24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) – September 15, 2024

St. Paul – Lyons, KS

Isaiah 50:5-9a; Psalm 116:1-6, 8-9; James 2:14-18; Mark 8:27-35

Where We’ve Been

So the past couple of weeks, as a parish, we’ve begun to take a deeper dive into the Bible, into the Sacred Scriptures. And first and foremost, the reason we want to do this, is because the Sacred Scriptures are an essential part of our lives as Catholics, as Christians. This is the written and inspired and living and breathing Word of God! As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, the Scriptures are our story: the story of where we come from, where we are, where we’re going, how to get there; the story of what life is all about; a story very different than the story our world and our culture tells us, that there is no story, and you write your own, “If it feels good, do it. If it feels right, believe it.” But no, there is just one story. But then last week we began discussing how even if we acknowledge that the Sacred Scriptures are our story, “hearing” them, truly understanding them is difficult. Why? Because it’s easy to misunderstand the medium of communication (this book that isn’t a book, but a collection of 73 books, written over a thousand year time period, by over 40 different authors and editors, gathered and put together by the Catholic Church); it’s written in a variety of genres, written within a variety of historical and cultural contexts—and so it can be challenging to understand. And that’s precisely why we want to take an intentional dive into then: because a deeper appreciation and knowledge and immersion in the Sacred Scriptures…it’s life-changing.

Balancing Things Out

Great. So today, then, we want to add another piece. And that is the interplay of what we call the Old Testament and the New Testament. As you probably know, there are two “halves,” to “parts” to the Sacred Scriptures, the Bible. And the easiest way distinguish the two is to think of B.C. and A.D. The first part of the Sacred Scriptures—what we call the Old Testament, the 46 books of the Old Testament—is BC, “Before Christ,” everything that happened before Jesus comes. The second part—what we call the New Testament, the 27 books of the New Testament—that is AD, what happens from Jesus’ birth onward. And if you’re like a lot of people, the Old Testament—well, it’s important, had some good stories, but it’s just confusing! Why bother with it? “Let’s just get to the ‘important stuff’ about Jesus.” Also, some people have the impression that the Old Testament had a different God, an “angry and violent” God, a different God than in the New Testament where God is kind, and loving, and merciful, and loves puppies and lollipops. But here’s the thing: the Old Testament isn’t just some optional part. It’s the necessary and essential key to everything. The Old Testament is the backstory, the preparation, the “groundwork” for everything (and I mean everything) that Jesus is and everything Jesus does. We have to hold on to both and keep both in balance.

Think of it this way. Like I’ve told you before, I grew up playing cello; started when I was 11, played in the Wichita Youth Symphony, even played in the Wichita Symphony. But growing up, Saturday mornings during the school year were for rehearsals. Kids from all over the metro area would gather at Wichita State for rehearsals. And if you’ve ever been in an orchestra (or band or a choir), you know how rehearsals go: making sure people know their parts, learning to play together, stuff like that. But one of the most important parts, and what we spent the majority of our rehearsals perfecting: balance. The balance between the different sections and the different instruments. The balance between the strings, and the brass, and the woodwinds, and the percussion. Balance was the key! Because sure, you may love percussion, but if they’re playing too loud they drown everyone else out—and it sounds bad. If you love the trumpets, great—but if they’re blasting away when actually the more important instrument (like the cello) is playing then the music sounds terrible. And we know this: we’ve probably all been to high school or middle school concerts where it’s pretty obvious that the balance is off.

Ok, this balance is also crucial when it comes to reading the Bible, and especially when it comes to understanding the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament! When we read the Gospels and the story of Jesus (the New Testament), it is easy to “turn up” certain parts of the story, to turn them on blast—and to drown out the important parts going on. For example, some people love to “turn up” the sections about Jesus’ divinity—the New Testament, the Gospels are just written to prove that Jesus is God. Other people love to “turn up” the parts where Jesus teaches us to be kind, and to take care of old ladies and puppies—Jesus the “social worker.” Others love Jesus’ teachings, his wisdom and insight—Jesus the “religious guru.” But when we do this, we distort things, we unbalance everything—and this distortion and imbalance leaves us confused, and we can easily miss the point, easily turn Jesus into something he’s not.

Here’s my point: there is a great distortion, a great imbalance in our understanding of Jesus and the New Testament when we forget the backstory, when the Old Testament becomes an optional “section” in the “symphony” we call the Bible. When we yank Jesus out of the entire context of the story, we end up confused. As Augustine would say, “The New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old Testament is revealed and fulfilled in the New.” In other words, the New Testament isn’t just a stand-alone account of this Jesus guy, no. The New Testament is written in order to tell the story of Jesus as the climax and fulfillment of the story begun in the Old.

Today’s Gospel As Case Study

And you don’t have to look any further than today’s Gospel reading from the Gospel of Mark to see that! Here in the Gospel today we have this very famous scene at Caesarea-Philippi, a scene where Jesus takes the Twelve aside and asks them that famous question, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answer, “John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets.” And then Jesus asks, “Ok, but who do you say that I am?” And Peter says, “You are the Christ.” And then Jesus begins to teach them that the “Son of Man” must suffer, be rejected, be killed, and then rise. And Peter gets angry, tells him off, and Jesus calls him Satan. Ok. 

