(Mk 8:27-9:1)
The affluent life and not
True God, nature, and authentic man
(Mk 8:27-33)
Jesus guides his intimates away from the territory of power ideology and the sacred centre of the official religious institution.
The environment of the land of Judah was all conditioned, now devoid of life-wave, already normalised in its constituent lines; it had become a sort of fortress, refractory to any surprise.
In comparison, towards the north, the land of Caesarea Philippi was less artificial, more natural and almost sublime; enchanting, famous for fertility and lush pastures - an area famous for the fecundity of flocks and herds.
That sort of earthly paradise at the source of the Jordan was so humanly attractive that Alexander the Great considered it to be the home of the god Pan and the Nymphs.
The disciples too were fascinated by the landscape and the affluent life of the region's inhabitants; not to mention the magnificence of the palaces.
But here an almost unpleasant question burst into the group.
Christ asks the apostles - basically - what the people expected of Him. And the reminder of the context alludes to the comforts that pagan religion offered.
Moved by curiosity and eager for temporal fulfilment, the crowd of astonished people around the Son of God created a great noise, only apparent.
Now there is a change: the atmosphere changes, opposition increases and questions accumulate; the crowd thins out and the Master finds himself increasingly alone.
While the gods were showing that they knew how to fill their devotees with goods - and a sumptuous court life that beguiled everyone - what was the Lord offering?
In short, the apostles continued to be influenced by the propaganda of the political and religious government, which ensured prosperity.
Jesus 'instructed' them, so that they could overcome the blindness and crisis produced by his Cross, a commitment required from the perspective of self-giving.
[The Son of God is not just a continuer of the Baptist's limpid attitude, never inclined to compromise with the courts and opulence; nor one of the many restorers of the law of Moses... with the zeal of Elijah].
On some fundamental issues, in the early Christian communities there were lively distances with paganism, but there were also particular contrasts with the world of the synagogues.
Frictions of no small importance were those that arose between Jews converted to the Lord and traditionally observant Semites.
Indeed, the sacred books of late Judaism spoke of great figures who had left their mark on the history of Israel, and were to reappear to usher in the Messianic times.
But in all there was a lack of understanding. And difficulty in being able to embrace the new proposal, which seemed to guarantee neither glory nor material goals.
Faith does not easily accord with early human impulses: it is bewildering in its obvious views and drives.
Thus in the Gospel passage, the Master contradicts Peter himself, whose opinion remained tied to the conformist and popular idea of "the" (v.29: "that") expected Messiah.
The leader of the apostles must stop showing Christ which way to go "behind" (v.33) him!
Simon can start being a pupil again; stop plotting roads, hijacking God in the name of God!
In fact, all the Twelve - still plagued by ideas deeply rooted in the ancient mentality - were waiting for a ruler ["political Messiah"], king of Israel of the house of David.
Or they were waiting for a high priest ["Messiah of Aaron"] finally faithful to the role and capable of discovering the genuine meaning of the Word.
For some he was to be a great thaumaturge, a doctor; for others a guerrilla leader, or a judge ["Master of Justice"]; a Prophet, of equal calibre to the ancients.
But the Person of Christ is not that of an ordinary forerunner - great or minor, as long as he is recognisable - an established leader.
Hence the "messianic secret" imposed on those who preach him in that equivocal manner (v.30).
The Son of God does not assure us worldly success, absence of conflict, and a comfortable life, nor does he assure us the mere purification of places of worship or the mending of the ancient practice of devotions.
Only guarantees freedom from all ties to power, and Love that regenerates.
Depth also of natural wisdom:
Says the Tao Tê Ching (xxviii): 'He who knows he is male and keeps himself female is the strength of the world'. Master Wang Pi comments: "He who knows he is first in the world must put himself last".
To internalise and live the message:
Who is Jesus and how much does he matter to you?
Lifting the Cross, Son of Man and Church in Integrity of Life
Bad reputation is normal among the Prophets
(Mk 8:34-9:1)
The Cross is normal among the Prophets, who certainly do not have a great response of hymning crowds, in building their own limpid 'city'.It never remains at the size of easy idols. But this is the paradoxical form of 'communion' that mysteriously attracts the human.
Conviviality that draws hearts together, despite the fact that clashes of ambition or the game of opportunism do not subside around it.
