Isaiah 50:5-9 / James 2:14-18 / Mark 8:27-35
The skyline of Singapore, as well as the landscape, has changed tremendously over the past 30 to 40 years.
Many old buildings have been torn down and big gleaming high-rise buildings now stand in their place, though some old historical buildings and sites are preserved.
But one of the places or sites that won’t be slated for preservation is the cemetery.
In Singapore where land is scarce, resting in peace is not a certainty.
But with the old cemeteries like Bidadari being reclaimed, then gone are those grand tombs, and the sentimental, and at times, enigmatic epitaphs.
At Chao Chu Kang cemetery, where there are many grand tombs, there was an enigmatic epitaph on a tomb. Formed by mosaic and on the side of the tomb are these words: Life is but a dream.
It was kind of enigmatic isn’t it – “Life is but a dream”. Were those words what the deceased wanted on the tomb, or were they used to describe the deceased.
Whatever the case may be, how are we going to describe our lives when it is all over? Or what will others say about us when our lives are over and done?
That is why what is said about the deceased at a funeral service can be rather sensitive. It can even be embarrassing if the wrong thing was said.
At a funeral service, the priest was delivering the homily. So he began: Well John (the deceased) was a good husband and a good father. He was a patient and a kind man, loving and understanding towards his wife, always helping her with the housework, …
Now, the wife of the deceased, as she was hearing all this, she slowly elbowed her son who was sitting next to her. And she whispered to him: Go over and open the lid, and see if that is your father …
So it’s safer to say something in general. Or sometimes, it may meant to be something profound, but it can be misunderstood as something profane.
But seriously, what do others think about us? What are they saying about us?
It is a sensitive question, and we may not even want to know what others think, or say about us.
But yet, that is preciously what Jesus asked His disciples in today’s gospel: Who do you say I am?
It is a very direct and personal question. They can’t borrow answers from others. They have to give their own answers.
So who do we say Jesus is? Who do you say Jesus is? Who do I say Jesus is?
Oh yes, we can say all those profound things about Jesus, and we will agree with Peter that Jesus is the Christ.
Until we encounter suffering, rejection and death. When Jesus talked about that, Peter started to disagree and even remonstrate with Jesus. And he got rebuked for that; Jesus even called him “Satan”.
But that is how seriously Jesus wants us to understand Him and to know who He really is in our lives, especially when our faith is put to the test.
The suffering, rejection and death that Jesus talked about can be summarized into one word – the Cross.
If we want to understand Jesus, if we want to know who He really is in our lives, then we must go through the Cross.
Because Jesus Himself said that if we want to follow Him, we must renounce ourselves and take up the cross and follow Him. When we know the cross, then we will know Christ.
There was once when I was called to go to the hospital to administer the Anointing of the Sick to someone who had not much time left.
When I saw him, he had a ventilator on so he couldn’t speak at all. After giving him the Anointing of the Sick, I took out the Cross to bless him and told him that Jesus will be with him.
Without saying a word, he stretched out his hand and clutched the Cross. For a good minute or more, we were just like that – I was clutching to the cross, he was clutching to the cross, I was like “Let it go” and he was like “I am not letting go”.
Although he couldn’t speak, his eyes were fixed on the cross. So reluctantly, l let go of the cross, and he then immediately placed the cross on his chest, and then closed his eyes
And I was thinking – there goes my cross. Even as I was leaving, I stopped at the door and turned to see if he would let go of the cross, but no way. He seemed to be holding it firmly against his chest.
On the way out, his son told me that his father was not really a religious man, actually more like a wayward Catholic, and he has never seen his father hold on so firmly to the cross.
Well, a few days later the son came and told me his father had passed on. He also came to give me back the cross, because his father’s last words were “Give the cross back to Fr. Yim”.
For a man who was on the ventilator and who couldn’t speak, those last few words were very profound.
More profound was the effect of the cross on him. He knew the cross, he knew who was on it, and he knew that Jesus was going to bring him home.
May we also know the cross in our lives, and through the cross may we follow Jesus faithfully, so that we will find life, and by our good deeds, may we show others who we are following.