Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time September 17, 2006

Isaiah 50: 5-9a James 2: 14-18 Mark 8: 27-35

Picture yourself as a movie director. One of your responsibilities is to coach actors how to play a part. The central character to be played by the actor is Peter. Peter is a colorful individual. He is a fisherman. He is also brash, outgoing, maybe a little cocky. He does not hesitate to speak up - maybe a little too soon at times - and he has apparent leadership skills. At the point in Peter’s life that we have just heard in the story told by St. Mark, he has been following a new teacher. He has seen what this teacher has done, the miracles, the cures, even the calming of the sea. He has heard him speak, although he may not have always understood him. He certainly has seen the crowds following him with fascination and interest. No doubt he is feeling pretty good about himself because he is in the inner circle of this new and popular teacher.

After a time, as we are told in the story, he and the others have been challenged by this teacher. Who do the crowds say that I am, he asked. Have they figured it out? Have you figured it out? Who and what exactly is this teacher from Nazareth in whom they have invested so much of their time? In answer to this question, as this scene unfolds, Peter boldly steps forward. As the director, does he show conviction. Does he, perhaps, have a bit of doubt in his voice? You coach him how to answer. You are the Christ! (or) You are the Christ?

In Mark’s account there is no direct response by Christ to what Jesus said. Perhaps you might direct Peter to walk away with a sense of being self-satisfied, even a bit smug. Maybe he shows the attitude “Great, this will be our secret - and I know it.”

Then he starts to hear Jesus talk about suffering, rejection, being killed - and something about rising from the dead. Can easily see Peter stopping in his track - showing an attitude like “Woe, wait a minute, what is this all about?” The image of the Savior God in which he had been raised in his Jewish tradition triumphed over enemies, was a conquering hero. Just think of the Exodus story where the Savior God leads the chosen people from slavery to a promised land.

Peter goes back to Jesus. “No, no, no - this is not going to happen. I won’t let it. You are the Christ!” But he is stunned by the reaction of Jesus. Worse, he is deflated and disgraced as he is criticized in front of the others.

The story conveys a basic element, a basic understanding of the nature of our relationship with God. It is a relationship that involves challenges. It is a relationship that is not based on power or position. It is a relationship based on love - with all the variations and difficulties and doubts and questions that we experience in our human relationships because of our weaknesses and failures. It is a relationship that demands constant effort on our part and, most especially, trust. The greatest challenge and contradiction in our relationship with Christ can be found in the central symbol of Christianity, the image that is so clearly before all of us here, Christ hanging upon the cross, executed for revealing God’s love.

This is, indeed, the Christ, as Peter proclaimed. This is, indeed, the Son of God, as the centurion standing by the cross will say. Yet this is what happened to him. We must expect nothing less. We should, indeed, join with him in carrying the cross. We must do so with absolute faith, absolute trust in God. We must do so because, without the cross, there is no resurrection. There is no defeat of death. There is no overcoming of evil.

The confusion of Peter in this scene, as the director must encourage the actor to show, is understandable. It is not an easy message to convey, to convince. James, in his letter, writes about it. Faith is not just a matter of identification, of saying we believe. Faith has to be lived out actively. Faith, like our worship, cannot be passive. This is true even when it is not easy, when it is challenged.

The story of Peter, of course, does not end here. He is a fascinating character. He appears in many scenes in Jesus’ life. He will lead us, the church, and he continues to lead the church today in challenging all of us to understand what it is to follow Christ, what it means to join Christ in denying self and taking up the cross.

In this challenging life we lead, in this effort to follow Christ, we come together here, sharing our faith, sharing our efforts to live that faith. Most of all, we come together here to share in the life of God in the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. This is the living, sustaining, continuing presence of our loving God with us.