There is a good reason why Elijah seems to have become the focus of people's religious conversations. The scribes' way of believing was that, if Elijah had not come first, Jesus could not be the Christ. We, together with Peter, James and John, know from the Transfiguration episode that God's glory is fully manifested in the person of Jesus. Jesus is the Christ that Israel is waiting for. Moreover, Jesus is the Son of God.

In today's gospel, Jesus has made the disciples understand that John the Baptist is the Elijah and he himself, the Son of man, is the Christ.

The point Jesus really wants to make is that this Christ and his forerunner, will have to suffer at the hands of the people who claim that they are waiting for Christ. He wants to prepare the disciples for what will happen to him and to them. And so I reflect: can I accept a God in God's entirety, that is, a God of suffering and glory?