Breaking the Word

 Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, 'One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'" Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "The Messiah of God." He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone. He said, "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." Then he said to all, "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. (Lk9:18-24)

People always looked for models. They also compared models. People often compared with known models. So when Jesus appeared with his teaching and preaching, people were compelled to compare with known models. That is why people said he was a prophet like Elijah/John the Baptist.

He was certainly a prophet; because his activities were similar to that of prophets. But he was more than a prophet. He was not just pointing to God’s kingdom in the future; he was causing the kingdom to appear among people and established it. The disciples who were close to him, realized that he was a Messiah. The disciples found in him a combination of authority, power, insight and fulfilment of scriptures. However, they did not see him fulfilling everything they had expected a Messiah to do. That is why Peter could say that he was Messiah.

Peter said that Jesus was the Messiah from his own way of understanding. Then Jesus said what his understanding of the Messiah was. According to Jesus, Messiah should suffer, be rejected and so on. There are three ways of understanding Jesus and his ministry. They are: prophet (crowd), Messiah (understanding of Peter/disciples) and Messiah with the understanding of Jesus. 

 "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?…

O you of little faith?…  Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil (Mt 6:24-34)

Look at the birds of the air and lilies of the fields, says Jesus. I am sure Jesus spent time in admiring and enjoying the feel of the birds and the natural things. He would have spent hours looking at them and that is why he is able to reflect on them. All these made him reflect on the goodness of the Father. His spirituality is so much earthly (reflecting on earthly things because they are creations of God and not running away from earthly things) and his teaching are from his own experience (not from ideas and principles).

Jesus seemed to have lived the present moment; he was not anxious about the next moment. He was celebrating the goodness of God here and now.  He wanted his followers to do the same. He wanted them to make God their priority. Jesus is talking about God the creature. He is talking about a God who is invisibly present in his creatures.

When Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat or drink or wear, he does not mean these things do not matter. Jesus himself liked a party as much as anyone else. He took his disciples with him whenever he was invited. What he says is that we should not put the world first. Rather, put God first and the world will come in. That is, we need to think about God’s kingdom and righteousness (covenant behaviour). These are signs of God’s people.