Mark 8:27-33

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 9:1-13

Psalm 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23

Mark 8:27-33

Jesus and his disciples set out

for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.

Along the way he asked his disciples,

“Who do people say that I am?”

They said in reply,

“John the Baptist, others Elijah,

still others one of the prophets.”

And he asked them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter said to him in reply,

“You are the Christ.”

Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.

He began to teach them

that the Son of Man must suffer greatly

and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed, and rise after three days.

He spoke this openly.

Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,

rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.

You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you have directed the course of history and prepared it for the coming of your Son and the establishment of the Church, built on the confession of faith of Peter. Continue to guide and govern all things and especially my life with your loving providence.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Get Behind Me, Satan! At first glance, the words of Jesus to Peter can seem harsh. Peter’s first reaction to Jesus’ prediction – that Jesus is going to Jerusalem and will be killed by the religious authorities – is understandable. Jesus rebukes Peter and reminds him that he, not Peter, is the king and Messiah. Peter is his prime minister. The word, “satan,” means adversary. By calling Peter, “Satan,” Jesus was telling Peter not to put himself in the place of Satan by opposing him. “Next, he told Peter that he was a ‘hinderance’ to him and that he was ‘not on the side of God, but of men.’ In other words, he was saying that Peter had a worldly perspective about the coming kingdom. To be fair, all of the disciples had a worldly view of the Messiah’s reign, as did all of Israel” (Gray, Peter: Keys to Following Jesus, 79).

2. Peter’s Metanoia: The words “get behind” me recall the words that Peter heard at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Instead of getting in front of Jesus and blocking him as an adversary, Peter needs to follow behind Jesus as a disciple and servant. When we look at Peter’s preaching after the resurrection of Jesus, we see that he took to heart Jesus’ words and changed: Jesus, Peter proclaimed, had to suffer and die in accordance with the prophets. “Jesus was rough on Peter because he needed Peter to go through a metanoia, a transformation in his thinking about what it meant for Jesus to be the king and Messiah of the kingdom, i.e., to shift from a human, political perspective to God’s perspective” (Gray, Peter: Keys to Following Jesus, 79).

3. Reestablishing the Covenant of Creation: In the First Reading, the story of the flood and its recession is a story of re-creation. Just as God blessed Adam and Eve and commanded them to be fruitful and multiply, so now God blesses Noah and his children and commands them to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). Just as God created man and woman in his image and likeness, God reiterates here the dignity of humanity, reminding Noah and his family that “God made man in his own image” (Genesis 9:6). Just as God established the Sabbath rest as the sign of the covenant of creation, God establishes the rainbow as the sign of the renewal of the covenant of creation. Noah was “a kind of new Adam to restart human history with his own family. Noah, of course, built the famous ark in which he, his family, and many animals were preserved. The ark, a kind of floating garden, came to rest after the flood on Mt. Ararat, a kind of New Eden. After the flood was over, God reestablished the covenant of Adam with Noah. Noah offered a sacrifice as a sign of his gratitude to God, and God sent a rainbow as a sign of his love for Noah. Noah and his family were now in a family relationship with God” (Bergsma, New Testament Basics for Catholics, 3-4).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the King of glory, who will return at the end of time to definitively establish the new heavens and the new earth. I pray that I may accomplish your Father’s holy will and work to extend your Kingdom in the world.

Living the Word of God: What change in mindset (metanoia) am I in need of? How have I tried to hinder the plan of God through my sin or rebellion? How have I walked in Jesus’ footsteps as a faithful disciple?