Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. The goal of discipleship (following Jesus) is to come to know who Jesus is so that one can be where Jesus is. As the Gospel of Mark portrays it, this is an objective that a disciple continues to pursue during the entire course of his/her life of discipleship. Knowing Jesus does not happen in an instant. It is a revelatory process that takes place in phases. The initial disciples of Jesus came to learn about this the hard way (at least according to Mark’s account). For them, it was not until after the resurrection that they finally came to a full knowledge of Jesus as well as what their vocation as his followers entailed. It was neither an easy path nor a straight one for the twelve. It was a path that had its dramatic highs and lows. As Mark presents it, each high moment was followed by a low one and vice versa. For as soon the twelve found themselves reeling with joy at having apparently made a step in their life of discipleship, they found themselves being reminded that they were not yet where they needed to be. The incident recounted in today’s Gospel Reading is a prime example.
After healing a blind man at Bethsaida, Jesus and the twelve left for Caesarea Philippi. Along the way, Jesus threw a question at the twelve that must have caught them by surprise. It was a question about his identity. The incidences such as being rejected by his own people must have prompted Jesus to want to know the impression he was making upon the general populace as well as what the twelve were thinking of him. As it turned out, it was to be a moment of central significance in the disciple’s coming to know the identity of Jesus. For inspired by the Spirit, Peter, on behalf of the twelve, confessed Jesus as the Christ of God. It was a confession that was commended by Jesus for it showed that the twelve were getting it after all. Peter and the others must have “hi-fived” one another for having finally gotten it. However, the celebratory mood didn’t last long. As the others were still congratulating Peter for saving their skin, Jesus grasped at the opportunity to open their eyes into another aspect of his identity. Perhaps Jesus had a feeling that the twelve were now ready to have everything concerning his mission revealed to them. He wanted them to know that his messiahship was not only about the working of miracles and mighty signs. He was a messiah who was going to be subjected to rejection, persecution, and death. It was a revelation that didn’t go down well with the twelve, especially with Peter who was not afraid to make his disapproval publicly known. Peter could not bring himself to understand how the anointed one of God could end up being killed by mere mortals. Furthermore, suffering and rejection was not part of the Messiah’s identity and mission. The messiah was the ultimate savior of the righteous, the hero who was to conquer and triumph over the forces of evil. Wasn’t the Messiah supposed to be the epitome of the triumph of goodness over evil? How then could the same Messiah be subject to the very powers of darkness that he had come to destroy?
Peter was not alone in his objection to Jesus’ revelation that he would be subjected to persecution and suffering. Like most of his contemporaries, he expected the Messiah to be a powerful figure, someone who was in a position to lead the nation in overcoming the challenges it was currently facing. As right a he thought he was, his objection showed that he did not see the mission of Jesus as a continuation of the mission of the Old Testament prophets. For if he did, he would easily have understood that Jesus’ mission would take him down the path trodden by the prophets before him: a path of denial and self-sacrifice.
The messiahship of Jesus constituted self-denial and sacrifice. As a messiah, Jesus’ mission was primarily that of leading humanity back to God by showing them the right path to follow. Humanity had strayed away from God by acts of selfishness and disregard for the welfare of the other (‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’). The path that leads back to God is that of kindness, generosity, humility, concern for others, fighting for justice and fairness, and loving unconditionally. It is a path of self-sacrifice, of not counting the cost. It is a path that is not popular and seldom trodden by men and women. It is a path that will champion equality while demanding treating men and women as persons created with inalienable rights and dignity. It is a path that challenges the status quo even as it exposes to persecution and rejection those who have chosen to take it. As a good shepherd, Jesus himself took this path in order to set an example for his followers. “ If you wish to come after me, you too must be ready to walk this path,” Jesus added as he invited the disciples to join him. So far, they had experienced only one aspect of Jesus’ messiahship. Jesus was now inviting them to make it all the way. As followers of the messiah, they had to identify with him and take the very path he had taken. This was the path to salvation and their ministry depended on it. This was also the path to finding out who they were as co-partners with Jesus in ministry.