The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
September 14, 2003
Vol. 6 no. 33

Everything But...
           It’s only the really worried and anxious folk who ask Jesus’ question, “Who do people say that I am?” Yet, they are on the same page with him. The anxious types are concerned their reputation has been sullied on account of inaccurate information and misleading interpretation of their motives. That was exactly Jesus’ fear in the Gospel of Mark. He was afraid people would make him out to be greater and lesser and different from who he really was. For God’s sake he needed to be who he was.
           But Jesus was interested in a lot more than feedback. How others perceived him and his mission revealed more about what kind of persons they were. “Who do you say that I am?” is the accent Jesus wanted to stress. How you describe your relationship to the most important thing in your life tells a lot about yourself. “What do you do for a living?” may be answered with passion or self-denigration or disappointment. “I’m just a…” refers to which caste we believe we belong. That does not matter, according to Jesus. Life is more than food or drink or clothing, or worldly occupation.
           What else is there then? Losing one’s life in order to gain it does not make any sense. Taking up one’s cross and dying seems to accomplish little for the Kingdom. What needs to die is the idea that your life is meant to be one of acquisition and empowerment. Losing one’s life is living for the sake of others and knowing you no longer have anything to lose - no person is more free. And when you are that free, loving with all you’ve got makes the most sense.