What kind of Messiah are you expecting?

“Jesus asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone” (Luke 9:20-21).

Why did Jesus order his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah? Shouldn’t he have rather urged them to spread this? Wouldn’t this have brought more people to the faith?

Yes, but it would have been the wrong kind of faith. During Jesus’ time, his people expected the Messiah to be a political or a military leader who would drive out their oppressors and re-establish Israel as a great and powerful nation. But this was not the reason Jesus came.

Today, people still have wrong notions about the Messiah. Many times, we expect Jesus to just magically make our problems disappear and grant us our every wish and fancy. That is a genie in a lamp and not the God who was nailed to a cross. More than once, I have been approached with the complaint, “Why is it that when I decided to let Christ into my life, life became harder for me?”

Following Christ does not make things easier. Jesus himself warned us of this. Right after he sternly commanded Peter not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah, Jesus said, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed…” (Luke 9:22). If that is what happened to the Master, what can the disciple expect? Jesus’ answer: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

“Why is it that when I decided to let Christ into my life, life became harder for me?” Suffering that comes from an unexplained illness or a sudden tragedy is still a mystery for me. But suffering that comes from standing up for what Christ taught us – isn’t this what we signed up for? In fact, if we do not encounter any hardship as we live out our beliefs, we should get worried and ask ourselves if we are truly living out our faith. The ways of the world are contrary to the ways of the Gospel. If we are just comfortably floating along, maybe we are not opposing the world enough. Maybe we are just going with the flow.

Once, when I was celebrating the Eucharist, my tongue and its tendency to mix up p’s and f’s fut me in a punny fosition. Right before communion, I heard myself saying, “Blessed are those who are called to the suffer of the Lamb.” I wanted to bite my tongue to punish it, but later in prayer that night, I realized, “Nag-dilang-anghel ka!” Blessed are those who are called to the suffering of the Lamb. Blessed are those who suffer because of their decision to be patient, to forgive, and to continue reaching out to those who hurt them. Blessed are those who suffer because they want to love. And only those who have known real love can see the logic in this. Blessed are those who have known real love!

How else can those who suffer be blessed? When we take up our crosses daily and follow Christ, we should not think that this is mere imitation. This is not a simple matter of where the leader goes, there we must follow. No. It is better to think of this as participation. What is the difference between imitation and participation? Imitation is doing what someone ahead of us has done before. Participation is being caught up in an ongoing process with someone who walks beside us, carrying our crosses with us and telling us, “This is the way to salvation.”

A young woman came to me once asking for help to discern what path she should take after graduation. Over the course of two months, we talked about her desires and dreams. We talked about her loved ones and what they expected of her. We talked about the world and what it needed. We talked about what kind of person she wanted to be. And we prayed about all these things, bringing what she thought and felt before the Lord and asking him what he wanted for her. Finally, she decided to venture down a less-traveled road. We were both confident with the discernment process, and I did not hear from her for some time. I thought that no news was good news.

When we met again after almost two years and I asked how she was, tales of trials and disappointments just came gushing out of her – but surprisingly, no tears. When I (not she) had finally settled down after the torrent of stories of one bad experience after another, I, almost apologetically, whispered, “So do you think our discernment was wrong?”

She looked at me straight in the eye, and she said no. Then the tears came as she proclaimed, “Through all those challenges, I was never alone.”

Blessed are those who suffer with the Lamb. Her frustrations are still there. Her crosses have actually multiplied and become heavier. But she continues to walk that path she believes God desires for her. She holds on to the hope that after her Messiah suffered and was killed, he was raised up again on the third day.

Are we back to the genie in the lamp? No. The genie in the lamp is about wishes that never really fulfill nor last. Only the God on the cross can promise the gift that completes. And the cross still remains. In truth, there is no resurrection without the cross.

Blessed are those who suffer with the Lamb!