Who Do You Say I Am

 

Peter quickly learns that truly knowing someone means more than knowing his name. Believing is rooted in the intellect which is greatly influenced by the ego. On the other hand knowing is a palpable feeling deep inside that is hard to explain in words. Knowing requires a depth that goes beyond believing which the apostles are having a hard time taking to heart. 

Peter quickly learns that merely citing Jesus’ “title,” e.g., you are “the Christ,” is not enough. Mark opens the can of worms again, regarding expectations of the title, “the Christ,” and the reality of knowing Jesus’ presence as Messiah. Jesus reveals how the Son of Man must suffer and die and be raised after three days. Jesus says all this with a boldness that contrasts the secrecy He emphasized only two verses earlier with the deaf mute.

Peter is really upset when he realizes that a "suffering" Messiah, is not what he and the disciples were prepared to hear or understand. What we find then in this passage in Mark 8: 27-35 is a series of questions about identity and expectations. These issues are not confined to the past as it was not just a problem for the disciples or those early Christians. It's just as real for us today. 

Mark uncovers a human condition that persists. We tend to apply what we believe our God should be and as such, find it easy to put words in his mouth that later can find their way to dogma and doctrine. We think we know the way things are, how they are supposed to go. If we believe God is active in the world and that God in the person of Jesus is very in our presence, then the question posed to us is not whether we confess Jesus as the Messiah. That is the easy part. We know what the title means. The question really becomes how do we understand what the implications of the title Messiah are? And how do our personal expectations align with God’s will for us? 

Believing in a personal God, means giving mental assent to the existence of a supernatural entity. In essence "Who do you 'think' I  am" should be "Do you 'Know' who I am." However, without spiritual transformation, belief is empty. We are transformed when we relate to God personally: knowing that each of us is accepted just as we are, and trusting that everything real in one’s life is a gift and a blessing in disguise. 

For many of us mystery became an adversary; unknowing became a weakness. The contemplative spiritual life is an ongoing reversal of this adjustment. It is a slow and sometimes painful process of becoming ‘little children’ again in which we first make friends with mystery and finally fall in love again with it. And in that love we find an ever increasing freedom to be who we really are in an identity that is continually emerging and never defined. We are free to join the dance of life in fullness without having a clue about what the steps are…Confusion happens when mystery is an enemy and we feel we must solve it to master our destinies. And ignorance is not knowing that we do not know. In the liberation of the night, we are freed from having to figure things out and we find delight in knowing that we do not know. (Mystery & Freedom, May, Dark Night p.133)