St. Philip Parish and St. Clare Mission

In my seminary back in England there was a professor of theology called Fr. Charles Acton. The only reason I bring him up is because he was the great-grandson of a certain Lord Acton, a Catholic historian, politician and writer. It was Lord Acton, who in a letter to an Anglican bishop in 1887, coined the famous saying: “Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely”.  It is a statement whose truth we see confirmed time and again throughout history, up to and including today. It is the reason why Jesus takes such a strong line with his disciples in our gospel today, when he discovers that they have been arguing about which one of them is the greatest. Ironically, their argument on the topic comes hard on the heels of Jesus’ own declaration that he will not be going into Jerusalem to garner praise and glory for himself, but to lay down his life in service of his fellow men. 

Having restated the essence of discipleship, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all”, Jesus startles his apostles even further, by taking a child and placing him in their midst. Understand that this is not setting up a photo-op, Jesus is not doing a politician’s turn and kissing babies. The child, which meant someone under 12 in those days, i.e. before bar mitzvah, the child had no power, no rights, no influence. Children were just seen pretty much as a nuisance, just another mouth to feed, and detailed to do the most menial of tasks in the household, until they were of an age when they could go out and earn some money for their family. Remember how the apostles tried to turn the children away from bothering Jesus when their parents wanted to bring them to him for a blessing?… Read more...

In order to understand the significance of this episode in our gospel, it is important to know a few facts. This place where Jesus takes his disciples, Caesarea Philippi is located at the northernmost point of Israel. From there, Jesus and his followers would have a wide panorama of the whole country spread out before them. It was a place known in antiquity for being a shrine to various gods, including the god Pan, pictured as half-goat, half-man. Human sacrifice was offered to the gods at this place in ancient times. In Jesus’ time, this location, Caesarea Philippi was renovated by King Philip, and dedicated to Caesar Augustus, who insisted on being treated as a god, and to be referred to by various titles such as Son of God, Redeemer, Savior, all titles that would eventually be attributed to Jesus Christ.

So, in this shrine with so many associations with divinity, Jesus asks the crucial question: “In this place associated with various gods and idols, where do you put me? Am I just one of many gods to be worshipped at this site, or do I have a unique and special status?”  Jesus has already asked his apostles “Who do others say that I am?”  The various answers offered to that question represent good guesses on the part of the crowds, but they fall short of the full truth about Jesus. Jesus is more than John the Baptist, or Elijah or one of the many prophets in Israel’s past. I wonder if we went out now to interview people in the streets and ask them “Who is Jesus to you?”, what answers do you think we would get. Probably answers like “He was a good man” or “He was a great teacher” or “He was someone who had a lot of good ideas at the time”.… Read more...