Perseverance and Identity
Isaiah 50:5-9a St Mark 8:27-35 I want to explore two notable aspects of the readings today. The first is perserverance. Isaiah lays his case before God. He has been reviled, humiliated, and abused. His back has been thoroughly whipped, his beard roughly plucked, and his face spat upon. Today, we might reserve this treatment only for rapists and pedophiles; this is a thought worth remembering, as the fallout of the sexual abuse scandals within our church rage on. It is very likely that the suffering of Isaiah will be laid on anyone who lifts high a Catholic faith. We may ask, where does the prophet get the strength to persevere? Here we see that it is in hope. Not of what the Lord has done, but that the Lord will not allow the righteous man to be put to shame. We suffer now without any evidence that things will become better. No evidence, except hope. The second is identity. Jesus asks, “who do they say I am?” The revilers, the humiliates, the abusers. That vast network