Thursday of the Twenty-fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 452

“John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”
And he kept trying to see him.

Herod, tetrarch of Galilee and nephew of King Herod, raises the question which demands an answer. Having raised the question, Saint Luke presents several answers.

The crowds say he is “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’ 

They are correct in identifying Jesus as a prophet. But their notion of prophets is stuck in the past. They suppose he is a dead man returned: John the Baptist (recently executed); Elijah, the ninth century BC prophet spirited into heaven on a fiery chariot; or another ancient prophet. 

Peter, speaking for the disciples, eagerly declares, “The Messiah of God." Good! Very Good! But he has much to learn. Like popular understandings of prophets, Peters's preconceptions about the Messiah are badly conceived. 

When Jesus replies to Peter, he names himself as "the Son of Man," a title he clearly prefers. The expression appears 28 times in Saint Luke's work; the last time being as Saint Stephen dies, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Son of Man refers to the prophet Ezekiel. But it's also describes the man who appears as one standing before Almighty God in the Book of Daniel. Oppressed by foreign invaders, the people of Israel could hope for:

One like a son of man
When he reached the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him,
He received dominion, splendor, and kingship;
all nations, peoples and tongues will serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
his kingship, one that shall not be destroyed.

"Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” The question is existential; and the answer we give defines our existence. Jesus is more than a prophet. And those who know the One-who-is-sent are themselves sent to the nations. Peter's response sets us apart from the rest of humankind and assigns us a role and responsibility.  

"...you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

But before we set out we must receive the Spirit, and that will come with disappointment, satisfaction, elation, and more understanding. It concerns both the Lord's and our identity; and its best description is found in Jesus's prophetic words, 

The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.

The disciples seem to think Jesus is talking nonsense. Is he kidding us? He must be speaking metaphorically, and probably hyperbolically. He can't be serious! 

But if we don't want to know what he is saying, it's because this is an existential question. It's answer involves us, and it will cost us. As Jesus explains, 

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

I find reassurance and challenge in his word, daily. We live this identity day by day, and daily life rarely comes to a life-and-death crisis. We're not action heroes who face death in mortal combat and survive fifty times a day. But we do make that many decisions every day, and they concern our identity. What kind of person am I? Am I acting like one who believes in Jesus, or like someone whose life belongs to something or someone else? 

Readers familiar with Saint Mark's sandwich motif might have suspected Saint Luke was setting the same device in this ninth chapter incident. Many things will occur before it is resolved, and Herod's curiosity will not be satisfied until the 23rd chapter: 

Herod was very glad to see Jesus; he had been wanting to see him for a long time, for he had heard about him and had been hoping to see him perform some sign.
He questioned him at length, but he gave him no answer.
The chief priests and scribes, meanwhile, stood by accusing him harshly.
[Even] Herod and his soldiers treated him contemptuously and mocked him, and after clothing him in resplendent garb, he sent him back to Pilate.
Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, even though they had been enemies formerly. Luke 23:8-12