Thursday, February 20, 2014
6th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Jas 2:1-9
Gospel: Mk 8:27–33
Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” And they told him, “Some say you are John the Baptist; others say you are Elijah or one of the prophets.”
Then Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And he ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the Law. He would be killed and after three days rise again. Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus turning around, and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind me Satan! You are thinking, not as God does, but as people do.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Jesus conducted an evaluation to size up his ministry. In regard to public opinion he obtained the following data: “Some say you are John the Baptist; others say you are Elijah or one of the prophets.” He then surprised his disciples with the same question. In a bat of an eyelash Peter replied: “You are the Messiah.” In Hebrew this word means “The Anointed One”. The answer amounted to recognition of Jesus as the liberator foretold by the prophets.
Because the disciples had in mind a Messiah with a mission to wipe out their colonizers, Jesus clarified that he was a suffering Messiah (verses 31-33). The disciples refused to understand. How can a Messiah suffer in the hands of the colonizers from whose hands he was supposed to deliver God’s people? Peter, the guy that came out with the “correct” answer, vowed to defend him to death in the event that he should be made to suffer. Jesus refused Peter’s patronage and called him Satan, meaning, a stumbling block to the execution of God’s plan.
Jesus was not a political Messiah but the suffering servant of Yahweh. Scriptures describe him in this wise: “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by his knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify many as he will bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).
Until the end the disciples failed to understand. In fact Peter drew his sword later at the Garden of Gethsemane to ward off the Roman soldiers who came to arrest Jesus. You see, not even his closest associates got Jesus right. Did Jesus fail in his ministry? Answer not on the basis of what happened to the Jews. Jesus is interested in your personal answer. Is he getting across in your lives? – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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