June 18, 2010
Sunday Scripture
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
The gospel today begins with Jesus praying, a typical Lucan touch. Jesus prays far more often in Luke than in the other gospels. This indicates not only that Jesus was a man of prayer, but that Luke was also a man of prayer. One of the purposes of Luke’s gospel is to portray Jesus as the ideal Christian, the ultimate example of how to live as a Christian. That includes frequent prayer. On this occasion Luke presents Jesus’ prayer rather quaintly, “As Jesus was praying alone, the disciples were with him.” One thing is certain, when Luke portrays Jesus praying, something important is about to happen.
Jesus’ prayer is followed by an opinion poll. He asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Why does Luke insert this episode at this point? A purpose of the preceding episode, feeding of 5,000, was to demonstrate Jesus as Messiah (Christ). A popular belief held that when the Messiah arrives, manna in the wilderness would return with him. Thus Luke placed the feeding of the multitude into the wilderness, as the ancient Israelites had been fed with manna in the wilderness. In case any of Luke’s hearers or readers missed that point, Luke adds this episode in which Simon Peter, speaking for all Jesus’ disciples, for all Christians, will say, “You are the Christ (Messiah) of God.”
Before that conclusion is reached, the disciples report what others are saying about Jesus. Some said that he was John the Baptizer returned from the dead. Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, had executed John. Others said Jesus was the ninth century B.C. prophet Elijah returned. In 2 Kings 2:11, Elijah is caught up in a chariot of fire, raptured to heaven in a whirlwind. Since every human being has to die, Genesis 3:19, Hebrews 9:27, the return of Elijah was expected before the end of time. A third opinion was that one of the ancient prophets had risen from the dead. So much for popular opinion.
Now comes the important moment. Jesus asks his disciples, “But whom do you say that I am?” As noted above, Simon Peter speaks for the whole body of Jesus’ disciples, for the Church of Luke’s time and all time, “You are the Christ (Messiah) of God.” Jesus immediately instructs them to keep his messiah-status a secret. Why? Politicians would give an arm and a leg for that kind of free publicity. The title “Messiah” (Christ) was, at least in some circles, a royal title, meaning “the anointed king.” The Roman authorities ruling Palestine quickly eliminated any pretense to royal authority among the Jews, unless that royal authority was appointed by Caesar and served in subservience to Caesar. Thus Pilate’s inscription on the cross, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
Luke has a more theological reason for secrecy about Jesus being Messiah. The Messiah awaited by the Jews was to be a king, a political leader who would lead a rebellion against Romans and drive them into the sea. Jesus was not that kind of a Messiah/King. That is why Luke adds an instruction about the character of Jesus as Messiah/King, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” In the Gospel of John, the role of Jesus as Messiah is summed up in the words of Jesus to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” A catechesis of this gospel for the Church and for every Christian might be this, “Real power lies not in the control of others, but in the weakness of serving others.”
This reading, which notes that the people of Jerusalem will “look upon him whom they have pierced, was chosen to correspond to the words of Jesus in today’s gospel, “The Son of man must suffer greatly . . . and be killed . . .” The original situation was this: about 520 B.C., exiles who had returned from Babylon in 538 B.C., were not making progress in the rebuilding of the temple. A struggle over who was in charge led to the assassination, “whom they have pierced,” of a royal prince of the House of David who was put in charge of the colony of exiles by the King of Persia.
The shock of the prince’s murder brought compassion, unity and common mourning. The prophet promises God’s forgiveness in these words, “A fountain shall be opened for the House of David and the people of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.” In Christian interpretation of Zechariah, the royal prince of the House of David became Jesus, who, only in John’s Gospel, was pierced on the cross. The blood and water that flowed from his side became the fountain of forgiveness of which Zechariah spoke.
A “truth squad” from Jerusalem followed Paul to overturn his teaching about salvation through faith. According to them, the Galatians had to become Jews (circumcision) to become Christians. Paul notes that baptism into Christ replaced external distinctions, so that “there is no longer Jew nor Greek (pagan), male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”