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507 Fifth StreetTWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Our first reading speaks about a faithful servant who suffers for his fidelity to God. In the Gospel, Peter makes an important profession of faith about Jesus. Jesus teaches his second lesson on the nature of true discipleship, namely, a willingness to carry one’s cross. In the second reading, James states that authentic faith must express itself in good works.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 50:5-9
This reading is an excerpt from the third of the Servant Songs of Second Isaiah. The servant’s message evidently meets with opposition and results in persecution. But he absorbs all the physical and mental abuse directed at him without retaliating. The insults don’t really touch him, because he is confident that God will help and vindicate him.
This ties in with Jesus’ prediction of the passion in the Gospel. Jesus, too, is confident that God will vindicate him by raising him from the dead. The New Testament sees Jesus as the suffering servant par excellence.
SECOND READING: James 2:14-18
James responds to a misunderstanding in the early church about the true nature of faith. It seems some within the community think that faith only means correct belief as articulated in orthodox doctrine. James insists that authentic faith must express itself in good works. Action and right conduct are essential elements of faith. Faith that does not express itself in good works is a false or dead faith. James gives a concrete example of how faith must lead to care for a needy brother or sister.
GOSPEL COMMENTARY: Mark 8: 27-35.
After having been consistently rejected and misunderstood despite all he has said and done, Jesus starts to proclaim the necessity of the suffering of the Son of Man.
Today’s passage has two parts. The first deals with Peter’s profession of faith. The second involves Jesus’ teaching on the true nature of his messiah-ship—how it will involve suffering and how the cross will also be the lot of those who will follow him.
In the first part, Jesus seeks to find out how his actions and words are being understood by the people. Peter tells him that many of the people think that he is a prophet raised from the dead. Then Jesus asks, “And who do you, my inner circle, say I am?” Peter, serving as spokesperson for his brothers, answers: “You are the Christ.” This means that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God.
Even though Peter answers correctly, his reaction to Jesus’ reference to a suffering Messiah clearly shows how much he needs to grow in his understanding of Jesus’ messiahship. Peter is repulsed at the very idea of a wounded and suffering Messiah, as well as a discipleship that will involve carrying one’s cross. It will take a lot of time and the action of the Holy Spirit for Peter and his friends to embrace the idea of a wounded and suffering Messiah and the belief that disciples will also suffer for being followers of Jesus. This teaching on the importance of the cross is the second lesson in a series of teachings on the characteristics of true discipleship.
For James, true faith must express itself in good works. What does this mean in your life? How do you express your faith in good works? It is clear from James that for him, faith must express itself in the care of the poor. How do you seek to live this piece of the Gospel?