Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

For everything there is a time: “A time to be born and a time to die, a time to work and a time to rest.” When I went to Israel for summer courses on archaeology and the Old Testament, I learned there are three places in Israel where families go for vacations: First, swimming in the Mediterranean Sea near Tyre and Sidon; second, boating on the Sea of Galilee; and third, skiing on the slopes of Mount Hermon during the winter, and hiking along its beautiful streams and forests the rest of the year.

From time to time Jesus and his disciples also tried to get away by themselves to rest awhile. Once they went to Tyre and Sidon to walk along the sandy beaches of the Mediterranean Sea. Another time they sought out a deserted place on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. And in today’s gospel Jesus and his disciples go to the spectacularly beautiful area of Caesarea Philippi, near the foot of Mount Hermon, with its groves of fig trees, hiking trails, and springs of water.

As Jesus and his disciples were enjoying this time alone he asked them: “… who do you say I am?” Peter, God bless him, didn’t hesitate for a moment and said right away: “You are the Christ.” This had to be a truly happy moment for Jesus: His disciples recognized him.

How appropriate that Jesus chose this particular place to ask, “Who do you say I am?” Very early in history this beautiful place was dedicated to pagan gods, beginning with Baal, the Canaanite god of fertility. After the conquests of Alexander the Great, Hellenistic culture made it a shrine for Pan, the Greek god of nature, half man and half goat. Romans in their turn chose this place for a temple to the Roman god, Zeus, father of the heavens and ruler over other gods. Here, where so many pagan gods had been worshipped, Peter proclaims that Jesus is “the Christ,” the anointed One, the Messiah.

The apostles were puzzled when Jesus warns them not to tell anyone who he is, and they were even more puzzled when he said that he must suffer greatly, be rejected and killed, and rise after three days. Peter panicked. Taking Jesus aside he rebuked him. This must never happen! But Jesus, looking at his disciples, went even further and said: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” The apostles wanted the kingdom without tribulation, leisure without travail, victory without a battle, power without opposition. They had a long road to travel before they would be one with the suffering and rising of the Messiah, Jesus, Son of the living God.

St. Teresa Benedicta, Edith Stein, writes: “Becoming one with Christ is our happiness on earth, the love of the cross in no way contradicts being a joyful child of God. Carrying the cross with Christ fills one with a strong and pure joy, and those who do so are builders of God’s kingdom, the most authentic children of God. … To suffer and be happy in suffering, to have one’s feet on the ground—walking on the dirty and rough paths of this earth—and yet to be enthroned with Christ at the Father’s right hand, to laugh and cry in this world while singing the praises of God with the choirs of angels—this is the life of the Christian until the morning of eternity breaks forth.“¹ She embraced the cross and died at Auschwitz.

Jesus and his disciples never had another time of rest together. The final journey to Calvary began here, at Caesarea Philippi. As they set out on this last long walk to Jerusalem Jesus said, ” … whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it.” Now this is amazing! These weak disciples of little faith, who feared suffering and death, continued to follow Jesus. even in their weakness and confusion. And that is what we are trying to do.

Saint Teresa-Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein] (1891-1942), Carmelite, martyr, co-patron of Europe Love of the Cross, 24/11/1934 (Institute of Carmelite Studies)