Reflection on Mk 8:27-33

We often wonder what people are saying about us behind our backs. Are they complimenting us or criticizing us? Or perhaps we flatter ourselves to think that they are talking about us at all.
Jesus knew that people would be more free to express their ideas of who he was to his disciples than to his face. So he asks the disciples for a summary of what people thought about him. On the surface, this appeared an easy and interesting question. The disciples could make a list of the current theories and then get to hear what Jesus had to say in response.
But Jesus didn't say anything in response to the people's theories. His second question is much deeper and gets straight to the heart of the matter - “Who do you say that I am?”. It is possible for professing believers to be able to talk a great deal about spiritual matters, about the church and even about Jesus himself. Some may have a good grasp of theology and be able to discuss the relative merits of different viewpoints. But the question Jesus asked to his disciples is also addressed to everyone. This question is more vital and personal. To answer this question, we don’t need to quote any book or authority. We have to go deeply into our hearts and answer from our own honest belief. Is he really our Lord? Do we see him in our neighbor; feel him in ourselves; hear him in the words of scripture; sense his presence in the Eucharist?
Peter triumphantly calls him “Messiah,” but rejects the thought of a suffering Messiah. Jesus dramatically corrects him. Now the issue of Jesus being the Christ had come into the open, it was time that the disciples understood what that really entailed. For Jesus, the name “Christ” was not simply a title but a calling. It would lead him down the darkest and most painful paths imaginable.
He knew that suffering lay ahead. Not just physical pain, but the emotional strain of rejection by those who should have accepted him, desertion by those who should have stood by him and even betrayal by one of his closest friends. Most specifically, he knew that his mission would result in his own death.
Like many in the early church, we may be called to situations involving danger and suffering, and we all must one day face death, with only the promise of resurrection to give us hope. It is crucial that we display the same confident trust in God that Jesus did, if we are to live our lives in total surrender to the will of God like he did.
Jesus told Peter that he had “set his mind” on the things of man, not on the things of God. Will we set our minds on the things of this world, or will we allow God to educate our thinking through his Word and see things from his perspective?
Jesus can already see before him the cross on Cavalry, and yet he will not let himself quit his messianic task. To be a disciple of Jesus means that we cannot allow ourselves to quit whenever some cross confronts us. Instead, as Jesus says, we have to take up that cross and resolutely follow in his steps. Whether our cross is unfair treatment by others, loneliness or discouragement, or whether it be the loss of our health, our job or someone whom we love. If we are to be truly Christian, then we cannot allow ourselves to quit carrying that cross. Instead, we have to believe that God is near to uphold us and is indeed our help, and that we will not only survive, but we will also overcome and triumph. After all, we have our Lord's own promise that even though we may lose everything, perhaps even our lives, in the end we will save it, provided we are faithful and don't give up.