(For the audio version of this blog, please visit: https://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Mass-Blog-for-the-24th-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time-2024.mp3)
The title “Christ” is derived from the Greek word christos, which translates as the Hebrew term meshiah (Messiah), meaning “the anointed one.” Anointed is a loaded term in itself. To people with big egos and important positions, it often means getting promoted to an even higher position. People beneath such a person in a corporate pecking order might derisively call him or her “the anointed one.”
To Jesus, “Christ” meant death. As our sacrificial lamb of God, he lived to be anointed for death so we could have eternal life with God.
Sunday’s reading from Mark’s gospel (Mk 8:27-35) shows Peter and Jesus comparing their definitions of Christ.
“But who do you say that I am?,” Jesus asks. Peter said to him in reply, “You are the Christ.”
Peter obviously believed his Master was anointed to rise up according to some Godly pecking order to accomplish great things on earth—bringing his disciples along for the ride. But Jesus tells him:
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.
Peter rebukes Jesus for his definition of Christ, but Jesus takes rebuke to a new level—as low as one can go:
“Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Jesus already knew how his anointing would happen, and six chapters later in Mark’s gospel, we do too—when we’re introduced to the woman Jesus made famous for anointing him for death, pouring on him the most expensive of oils. She interrupts Jesus’ dinner with Simon the leper to do so, and is castigated for taking such a precious resource in vain. Jesus tells them to cool it.
“She has anticipated anointing my body for burial. Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Mk 14:3-9).
In our second reading, James challenges the value of faith without works (Jas 2:14-18). This woman in Mark’s account combined both faith and works into one selfless act, gathering the courage to live her faith by doing something she knew could get her in trouble. By doing so, she defined Christ for us.
She was as much a prophet as Isaiah. We can imagine her gathering that courage in preparation for this anointing by reciting the words Isaiah gave us in Sunday’s first reading (Is 50:5-9a):
The Lord GOD is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Both Isaiah and this woman defined what Christ really means to our faith, as defined by history’s greatest work of love: laying down one’s life for humanity. In that way, we have Christ walking among us in the form of cops, firemen, military—ALL people of service, including doctors, nurses, missionaries, and clergy of all faiths.
Think about that the next time you’re tempted to use Christ to cuss.
–Tom Andel
I remember when growing up, the almost regular if not daily use of the terms JC or GD when adults tried emphasizing something. It was part of the cultural vernacular of the times, though it was a sure sign of a crippled vocabulary.
It demonstrated how trivial our Lord’s presence must have been in the lives of those who wore out those phrases. Or were they just being absent-minded? Probably a little of both.
Happily, we don’t hear that nearly as much anymore. I wonder why?
To take the Lord’s name in vain suggests we know the difference from using it in prayer. Once we no longer use it to pray, we probably won’t bother using it to curse. That’s not even a mixed blessing, it’s a combined curse of godless times. Makes one almost nostalgic for when taking the Lord’s name in vain was a prime reason for penance, and penance was balm for a hurting conscience.
During these times that threaten world peace, we need leaders with the courage of the woman who anointed Our Lord to work and pray for peace.
And during these hyper-divided times amid threats of instant cancellation, doing the right thing can take as much courage as when this woman faced-down Christ’s critics.