is the I AM. ‘God so loved the world that He sent his only Son.’ (John 3:16)

And that’s why the Gospel concludes (in its original conclusion) with the declaration of Thomas ‘My LORD and my GOD’.

SD

Sunday September 16, 2012. Gospel: St.Mark, 8:27-35. (Click on Mass Readings on Menu for the text of the readings)

Dear Sinead and Mark,

Back again with you!  Can I take you this time on a journey, in your imagination? Come, travel with me a little while.

I’m a Hibernian traveler, a curious on-looker, walking the roads of Galilee with this strange Rabbi and his friends. They call him ‘Jehoshua’ or Jesus. This morning, we left the sea of Galilee early, as we have a long walk ahead of us. We’re heading north and east, towards Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in all this region, over 9000 feet high. Can’t miss it!  We’ve about 40k to go. As we leave the Galilee behind us, we see in the distance a great temple city in the foothills of Mount Hermon. The city is on top of a high cliff, 100ft. high, and 500ft wide, and it looks very Roman in style,- and why wouldn’t it, since they are the Occupier Force in all this region. The city is named after the Emperor of Rome, Caesar, and his henchman King Philip (one of the Herod family!),- it’s called CAESAREA PHILIPPI, as Philip wants to impress his boss in Rome.

Can I tell another thing? The people in this region , not only do they worship the Emperor Caesar as a god, but they also worship the god PAN, -he’s the one who plays the pipes! He’s half goat and half man, and he’s the god of Fertility! No wonder he’s popular!

Anyway, here we are now walking behind the Rabbi Jesus, chatting away to each other. We can clearly see the temple city ahead on the mighty rock-face, shining in the glinting sun. While we’re gazing in awe,  Jesus suddenly stops and turns to us. Something is bothering him, as if he is unsure about us. He asks us: ‘Who do people say that I am?’  Some of my friends in the group give different answers.. ‘you’re John the Baptist!’, ‘you’re the prophet Elijah!’ , ’You’re some ancient prophet!’, and so on.  I’m watching his face as the answers come. Now he cuts to the chase and puts this to our group- ‘Who do YOU say that I am?’  Oh, that hurts.  We have been following him for a couple of years or more, but he wants to know who do we think he is! Imagine! He’s serious. And, while we’re all stuck for words and embarrassed,  good ol’ Simon Peter,- he’s always the first to jump in with the answers,- he blurts out to Jesus ‘’You’re the Christ’ (that means the Messiah in Hebrew, or God’s Anointed One, God’s Sent One’).

And you can see that Jesus is relieved! At least someone can see who he is. But he is telling us firmly to say nothing to anyone about it.

We’re still thinking about all this when he starts to tell us that yes, he is the Messiah, but he’s going to suffer really badly, he’s going to made a laughing stock for people, and then he’s going to be killed by the people. He tells us, at the end of that, that he will rise from the dead after three days! Whatever all that means, I haven’t a clue.

And he’s no sooner finished saying all this to us, when my friend Peter takes him by the elbow and walks him away from the crowd of us, a little bit.

This kind of leader ?

Peter starts to give out yards to Jesus, that this was the wrong way to go.. He needed to have a bit of backbone, to be a leader, a warrior to lead the people against these Roman occupiers. Great stuff, Peter! I’m with you on that!

But what do you think Jesus does, -he is looking around at us, somehow with great love and sadness in his eyes, and he is saying to Peter, the hero of a few minutes ago (oops! this bit hurts!) ‘Get behind me SATAN!’ Wow, that’s some come-down for Peter. From hero to villain in minutes. Jesus then adds ‘the way you think is not God’s way’.

or this kind of leader ?

I’m wondering what will happen to Jesus! If he doesn’t go the way of chariots and swords, will he not end up with the Romans torturing him and killing him in their special cruel Roman way,- crucifixion! Nailed up to beams, and hanging there for hours, sometimes days, until you can’t breathe any more. Can’t bear to think of it.

So that’s where I am on the road today. I can see the great and beautiful city;  I can see CAESAR, I can see PAN and all his goings on, and I can see JESUS.  Who is CAESAR? Who is PAN? Who is JESUS?

As they say in my own language, back home in Hibernia, ‘Sin Ceist!’ ‘That’s the Question!’

My choice. My life. My head on the block? When it comes to it, which will I choose?

God help me!

Oops, too much thinking! There’s Jesus and the others heading back down the road for home, back to Capernaum. Will I run after them and catch up, – or stay where I am?

Thanks, Sinead and Mark, for sharing my journey with me. Check with me where I end up eventually.  And good journeying for you both. God bliss and bless us all.

Your friend on the road,

Seamus.

(Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R., Esker).

Gospel: Mark 8:27-35  (click on ‘Mass Readings’, for the texts.)

You couldn’t miss seeing Caesarea Philippi. Jesus and his disciples had walked the 40k or more towards it, directly northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Even from a great distance, it looked mightily impressive. You couldn’t miss seeing this temple city.

Caesarea Philippi is in the foothills of Mount Hermon which is in Syria.  Mount Hermon is the largest mountain in the whole area towering 2,814 meters (close to 10,000 feet) above sea level.

At Caesarea Philippi there is a massive wall of rock that is well over 100 feet straight up and about 500 feet wide.   The city of Caesarea Philippi was built on top of this enormous rock.  It was enlarged and rededicated by King Philip to honor the Caesar in Rome.  Caesar considered himself a god and King Philip was eager to please him. Hence the name ‘Caesarea Philippi’. It was for the worship of gods.

As well as worshiping the Emperor Caesar, the Greeks and Romans had many other gods. One that was especially honored here in Caesarea Philippi was the Pagan god of Pan,- half goat, half man, god of shepherds and of fertility, and god of fright!  (The word ‘panic’ comes from his name.) He was often depicted playing the flute.

This kind of Messiah?

or this kind of Messiah?

So, what was JESUS doing travelling up into the region of the great Roman-built city of CAESAREA PHILIPPI?  CAESAR considered himself a God, and wanted people to worship him.  Pan was worshipped at the waterfalls and in the caves, in this area.  Why would Jesus face down the two ‘gods’, Caesar and Pan? In plain view of this enormous rock on which the pagan temple was built, Jesus turned to his own disciples and asked them that now famous question ‘Who do people say I am?’ And when Mark put this down in written form around 65AD, the disciples in Rome were faced with the god Caesar, the Emperor, and the Roman PANTHEON of all their false gods. And the question was put to disciples, then and now: ‘Who do you say that I am?’  Simon Peter, in today’s Gospel Reading,  was the one disciple who spoke up bravely and said ‘You are the CHRIST’ (or The Messiah, the Anointed One sent by God).  The only problem, as he found out very shortly after, was that his idea of ‘Messiah’ was very different from Jesus’ idea. Peter thought of chariots and war-hero, Jesus thought of the cross! And Jesus rebuked him with those sharp words ‘Get behind me, Satan!’

Move on 35 or 40 years, and you’re now in Rome. Imagine hearing that story of Mark’s Gospel read for you in your hiding place in Rome, where you gathered for the Breaking of Bread, constantly in fear of the banging on the door as they came for you. This was decision time. Who is Jesus, for you? Is he to be preferred to the Emperor? Whom will you worship? Will you choose Pan,the god of shepherds and fertility, -or will you chose the Good Shepherd himself, Jesus the Christ, who will give life to the full?

Will I cave in, when the soldiers come for me and my fellow disciples, and worship the Emperor to save my life, my skin? Or will I let go my very life, my skin, and worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God? Will I put my head on the block for Jesus, if it comes to it?

Tough choice. Today.

Seamus Devitt C.Ss.R.