WHAT KIND OF MESSIAH IS HE? September 15, 2024

Our Lord had not only to overcome the misunderstanding of His followers, as we heard a few weeks ago when many of His disciples refused to accept His teaching about receiving His flesh and blood in Holy Communion. In today’s Gospel even the faithful St. Peter needs to be rebuked quite sharply because, despite his trust in Our Lord and his faith in Him as God’s Son and Messiah, Peter still has some merely human expectations of what kind of Messiah Jesus will be.

     When Our Lord sadly asked His Apostles if they, too, would leave Him on account of His teaching about the Eucharist, it was Peter who spoke up, saying, “Lord, to whom should we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe. We know that You are the holy One of God.”

     Similarly in today’s Gospel, when Our Lord asked: “Who do you say that I am?” it was Peter who answered immediately, “You are the Christ!”, which means the Messiah, or ‘Anointed One of God’.

     Then, now knowing that the Apostles, led by Peter, believed in His divine origin and mission, Our Lord began to teach them that, as the Messiah, He would have to suffer greatly and die a cruel death yet in the end rise from the dead. Peter was indignant, saying, “this must not happen to You, Lord!” Our Lord’s reaction was to rebuke Peter severely before the other Apostles, saying, “Get behind me, Satan!”, which means, ‘follow behind me, Opponent! Don’t stand like an obstacle in my path! Your way of thinking is man’s, not God’s.’

     Peter needed to be rebuked in the presence of the others because Our Lord had already made it clear to them that Peter was their leader. If Peter harboured a wrong idea of the Messiah, so would the others.”                  ~ FR. PAUL DOBSON