Road to Emmaus Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Sep 9, 2009

First Reading – Is. 50:4c-9a

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 116:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9

Second Reading – Jam. 2:14-18

Gospel Reading – Mk. 8:27-35

 

This Sunday’s reading from the Gospel of Mark brings us all the way to Caesarea Philippi about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus and the disciples are coming from. He brings them here to ask them a very important question, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mark 8:29).

 

However, before asking the disciples who they think he is, Jesus asked, “Who do men say that I am?” (Mark 8:27). The answers are not insignificant. Some think that he is John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the other prophets. Not bad company at all. But, the answers are incorrect.

 

In a rare moment during Jesus’ ministry Peter gets the answer right, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). In other words, Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, the anointed one, who God promised to send. Jesus being the Messiah would have had a sweet ring in the ears of the disciples. One of the main reasons this is the case is that the Anointed One will also be the new King, which Israel has not had for hundreds of years, since the time of the Babylonian captivity.

 

God has not broken the covenant he made with David. Speaking to David, God said, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure before me; your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).

 

In the fevered messianic expectation of the first century, Jesus clarifies what it means to be the Messiah, just in case there is any confusion. Jesus says, “…The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” (Mark 8:31). Jesus brings together the notion of his being the Messiah, with his being the suffering servant who was prophesied by Isaiah.

 

It is not a coincidence that the Old Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from one of the suffering servant passages in Isaiah. We hear from Isaiah, “I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled my beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (50:6). This passage comes within the overall context of Isaiah 40-55, the book of comfort or consolation. It is through the suffering servant that Israel will be redeemed.

 

Jesus lays out the demands of discipleship for all to see. Jesus will take up his cross, the cross that brought about the salvation of the world. Jesus informs his disciples that they, and we, must do the same. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mark 8:34). By carrying our own cross, which necessarily entails suffering, we participate in carrying the cross of Christ, in no less a real way than Simon of Cyrene, and thus share in bringing about the salvation of the world.

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