PROPER 19 (24) – Year B
17th Sunday after Pentecost — September 15, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
Mark 8:27-38
8:27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"
8:28 And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
8:29 He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah."
8:30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
CONTEXT
Welcome to the 17th week after Pentecost. This week’s Gospel brings us to Caesarea Philippi, a place soaked in the warlike symbols of imperial power, named for an emperor whose authority was seen as nearly divine. Against this backdrop, Jesus asks: “Who do people say that I am?”
Peter's answer, “You are the Messiah,” was factually correct. But do he and the disciples have any real clue what Jesus’ non-violent, hanging-on-a-cross, forgive-them-for-they-know-not-what-they-do messiahship actually looks like? Not so much!
Why then would Jesus give such a harsh rebuke when Peter resists Jesus’ description of his impending suffering?
Whether we know it or not, to enter into rivalry with the One who is in rivalry with nothing is to secrete the poison of resentment and enter into league with Satan. When seen this way, Jesus’ rebuke is a merciful release from the “might-makes-right,” rivalistic way of imperial power that leads to death.
Question
Caesarea Philippi is the farthest away from Jerusalem that Jesus travels during his ministry. Why take the disciples so far from home, and the center of their religious imagination, to explore such a fundamental question as Jesus' identity?
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion. See the complete prayer
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