“Who do people say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples as they walk toward the next village on the outskirts of town. The answers he’s given reflect the historic belief, and hope, that better days are just ahead. The return of Elijah—the return of John the Baptist or one of the other prophets—any of these could imply a change in the political structure leading to the liberation of Israel. When Peter answers the question by saying “You are the Christ” his expectation, based on his understanding of the Messiah prophecy, is that Jesus has come to restore the kingdom of Israel.
Jesus knows what Peter is thinking because he knows the Messianic promise as well as anyone. That kind of liberator is not who he is. So he warns the disciples to say nothing about his identity to anyone. With their current mindset, their current beliefs and dreams about reclaiming their place in the socio-political world of the time, Jesus knows what they would tell others about him would be far from true. This isn’t the message he wants people to hear. It simply isn’t who he is or what he is about.
Jesus lays the groundwork for a radically new understanding of God, a radically new understanding of that ancient Messianic promise. He talks about suffering, about the rejection he will face from religious authorities, about the fact that, in the end, he will be killed. He speaks about all of this openly, matter-of-factly. Peter doesn’t like it and doesn’t want to hear it. He is angry and critical of Jesus, takes him aside and begins to berate him for saying such horrific things. But Jesus refuses to let this be a private matter between himself and Peter. He turns around and addresses Peter while looking at the disciples. And what does he say? “Get behind me, Satan.” In other words, “put those ideas about Messiah as a king leading Israel to a place of prestige and power behind you. This is not the role of the Anointed One, and it is not who I am.” Then he says an odd thing: “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Huh? Of course Peter is thinking like a human being!!! How else can he think?
Human beings naturally want to avoid suffering and loss. We want to survive! And beyond the basic need for survival, we want to thrive. We are driven to plan for the future and to create conditions that allow us to enjoy life. Peter, of course, is thinking like a human being who wants his world to be ‘made right’ by the Messiah. He wants it returned to the way ‘it’s supposed to be’, the way it was before the Romans came, the way God promised it would be again—a land flowing with milk and honey. The last thing Peter wants to hear is that Jesus isn’t this kind of Messiah, but he especially doesn’t want to hear that the man he loves is going to suffer, be rejected by his own religious authorities and then be killed! Of course he doesn’t want to hear any of this. It is terrifying! Peter wants a leader who will inspire hope and help people feel good about themselves and their future. And what Jesus is giving him is a prediction of suffering and the betrayal of all his hopes and dreams. He wants nothing to do with a CROSS—yet another humiliation for Israel! Worse yet will be the humiliation of a man he loves and is devotedly following around the countryside. He can’t stomach that!
Human beings don’t want to follow the vision of a cross. We want a vision of hope—hope for a better world! When we pray the “Our Father” and say “thy kingdom come, thy will be done ON EARTH” most of us are asking for things on earth to change for the better. Don’t we hope that some leader or group of leaders will make that happen easily, gracefully, without any of us having to suffer? Isn’t that what we are looking for in candidates for public office—someone who will take us down the road to a better life, greater health, wealth and happiness for us personally and for the country as a whole?
A few chapters beyond those we read today in Isaiah, the prophet tells us that God’s ways are not our ways. God’s ways lead us through the cross, through suffering and loss, to help us relinquish our efforts to maintain control, and our belief that control is ultimately ours. The cross is a doorway to the kingdom of God within us. On this side of that door we operate as though we are in charge and the fate of the world is in our hands. This isn’t a bad thing; it’s just that our actions are usually driven by our personal desires, our traumas and wounds, our less noble and often unconscious ideas. On the other side of the door, we are forced to let go the belief we are in charge because it’s clear that we aren’t. We are humbled. Our ego is shattered. We fall into the well of TRUTH itself, where God lives and moves our very being. Our actions can then emerge from that deeper TRUTH we see in the lives of people like Jimmy Carter, Roy Bourgeois, Dorothy Day and others.
As human beings we do all we can to avoid the cross, but the fact is that avoiding and resisting doesn’t make it go away. The cross is there. This is true on a personal as well as a national and international level. In reality, it is all one cross we share. The road to that new heaven and new earth we so crave lies in carrying, rather than pushing our cross onto someone else or transferring our collective cross to the next generation. Something deeper, more mysterious and much more real is happening as we do this. The Spirit of God is operating in the shadows, beneath the surface of awareness, outside the realm of faith or religion.
In every small act of kindness or mercy toward others walking with their crosses down life’s path, Divine energy flows like a river, dissolving pain, healing wounds, nurturing fertile seeds of warmth, tenderness and compassion within broken hearts. The cross humbles that self-important impulse within us, and makes us REAL. God wants us to be REAL.
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