Even today, the chaos of reversals does not seem to subside, while crises and mingling appear, even in the positive interweaving of cultural paradigms.
What is to be done?
"Lifting" [v.34 Greek text] the horizontal arm of the gallows and carrying it on one's shoulders meant losing one's reputation.
This is a capital problem, inseparable from a motivated and responsible attitude.
Indeed, if a follower aspired to glory, cherished his own honour, did not accept solitude... he could not make himself an authentic witness to Christ.
He would be a piece of prolonged worldliness.
Instead, the Master's fate also involves that of the disciples.
It is true at all times, and for us: the gift to the end does not come on earth by passing through fame, success, consideration; being constantly accompanied, approved and supported.
Simon (vv. 32-33) was waiting not for a problematic, sharp outcome, but for easy approval: a release, as between friends patting each other on the back.
He was dreaming of an acclaimed following, hence a future of recognition - and he was bewildered.
But the spirit of giving that Jesus asks of him comes from welcoming, not conquering.
Resigned empathy, starting from one's opposite sides: it does not exist without an intimate alliance.
Of course, the world of tables around unleashes the belligerent aspect, rather than the harmonious, integrated repudiation of the instincts of affirmation: to command, to dominate, to subjugate.
But in the typical language of those who seriously love, Christ speaks clearly - so that his Mystery is also realised in us.
Not to accommodate us in social opinion, but to make every shaky and insecure person a complete being, and to make us all blessed and saviours, with Him.
Peter does not understand the figure of the "Son of Man" (v.38), the main designation used by the evangelists and a crucial theme for understanding the Lord.
He still comes to make present the inherent divine, and its generative energies.
"Son of Man" stands for the eminent goal of the Father: to humanise us and improve existence.
It is the sense of a holiness that is possible and transmissible, not erratic or already formulated, nor tied to concatenations in the regime of externality.
While common religion often convinces of inadequacy and blocks all development, God in His own is direct communication, a drive for life, for a humanising totality.
An innate quintessence that precisely coincides and merges with the supreme condition: in an accentuated capacity to evolve, to affect, to communicate fullness of being.
Not understanding Heaven's plan, Peter ["took him with"] grabs Jesus as if he were his hostage....
And "began to exorcise him" (v.32 Greek text) so that the Master himself would finally put his head on straight, and stand behind him.
Here the historical basis of such a 'gesture' by the leader of the apostles transpires - that is, the long-standing attempt by the first Jerusalem community to compromise with the priestly and political power of the time.
Thus Judeo-Christian Messianism was born. A theology of compromise with the Temple and the Traditions of the fathers, still very much alive in the second-third generation fraternities [those of Mk].
The fact is: the tension that separates us from the heights of official devotion does not stand by chance.
Unfortunately, there exists a deviant and 'enemy' Christology - represented here precisely by Peter ranting (v.33) - which imagines and transmits Christ as a powerful priest and ally of hegemonic power.
This is the reason why today even the pontiff-bishop of Rome does not miss the root of the ecclesial problem: clericalism.
In essence, a soul-destroying ecclesiology can correspond to aberrant Christology.
It presents the community of children under the caricature of a pyramidal institution compromised with those who accentuate exhibitionism, attribute titles, and distribute favours.
All this is not "saving life" (v.35): in the biblical sense, achieving human fullness and resemblance to the divine condition.
Subsequent cheap mysticism, influenced by cerebral philosophies, on this expression has bracketed the adventure of Faith and invented a sharp contrast between bodily and spiritual life.
A banal conviction, which has as it were vivisected unsuspecting people themselves, sometimes directed to masochism.
But here Jesus does not speak of artificial punishments to be meted out, nor did he ever impose any mortification. Neither is it able to produce any 'salvation of the soul' detached from reality - or standing 'in the grace of God' (motionless) intimidated by everlasting punishment.
The Christ story leads in an entirely different direction: the sacred signs do not fit the directives of the established power; they are all liberating in the concrete, not found in an inert and vague detachment.
His reminders in the Church make it clear that the essential characteristics of the disciple are: love that risks and detachment from reputation
as well as lack of attachment to some successful, more or less concealed political function or direction.
To follow the Lord is not to prepare oneself for an office [and earn money on it: v.36], but to correspond to the raw Call.