Did you notice? This scene presupposes that you know A LOT about the backstory, about the Old Testament, that you can keep the two “balance.” It presupposes that you know about Elijah and the prophets: why in the world do people think Jesus is Elijah or the prophets? And then Peter—Peter confesses, “You are the Christ.” The “Christ”? I thought “Christ” was Jesus’ last name: Jesus Christ, Mary Christ, and Joseph Christ. And then Jesus jumps in with something about the “Son of Man” business. All four of these—Elijah, prophets, Christ, Son of Man—all four of these words have deep, deep backstories and “baggage,” all of which is found in the Old Testament. And so here’s my point: this scene, this very short scene, makes absolutely no sense if we do not have the Old Testament “balancing” things out. 

Just take the “Christ” as an example. Again, “Christ” is not Jesus, Mary, and Joseph’s last name. “Christ” is a title. Christ is the English version of the Greek word cristos used in the New Testament, which means “anointed one.” In Hebrew, the word is maschiach, which we usually translate as Messiah. (And I know most of you know this.) But think: to confess that Jesus is the “Christ” (something we do each and every time we come to Mass, by the way)—to confess that Jesus is the “Christ”—it presumes that you know who the Christ is, what his job description is, what he is meant to accomplish. And the only way to know who and what the “Christ” is? Well, you have to go to the Old Testament.

And what’s so beautiful in this scene is that it also shows us precisely what happens when we don’t know who the Christ is, and what his job is, what he is meant to accomplish, how he we will accomplish that. And how do we know that? Because of Peter. Peter rebukes Jesus. Why? Because in Peter’s understanding of the Old Testament and the “Christ,” the idea of the Christ suffering and dying doesn’t make any sense. Peter doesn’t get upset because Jesus is going to die, per se. Peter is upset because, in his understanding of the Old Testament, the “Christ” isn’t supposed to die! That’s not how it’s supposed to work!

And this is precisely the challenge for us as well. Again, go back to how easy it is to reduce Jesus to, “Oh, well he’s God.” Or, “Jesus teaches us to be nice to old ladies and puppies.” Or, “Jesus just teaches us some good things.” Jesus doesn’t show up out of nowhere. Jesus comes, the entire New Testament is written, as the climax and fulfillment of the story begun in the Old.

The New Contained In the Old

And what’s beautiful is that our Church helps us with this each and every Sunday. The way our readings are set up at Mass—the first reading is from the Old Testament, and the Psalm is a response to that first reading, and these always, always lay the groundwork for the Gospel (the second reading is from the New Testament letters, and it’s on it’s own track). So for example, look at the first reading today, taken from the Old Testament book of the prophet Isaiah. In the book of Isaiah, the context is that Isaiah is speaking to the people after their land has been overrun by another nation, conquered and destroyed. But Isaiah speaks a word to the people: God promises he will send a new king named Emmanuel (sound familiar). Then Isaiah goes on to describe this coming king will be empowered by God’s Spirit to rule and bring justice. And this king Isaiah calls the Maschiach, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. And so in our first reading today, in this section of Isaiah, Isaiah speaks about how this Messiah will bring about God’s Kingdom. And the answer? By being rejected, beaten, and ultimately killed by his own people. As we heard today, “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.”Isaiah will later go on to say that the Christ does die—but then suddenly he comes back to life! Ok. Any of that sound familiar?? Hopefully! It is stuff we read about every single Lent, on Good Friday before Jesus dies. But all of that comes from the Old Testament. And this’s what Peter missed too. Peter misunderstood Jesus because he didn’t now the backstory, the Old Testament.

That’s why St. Jerome—St. Jerome wrote in one of his commentaries on the book of Isaiah, “Ignorance of Scripture [the Old Testament scriptures] is ignorance of Christ.” Why? Because Jesus Christ, Jesus as the Christ, makes absolutely no sense without them.

The Call to Discipleship

Ok, so what does this have to with us. Well, without all of this, without holding New Testament in balance with the Old, and the Old in balance with the New—we’re left without the context, we’re left to turn Jesus and our faith into whatever we want it to be. And we’re even going to be left confused about why Jesus makes such radical claims—Jesus, who was supposedly just telling us to be nice to old ladies and puppies. What do I mean? Well look at how our Gospel today ends. Jesus says, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” That’s a radical claim! But it’s a claim that shouldn’t surprise us if we know the backstory, and who the Christ is. Go back to Isaiah: Isaiah (after everything we heard in the first reading today)—Isaiah goes on to say that there are two different ways that people will respond to this messiah, the Christ, the king: some will respond with humility, giving their lives to him, turning their lives over to him as king; others will reject both the messiah and his servants, those that follow him.

And so here it is: if you confess that Jesus is the Christ, the obvious next step? To be one of those people who respond in humility, giving your entire life to him, “signing over” the title of your life to the king, to him, following after him no matter the sufferings or challenges or hardships or people that reject you. All of this was already contained in the Old Testament, and in the New, in Jesus, it is fulfilled. All of it centers on Jesus. It all balances out in Jesus. It is all one story. The question for us is simply: “Am I going to embrace my part in that story? Am I going to embrace my part as the servant of the Messiah, as a disciple of Jesus the Christ?”