TAKE UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME

XII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 9:18-24

There are simple questions, which are difficult to answer, even when the answer seems to be obvious.  “Who am I?” is a question that will leave me searching for an answer. Jesus asked such a question to his disciples, starting by asking them what people were saying about him. Indeed, many things are said about Jesus. However, what the others say is just a prelude for our own answer. About Jesus, there are many misconceptions and also many false expectations, so that we can be led astray. What others say may be helpful or become a hindrance. Jesus demands a personal answer, my own answer. His question is directed at each one of us: Who do you say I am? What do you say about me? 

In the name of the apostles, Peter gave the answer: You are the Messiah (the Christ). It sounded like the true answer, even though it was an incomplete and misguided answer. Jesus was indeed the Messiah, but not the kind of Messiah that Peter and his friends were hoping for. With all the Jewish people, the Apostles expected a powerful religious and military leader who would congregate the people of Israel, defeat all their enemies and become the ruler of the world. For them, the Messiah would be the king of kings, establishing the Kingdom of God on earth. However, Jesus was not going that way and he would not be that kind of Messiah; that’s why he forbade the apostles to speak about that, keeping it a secret.

Jesus presented Himself as the Son of Man who is rejected goes through suffering and is crucified.  The first reading, from the prophet Zechariah (Zech 12:10-11,13:1), speaks of the citizens of Jerusalem as feeling the guilt of someone’s death, whom they have pierced and whom they mourn as if he was their only son. The Church has understood those word as referring to Jesus who was crucified in Jerusalem. At that moment, the disciples could not understand that, and Jesus had to make it clear that all those who want to become his disciples must be ready to walk on his footsteps, going through suffering and carrying their cross as Jesus himself was going to do. Jesus’ way is not an easy way, but hard and difficult. One must be ready to lose his life in order to be faithful, as Jesus was.