A call that invests each person following, as well as the Son of Man himself, and the people of God.
"Lift up the Cross positively": so that different energies, other relationships, unpredictable situations, which cause us to shift our gaze and activities, may arise.
Not in view of some just retribution, but for the irreducible core of every believer (or non-believer) and of any issue.
Hence the need not to alienate oneself from the Gospels, for the fulfilment of self, a living testimony, and the solution of problems - crossed from 'within'.
In short, we can announce Jesus' proposal, criteria, and Presence itself... in facts and in the integrity of life - not who knows when after death (Mk 8:38-9:1).
Other definitiveness.
To internalise and live the message:
What kind of call do you hear resonating in you?
Starting from the centre
6. How should we concretely configure this path of ascent and purification? How must love be lived, so that its human and divine promise is fully realised? A first important indication can be found in the Song of Songs, one of the books of the Old Testament well known to the mystics. According to the interpretation prevalent today, the poems contained in this book are originally love songs, perhaps intended for an Israelite wedding feast, in which they were to extol conjugal love. In this context, it is very instructive that, throughout the book, we find two different words for 'love'. First there is the word 'dodim' - a plural expressing love that is still insecure, in a situation of indeterminate search. This word is then replaced by the word " ahabà ", which in the Greek translation of the Old Testament is rendered with the similar-sounding term " agape ", which, as we have seen, became the characteristic expression for the biblical conception of love. In opposition to the indeterminate and still searching love, this word expresses the experience of love that now truly becomes a discovery of the other, overcoming the selfish character that was previously clearly dominant. Love now becomes care of the other and for the other. It no longer seeks self, immersion in the intoxication of happiness; instead, it seeks the good of the beloved: it becomes renunciation, it is ready for sacrifice, indeed it seeks it.
It is part of love's development towards higher levels, towards its intimate purifications, that it now seeks definitiveness, and this in a twofold sense: in the sense of exclusivity - 'only this one person' - and in the sense of 'forever'. Love encompasses the totality of existence in all its dimensions, including that of time. It could not be otherwise, because its promise aims at the definitive: love aims at eternity. Yes, love is "ecstasy", but ecstasy not in the sense of a moment of intoxication, but ecstasy as a journey, as a permanent exodus from the ego closed within itself towards its liberation in the gift of self, and precisely in this way towards the rediscovery of self, indeed towards the discovery of God: "Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, whoever loses it will save it" (Lk 17:33), says Jesus - a statement of his that is found in the Gospels in different variants (cf. Mt 10:39; 16:25; Mk 8:35; Lk 9:24; Jn 12:25). Jesus thereby describes his personal path, which through the cross leads him to resurrection: the path of the grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies and thus bears much fruit. Starting from the centre of his personal sacrifice and the love that reaches its fulfilment in it, he also describes with these words the essence of love and of human existence in general.
[Pope Benedict, Deus Caritas est].
From Son of David to Son of Man
The Church is Catholic because Christ embraces all humanity in his mission of salvation. While Jesus' mission in his earthly life was limited to the Jewish people, "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mt 15:24), it was nevertheless oriented from the beginning to bring the light of the Gospel to all peoples and to bring all nations into the Kingdom of God. Confronted with the faith of the Centurion in Capernaum, Jesus exclaims: "Now I tell you that many will come from the east and the west and sit down at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 8:11). This universalistic perspective emerges, among other things, from the presentation Jesus made of himself not only as "Son of David", but as "son of man" (Mk 10:33), as we also heard in the Gospel passage just proclaimed. The title "Son of Man", in the language of the Jewish apocalyptic literature inspired by the vision of history in the Book of the Prophet Daniel (cf. 7:13-14), recalls the person who comes "with the clouds of heaven" (v. 13) and is an image that heralds an entirely new kingdom, a kingdom supported not by human powers, but by the true power that comes from God. Jesus uses this rich and complex expression and refers it to Himself to manifest the true character of His messianism, as a mission destined for the whole man and every man, overcoming all ethnic, national and religious particularism. And it is precisely in following Jesus, in allowing oneself to be drawn into his humanity and thus into communion with God, that one enters into this new kingdom, which the Church announces and anticipates, and which overcomes fragmentation and dispersion.
[Pope Benedict, address to the Consistory 24 November 2012].
