“The only petition I would have you put forward on my behalf is that I may be given sufficient inward and outward strength to be as resolute in will as in words, and a Christian in reality instead of only in repute.”  – St. Ignatius of Antioch, martyr

Luke 9:18-27: Now one day when he was praying alone in the presence of his disciples he put this question to them, ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist; others Elijah; and others say one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’ ‘But you,’ he said, ‘who do you say I am?’ It was Peter who spoke up. ‘The Christ of God,’ he said. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this. ‘The Son of Man,’ he said ‘is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’ Then to all he said, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self? For if anyone is ashamed of me and of my words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels. ‘I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.’

Christ the Lord “Christ” means “anointed” (and in Hebrew, “Messiah”). The term is used in reference to King David, who was anointed by the prophet Samuel to show that he had been chosen and sent by God to lead his people to peace and prosperity. (Olive oil comes from olives, and the healthy olive tree was always a symbol of peace and prosperity.) The same term is used in reference to God’s promise to reestablish the Kingdom of David forever under one of his descendents (the Davidic Kingdom fell after the reign of Solomon, David’s son). Jesus is that descendent. He is the one God has chosen and sent to lead all mankind to the spiritual peace and prosperity of life in communion with God, which had been symbolized by the material peace and prosperity of the Davidic Kingdom. Peter and the other disciples recognized this, and when they asserted it, Jesus did not contradict them. Critics still say that Christ was merely “a prophet” or a “great religious teacher,” but Jesus himself made it clear that he claimed to be nothing less than the Lord.

Christ the Teacher Jesus knew that the general public still associated the title “Christ” with an image of political and military victory. After all, David’s kingdom was political, and he had established it through force of arms. But Christ’s Kingdom was of a different stamp. It was built around the cross, around suffering, sacrifice, and self-denial. True, he was the Messiah, God’s anointed, and his Kingdom would stand forever, but he would establish it through obedience to the Father’s will, even unto death by crucifixion. And everyone who wished to enter that Kingdom would have to follow the same path: obedience to God’s will, no matter how difficult it might be: “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.”

So Jesus told his disciples not to use the term Christ for the time being, allowing him a chance to instruct the crowds, to elevate their hopes and adjust their expectations, to explain how it was that an apparently weak, submissive, suffering Jesus could be the Lord of life and history. We also need time to learn this lesson. We need time spent in prayer, contemplating Christ’s teachings and example in the Gospel. We need time spent in study, looking into the history of the Church and the lives of the saints. We need to desire Mt. Calvary as much as Mt. Tabor. Only then will this hardest of all lessons – that earth isn’t heaven and never will be, that the path to abundant meaning and happiness passes through a daily cross, that unless we are willing to sacrifice our personal preferences and worldly desires we will never reach the goal for which we were created – only then will this lesson be able to seep down into our hearts and spread into every corner of our minds.

Christ the Friend True friends tell friends the hard truth; flatterers don’t. In this intimate exchange with his chosen disciples, Jesus looks them in the eye and tells them a very hard truth – that their lives will only take on real meaning if they are willing to sacrifice whatever is necessary (dreams, hopes, comfort, plans) in order to follow him. If we don’t take the time to learn this lesson, we run the risk of discarding our friendship with Christ when it starts to cost us. Jesus warns us that if we are ashamed of him and our identification with him, if we prefer acceptance by the world and worldly success to being a faithful Christian, then we may, tragically, end up with what we have preferred. In the end, Christ’s Kingdom will come in all its glory (now in the Church it is still in embryonic form), and our allegiance to him in spite of suffering and rejection will prove to have been, as he promises us, the wiser course.

If Christ had not traveled that path ahead of us, climbing the hill of Calvary and dying on a cross, it would be hard to believe him. But he has, and so it shouldn’t be that hard after all.

Christ in My Life  And if you were to ask me this question, “Who do you say I am?” how would I answer? I would say the right words: you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of life and history. But I think you would keep looking at me, because you see beyond words into my heart. And in my heart, Lord, I have still not surrendered completely to your love. Lord Jesus, help me…

You know I am afraid of the cross. I know that I don’t have to be. So why don’t you take this fear away? I have a crucifix. I see it all the time. Open my eyes, Lord, so that I not only see the cross, but also the crucifix. May I understand with all my being the immensity of your love that the crucifix communicates. If I truly believe in your love for me, no cross will make me hesitate…

What are you asking of me, Lord? Okay, I give it to you. I will follow where you lead. If you went to Calvary for me, I will go there for you. Help me to see everything with faith. If I know it’s your will, I can embrace it, but my faith is sometimes so weak that I forget to look for your hand in the circumstances and responsibilities of my life. Lord, increase my faith…

PS: This is just one of 303 units of Fr. John’s fantastic book The Better Part. To learn more about The Better Part or to purchase in print, Kindle or iPhone editions, click here. Also, please help us get these resources to people who do not have the funds or ability to acquire them by clicking here.

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Art: Cover of The Better Part used with permission. St Helen and St Francis adoring the Cross, Giovan Batista Gaulli (1609-1709) known as Il Baciccio, undated, photo from FM2001 own work 12 July 2013, CCA-SA 3.0 Unported, Wikimedia Commons.