Mark Twain once wrote, "It's not the parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me; it's the parts that I do understand." Today [Mk 8: 31-38], Jesus speaks plainly, and his words are hard and inescapable. Jesus has asked the apostles who he is. Reasonable question. Spokesman Peter, quick when replying, answers, "You are Messiah." Among Jews there were uneven expectations of the Messiah, so even the Twelve may not have agreed exactly on what that meant. Jesus uses this occasion to tell them by sharing his radically rewritten job description for Messiah, namely one who will soon experience rejection, suffering, and death. In reaction, Peter rebukes Jesus, and the Lord tells him to shut up (Gk., epitiman), for he is playing the role of Satan -- stumbling block -- he is thinking humanly.
What is going on here? Well, Peter is seeing from inside the Jewish "box," and Jesus, as usual, is seeing outside the box. In the traditional Jewish view, Messiah will come to rescue the Chosen People; but in the proleptic Christian view, Messiah will do far more than that. Despite various opinions, all Jews in the first century agreed on four things that would be true for the Messiah. What did they imagine redemption would look like?
First, the Messiah would lead a violent military insurrection resulting in defeat of Roman power and in the restoration of Jewish Nationhood. Messiah Jesus, by contrast is a pacifist, bringing a spiritual revolution centred on non-violent resistance. If you need examples, look at Gandhi and Martin Luther King. And Jesus' revolution is aimed to liberate all humankind, not just one race or religious group.
Second, Messiah's glorious military victory in Israel would cause all the other nations of the world to worship YHVH and forsake their various deities. Jesus' victory will see the nations converted one human heart at a time.
Third, Messiah's bloody victory would trigger a magical, sudden realization of the Kingdom of God, fully manifest. In other words, a world in which there is no pain, suffering, death, or any more war. A perfect world in which all evil has been banished. God would heal and restore the whole world by working around us, not through us. The coming of Jesus means the in-breaking of God's Kingdom. Its seed is within us. The Kingdom is at hand, already taking hold but its growth, its realization lie with us. We are partners with Jesus in changing a world that is dominated by hate, bigotry, greed, imperialism, militarism -- all that Jesus hated. So while we Christians should continue to pray, it is far more important that we kick up the action. We need to be on the front lines of peace and justice, where Jesus lived. Christians cannot be genuine or truly effective while co-opted by our rotten culture and those who dare to defend it in the name of religion. That is the ultimate blasphemy.
Last, Messiah's instant perfect world would trigger resurrection of all the departed faithful, so they could join the party. Well, that will have to wait for the End. In the meantime, Jesus is much more concerned about our bringing the spiritually dead back to life, to abundant life to those whom he calls. When we bring people to love as Jesus loved, to live as Jesus lived, to serve as Jesus served, we are about the business of Kingdom-building. We are part of the solution, not the problem.
Lent is a time for all of us to work on our sacred vocation to be revolutionary agents of Messiah Jesus/ We need to get right with God and to rededicate ourselves, so we can be the People we are called to be and about the work God has for us. Lent gives us tools for the job.
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