Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
A year ago or so, there was a little fad on the internet to display photographs of the celebrity we most resembled. It seems everyone resembles some celebrity though to varying degrees. Friends claimed that I resembled Sandra Bullock, which I found hilarious. The whole fad reminded me of when I was a kid. My family was eating at a McDonald's and someone came up to my dad and asked for his signature, because he really bears a striking resemblance to Ted Turner. My mother was indignant: "Do you think we'd be eating at McDonald's if he were Ted Turner?" she demanded. Mistaken identities are not usually perceived as a problem, more an opportunity for a funny story like this one, or maybe a minor inconvenience. (That was not the first time my dad was mistaken as Ted Turner and sometimes people can be quite insistent on asking for autographs!)
Today's scriptures reveal the importance of mistaken identifies for our faith, however. The key passage is today's gospel reading (Mark 6:14-29). This lengthy passage is meant to highlight a couple of things. First of all, there was a general fear that Jesus was the new John the Baptist. Herod clearly fears that John the Baptist has risen from the dead; what would that mean for him and the injustice he committed against John? The long interlude about the precise manner of John's death is meant to demonstrate that John really died, that his disciples verified he was dead (by accompanying him to the tomb) and that Jesus was an entirely different person. The fact that many took Jesus to be John appears in other gospels too - they make explicit points about John being unworthy to baptize Jesus. In Luke, John is clearly the messenger, related to Jesus because he is a cousin.
But the mistaken identity has another purpose, which is to highlight and reveal Jesus' forthcoming resurrection. If Jesus had been John, John would have been the resurrected one. But Jesus was not John, the gospel writers make clear. Jesus does, however, become resurrected at the end of the gospel story, but it is a resurrection entirely unlike the one presumed of John here. Herod does, indeed, have a reason to fear Jesus, but it is not because Jesus is John returned from the dead. It is because Jesus has come to overcome injustice and death, something no mere mortal could do.
The first reading (Hebrews 13:1-8) also highlights the value of mistaken identities but in a different way. "Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have entertained angels unaware." Indeed, there are numerous accounts in Christian tradition of seeming strangers ending up being Christ himself (How many of us know the story of Christopher bearing Jesus across a river, as the reason for Christopher being the patron saint of travellers? Christopher is one of those declared to be an unverifiable saint in recent decades and yet dedication to him remains). The rest of the passage of Hebrews mentions that we are all part of the Body (of Christ) and therefore ought to treat each other as Christ, even though we know that none of us is literally the King of Kings, the Son of God.
To see each other as angels, or as Christ, means that we treat each other differently, better, in a more Christian manner. Let us today deliberately mistake our identities and that of others, and seek to entertain the strange angels in our midst!
- Jana Bennett
- Jana M. Bennett