The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Today's Gospel reading is one that is often, maybe usually, misunderstood,
mostly because of the cultural differences between modern-day America and
Europe, and the very different thinking of the Mediterranean peoples, which of
course includes Israel...and Jesus. Quite often we miss the full impact of the
Bible's message because we are simply not aware of the cultural differences
between what we think here-and-now, and how individuals in the middle East might
understand something.
Most people in Europe and America think in terms of individuals. We want to
hurry and grown up so we can leave home and family behind and organize our own
life, our own way, with our own friends and priorities. We want to choose our
own career, friends, spouse and lifestyle. Many of us do not know our next-door
neighbors and don't really want to. We want to do our own thing, as the phrase
goes, and we would feel it was out of order for our parents or siblings to get
too interested in our private affairs, our money, or our lifestyle.
But that's not the way it is around the Mediterranean coastline and through
the Middle East. For centuries and centuries, it has not been the individual
that was important there. The important thing in that culture is family. The
economic welfare of the family is more important than that of any individual
member of the family...that's why parents used to arrange marriages to make a
good financial bargain for both families, and in some areas this is still the
custom today. It simply is unheard of for an individual to be unattached to a
family group of some kind. If that person is not still living at home with his
or her parents, which was the custom up until he or she married, they must find
some sort of a family-type group to join. You remember that when Jesus left
home, he established a "family" of twelve followers, whom we call disciples,
around him. And you recall that he once said that those who believe in him are
his family, his mother and sisters and brothers.
People were very tightly linked to their family, whether it was a birth
family or otherwise. That may be one of the reasons that the government had
trouble penetrating into the workings of the Mafia, back in the sixties and
seventies, by the way. And that is one of the reasons the gang culture is so
prevalent.
Another important thing is that this different cultural view changes the
definition of some words that we use differently in Western thinking. The idea
of suffering, for example, is not so much about a person hurting as about a
person breaking away or rebelling against the customs and closeness of that
person's family. A kingdom might not be a political entity such as a nation, but
could be the accepted way a group or family might think about something,
including its aims and prejudices....in fact, there was no real Kingdom of the
Jews at that time, but the Jews kept up the customs of separating themselves
from other "kingdoms" or cultures, even including their own special religion and
their own special language. While most Jews spoke Aramaic and some could speak
Greek or Latin, in the Temple it was always Hebrew that was spoken...and no
non-Jews were allowed in the Temple.
It was the work of the family to raise and educate children, and the reading
from Proverbs is a sample of how that might be done in the family circle. You
didn't depend on schools to teach your children how to live, you did it
yourself. That's why so many of the proverbs are common to so many neighboring
cultures.
Now let's come to the discussion between Jesus and his disciples. When Jesus
asked, Who do people say that I am?, he was not so much asking
what individual people thought he was, but more like "what family or other group
did people think Jesus belonged to?" There were numerous religious and political
groups in Palestine at the time: Pharisees, Sadducees, zealots, people who
cozied up to the Roman occupation forces, people who imitated Greek culture, and
others. Most of these groups were at more-or-less continuous war with one
another, and so it mattered a lot as to what "family" or group people associated
Jesus with.
Jesus went on to ask the disciples, And who do YOU say that I am?
Peter's answer of the Messiah or the Christ (the
two words mean the same thing) is well-known. Peter saw Jesus as the person who
would lead Israel, perhaps back to strict observance of God's Law, perhaps back
to the "good old days" with a member of King David's family on the throne and
the hated Romans expelled from the country, or perhaps in a new direction. We
cannot know exactly what was in Peter's mind at the moment.
And then Jesus began talking about suffering and dying...his own forthcoming
death, and the fact that those who were members of his "family", which
eventually would become the Christian church, would have to break off from their
former families and live a different kind of life...which is exactly what people
of that culture would understand by the word "suffer." They would leave their
Jewish background and heritage and religion and become part of a new kingdom, a
new religious family. They would suffer; they would be shunned by old friends
and blood kin, they would miss the old ways, they would be cast out of the
families and societies that they had always known. Perhaps they would even go to
prison, or to the cross, as he himself would soon do.
Well, we do know that all of the disciples except Judas and John did die
violently at the hands of others, simply because they followed Jesus. We know
that Judas committed suicide after betraying Jesus. Only John died a natural
death. But can you imagine how the Twelve felt at hearing all this? It's one
thing to change your thinking, religion or politics as an individual; but when
it means turning your back on everything your family and friends hold dear, and
becoming an outcast, that's something else. We all know how hard it is to say
"no" to our friends who want us to act against our faith, just to be like the
crowd, or our classmates. And that's a very small example, in today's Western
thinking, compared to the enormous decision it would be in that family-centered
group of the disciples.
And so, Peter, very upset, said to Jesus, No, Lord, it cannot be!
And Jesus reproved him for thinking in the ways of the world, not the ways
of God.
All of this leaves us with much to ponder. Do we have the guts to put our
membership in God's family first, before our membership in our group of friends,
or our social class, or our classmates or co-workers? Can we turn our backs on
"what everyone does," and focus on "what God wants me to do?" Can we accept the
suffering of being an outcast from our group of friends because we put God and
his church first, instead of the picnic or the golf game or the welfare of the
business (after all, we might lose our jobs!) or our social standing? And that
suffering for turning against the family or the kingdom...we know it won't be
just us hurting because we've decided to take a different road, it will be our
family members or friends that hurt, too, or the people we respect and want to
admire us. It's all a very serious, scary thing to think about. Of course, what
it all boils down to, is the simple question: Is Jesus, and God's kingdom,
more important to me than anything else? That is the question we all
need to ponder and answer in our own hearts. Amen.
