WHO IS JESUS OF NAZARETH

“Who do you say I am?” What a searching question! And it’s asked of everyone. The question can be looked at in different ways. It’s not a philosophical question about the meaning of life, nor is it about religion or ethics. The question concerns a person, Jesus of Nazareth. And it’s one that might take a lifetime to answer.

The scene is the central turning point in Mark’s Gospel. Thus far in the story Jesus has appeared as a healer and exorcist, a wonder worker displaying an authority that throws the Pharisees, upholders of conventional orthodoxy, into disarray. The meaning of his activities is far from clear and produces a host of conflicting interpretations. Now Jesus turns to his disciples and to us and asks: “Who do you say I am?”
“You are the Christ,” Peter confidently and correctly proclaimed, but he misunderstood the implications of ‘Christ’- the Messiah or Anointed One. In the popular mind the Messiah was expected to be a powerful military and political leader who would lead his people to victory over their enemies. Jesus rebuked Peter and told him not to repeat it.

Instead, Jesus began to speak of suffering for himself and for his followers: “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great sufferings . . . and be put to death.” Suffering and death were not part of Peter’s image of the Messiah, but rather conquest and victory. How and where would we expect to find Jesus of Nazareth today?

“Seeking and naming the Risen Christ is both the task and the sign of our times,” writes theologian Thomas Halik. “Teilhard’s vision of the Christ, present in cosmic evolution, must be complemented by finding the Risen One, present (often anonymously) in the evolution of society. Let us search for him ’by his voice’ like Mary Magdalene; let us search for him in strangers on the road like the disciples on the road to Emmaus; let us search for him in the wounds of the world like the apostle Thomas; let us search for him whenever he passes through the closed doors of fear; let us search for him where he brings the gifts of forgiveness and new beginnings. Let us find him in all the events of our lives and our world” – Halik, The Afternoon of Christianity, 210.
Fr. QQ – 12/09/2024

Their eyes were opened, and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight – Luke 24:33.