In today’s reading from Mark, Jesus is travelling with his disciples. Along the way, he asks them, “Who do people say that I am?”

It’s an intriguing question, because by this point in Mark’s narrative, the disciples have spent considerable time with Jesus. They have witnessed him heal the sick, cast out demons, feed thousands, and even bring a young girl back to life! So, when Jesus asks them who people say he is, the disciples venture to compare him to the great figures of their time and the revered prophets of old, such as John the Baptist or Elijah.

Then Jesus directly asks the disciples the more personal question, which seems to be the heart of what he wants to know: “But who do you say that I am?” 

This time, Peter boldly declares that Jesus isn’t just a prophet but the long-awaited Messiah –  the one anointed by God to save the people of Israel. While Jesus doesn’t deny Peter’s claim, he immediately orders them not to tell anyone. He then goes on to explain that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and after three days, rise again. 

For Peter, this doesn’t make sense. The Messiah he envisioned should not suffer defeat. In Peter’s mind, the Messiah would be a mighty saviour who would conquer all opposition. Like many of his contemporaries, Peter was expecting a strong, triumphant God – one descended from the mighty King David, who would overthrow Roman rule and restore Israel to its rightful place among the nations. After all, Jesus had already brought relief, comfort, healing, and life. Peter was hopeful and deeply excited. 

It is not hard to imagine Peter’s heart breaking with disappointment when he hears Jesus speak of suffering, rejection and death. The image of the Messiah was far from what Peter had anticipated. I wonder if we, too, envision God as a powerful being who will fulfill our desires exactly as we wish. Like Peter, when we face disappointments and discouraging situations, we may long for a mighty God to avenge our hurts, right all wrongs, and fix everything for us. We can relate to Peter’s feelings.

However, Jesus continues the conversation with his disciples and the crowd, saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow me.”  This means that God is not merely the mighty who does everything for us. Instead, God invites us to participate in the divine work. Through Jesus, God has initiated a new movement that will shape the future as his followers continue the work he began. 

As Christians continue to follow the way of Jesus, what does it mean to take up the cross? We know that the cross was an instrument of death used by those in power to demonstrate the consequences for anyone who defied them. On the cross, the victim was completely powerless. 

To take up the cross means acknowledging and embracing not only our individual lives but also our communal, shared life as followers of Jesus, reaching out to those who suffer from marginalization. Since the way of Jesus often challenges the powerful, his message teaches us that by facing our human limitations and powerlessness, we align ourselves with Jesus and all of God’s people. In this way, taking up the cross becomes a form of participating in God’s salvation.  

The question, “Who is Jesus?” has been a profound question for Christians for the past 2,000 years. It has been central to Christian thought and remains a crucial question that both Christians and non-Christians continue to explore and answer. 

Jesus had a profound influence on those who knew him. Some loved him so deeply that they dedicated their lives to him, even unto death. Others, consumed by fear and hatred, conspired to have him killed. Large crowds of ordinary people gathered to listen to his teachings. His stories, some of the most beautiful ever told, reveal profound truths about God and ourselves, leaving us in awe. He healed all kinds of illnesses, whether mind, body, or spirit. Though he experienced weariness, sorrow, joy, and tears like any human, he was unlike others. He was fully one of us, yet he possessed a unique, divine energy that set him apart.

We seek to understand who Jesus is because our Christian faith is rooted in him. We believe through Jesus, we encounter and experience God. Our perception of Jesus is central to our self-understanding as Christians.  Our understanding of Jesus’ identity shapes our own identity. If our view of Jesus differs, it can lead to a different worldview and way of life. 

Jesus’ question, “Who am I?” thus becomes a question about how we should follow his way of life. While Peter and other disciples may have anticipated a Messiah with heavenly glory, Jesus was instead bearing his cross on earth and within the community. Their inability to comprehend this was because they were looking in the wrong direction. 

If we perceive the cross as merely a faith that protects and delivers us from evil, and if we await a Messiah who will grant us this protection, we may be looking at the glories in heaven rather than recognizing that Jesus invites us to engage with the cross here on earth and within our community. We may be looking in the wrong direction.

In Jesus’ view, the cross is not something we are to wait for but is something we are called to take up and share with him and others. His question, then, might be: “Can we embrace this understanding of the Messiah alongside Jesus?

Just as Peter and the other disciples once anticipated a powerful Messiah but were challenged to see God’s power through Jesus’ suffering, rejection and pain, we too are called to recognize and find comfort in a God who understands our human suffering and rejection. 

Even as we confront our limitations and powerlessness in the heartbreaks of our lives, Jesus’ invitation, “Follow me”, to Peter and the other disciples resonates with us today. We are invited to pursue God’s vision for ourselves and for all people. In our pursuit, we may discover a power and hope that transcends the cross. 

I’d like to close my reflection with a poem that captures Jesus’ life very beautifully. It appears in the UCC document titled Reconciling and Making New: who is Jesus for the World Today? although the author is unknown. It goes like this: 

Here is a Man
who is born of a peasant woman …
He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never owned a home.
He never had a family.
He never went to college.
He never put foot
inside a city.
He never travelled two hundred
miles from the place
where he was born.
He never did one of the things
that usually accompany greatness.
He had no credentials
but himself …

While still a young man
the tide of popular opinion
turned against him.
His friends ran away.
One of them denied him …
He was nailed to a cross
between two thieves.
His executioner gambled for
the only piece of property
he had on earth … his coat.
When he was dead
he was taken down
and laid in a borrowed grave
through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen wide centuries
have come and gone
and he is the centrepiece
of the human race and
the leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark
when I say that all the armies
that ever marched,
and all the navies
that were ever built …
have not affected the life of humanity
upon earth
as powerfully as that
One solitary life.

Amen.