Homily

"But who is this Jesus of Nazareth" No doubt that we are dealing with a fundamental issue; it was so in Jesus’ time, and it does not cease to be so in our time. Even though unfortunately this does not mean that it is at the top of our thoughts. But it certainly occupies one of the central places in the reflections of the one who seriously faces life. In Mark’s Gospel, this question even occupies the "physical" centre of the narrative; it is that determinative. We have come to the eighth of the sixteen chapters that comprise Mark’s Gospel. In effect, the evangelist makes us arrive at a decisive watershed. The scene takes place in Upper Galilee, as Jesus makes the rounds in the villages in the region of Caesarea Philippi, a city located quite far from Jerusalem, in the midst of an almost totally pagan region. The evangelist wants to suggest that from here decisively begins Jesus’ way towards the holy city. From this moment, Jesus "openly" speaks with the disciples, with nothing to hold him back (v. 32). Making his way, he asks them about the people’s opinion concerning him. As one can see, it is Jesus himself who poses, in the middle of the narrative, the "central question" of the whole Gospel, the problem of his identity. It is now impossible to accept the hypothesis that he is a disguised demon or, as his own relatives had said, a madman. Rather, the conviction had taken hold that he was sent by God.
Substantially, one could say, people evaluate him positively and, partially, come close to his identity. Some actually identify him with Elijah come back to life, whose coming was awaited in preparation for the coming of the Messiah; others, more generically, think of a prophet among many others, or, perhaps, that he is the great prophet of the last times; some, like Herod, think that the Baptist has returned. All agree that, with Jesus, there is the finger of God, but the judgment is not clear in spite of all the admiration they have for him as a great doer of good and healer. This is why Jesus ignores the people’s opinion and intentionally directs the question to the disciples, "But who do you say that I am" Peter answers him openly and unequivocally, "You are the Messiah!" (Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew "Messiah," which literally means "one who is consecrated"). This seems to be the answer that Jesus at last expected. The disciples, obtuse up to then (4:17-21), have arrived at faith.
And yet, Peter’s definition, in a way, is incomplete; it needs be explained, since it contains in itself a deep ambiguity, so much so that Jesus is constrained to "unconfess" the disciple soon after. These are two scenes incredibly linked and equally opposed: on the one hand, Peter’s "confession," and, immediately, the "unconfession" that Jesus makes of the disciple. Jesus, at the words which acknowledged him as Messiah, begins to speak about his passion (he will speak two other times about it after this). He says that the Son of man must suffer much, be rejected by the elders of the people, by the high priests and scribes; then be killed and rise on the third day. Peter, hearing these words, takes Jesus apart and begins to scold him. He had recognized the incomparable greatness of Jesus to the extent of using the greatest title at his disposal, but he could not accept the "end" that Jesus had presented to them. And it is here that two concepts of the Messiah collide: that of Peter, connected to strength, to power which overcomes, to the establishment of a political kingdom; the other one, that of Jesus, marked by humbling himself to the point of death which will nevertheless end in resurrection.
The disciple who, speaking for the others, recognized Jesus as Messiah now becomes an adversary; Jesus cannot but reprove him in front of the others. With astonishing harshness, he tells Peter, "Get behind me, Satan!" These are words analogous to those we find in Matthew’s Gospel at the end of the temptations in the desert (some scholars believe Matthew took them from this passage in Mark). In both cases, Jesus is pushed to give a political connotation to his messiahship, that it might attain to power and lordship of an earthly sort. It is certainly difficult to accept a Messiah who chooses the way of the cross and of lowering oneself; and yet, this is precisely God’s way. Jesus, calling the crowd who followed him, says that if anyone wants to become his disciple, he or she must deny himself or herself, take up his or her own cross and follow him. And he adds: whoever thus loses his or her life, really saves it. All this will be clarified on the day of Jesus’ resurrection. But already now, also for us, the way of service of the Gospel and of the Lord is the way to fully live according to God. And it will never be permitted to anyone to distort the path trod by Jesus.