"Whoever loses his life for my sake, will find it"
Matthew 16: 21-27
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090323.cfm
Any path or yard that is filled with rocks and stones would need to be cleared before you laid down fresh grass or a garden. By this time in our summer, you’ve already done so and are likely reaping a harvest of some sort. You may have carefully removed these obstacles, laid down fresh soil, planted and fertilized. The results would be worth your effort and time well spent.
Our Gospel this Sunday, a
continuation of Jesus’ conversation with Peter last Sunday, is a startling
turnaround from last Sunday’s statement by Peter to Jesus: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living
God! “to which Jesus responded enthusiastically: “You are rock and on this rock
I will build my Church.”
So Peter the rock, may be
filled with a bit of self-importance or maybe some confusion, and again speaks
to Jesus as he begins to describe to his disciples, the full meaning of both
his mission and his ultimate destination as suffering on the cross. To that
message, Peter rebukes Jesus tenaciously that such suffering should have no
place in the Messiah’s mission. Although
the Father had revealed to Peter the true identity of Jesus, Peter, ever so
weak and limited, now speaks his own will, his own understanding of Jesus as an
earthly warrior who would break the grip of Rome on ancient Israel and set his
people free.
That that, Jesus swiftly
does an about face to Peter: “Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle to me.”
Suddenly Peter the rock now stands in the way of Jesus movement forward. Both Peter and his brothers remain disciples,
students, of Jesus the Master for their misunderstanding of Jesus needs time to
flesh itself out.
This rock, Peter’s well-intentioned
but misguided viewpoint, needs to be moved before Jesus can continue? Similar
words were spoken to Satan by Jesus during his temptation in the desert. On three occasions the evil one failed to
tempt Jesus to abandon his mission of selfless service and sacrifice rather and
chose the road to vain glory and power. So what is the tension we see today?
Obviously meaning no
personal dismissal of Peter, Jesus
reminds his disciples who “the Christ” truly is and what God intends his
mission to be – an act of profound love through the sacrifice of his own Son
for the sake of humanity’s salvation.
It’s not intended to be all glory and honor, as Peter and likely some of
the others may have envisioned or hoped for, but now Jesus must return to
Jerusalem where all the prophets of old were killed and complete his full
mission from beginning to end.
Peter’s well intended desire
that no harm come to Jesus as he was predicting, is more of a rejection of
Peter’s naïve understanding of Jesus ultimate mission. Peter who thinks “not as
God does but as human beings do” is confronted that his earthly expectation
stands in the way, blocks the path like Satan in the desert, of Jesus
fulfilling his mission. Peter the rock is blocking the way Jesus must walk with
his misguided effort. “Get behind me Satan,”
as he once attempted in the desert. Satan
is a stumbling block so move out of the way!
It would be impossible to
second guess Jesus’ thought but a temptation is hard to resist at times. When such involves life or death – ease or
suffering, most of us would likely run away and just say, “It isn’t worth it.”
Yet, God’s plan is yet hidden from Peter's understanding. So, move aside “rock” and follow. Peter and
the others may have been puzzled by Jesus sudden turn away from opportunity yet
they did not abandon him.
Like Jeremiah in our first
reading, who viewed his call to prophesy as a kind of con job from God, “You
duped me O Lord and I let myself be duped” still could not resist the
responsibility God asked of him to call the people to task and warn them of the
destruction that was coming. Jeremiah
could not hold back because to do so would be like, “fire burning in my
heart.” He must fulfill his God given
mission. Jesus stands in the line of the
great prophets and he too must carry through on his Father’s plan for humanity
despite the personal cost as the ultimate promise of the prophets and the hope
for humanity’s salvation.
In light of this it gives a
meaning to our sacrifice and suffering. The famed Christian apologist
wrote: “God . . . shouts in our pains;
it is his megaphone to arouse a deaf world.” (C.S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain)
So we embrace the cross of
Jesus as he did, each in our own way, and we can “shout” to a deaf world that
needs to hear the Gospel through our life and our values. Essentially, the
crosses we carry become our effort to align God’s will with our own. As we walk the way Christ has shown us, we
allow ourselves to be changed, whittled down, pruned, and humbled by his grace
with a sincere effort to become more like Christ and far less than my own
prideful ego, which says that I’m number One.
Carry your cross is to share in the perfecting grace Christ wants to
give us,
We live in a world that
desires to eliminate all pain and suffering, all inconvenience, all that seems
useless sacrifice and wants to replace it with a kind of perfection that
pursues the values of fame, power, and pleasure. What does he want us to
hear? How can we speak a word of hope
and faith to a world that is anxious to return to a perfect life that
potentially places God on the back burner?
So, it’s not only about
occasional burdens, daily crosses to carry, but rather about the loyalty of our
entire lives as daily witnesses to the Christian Gospel – from beginning to
end, we allow God to use us and we seek his greater glory.
It has been said that if the
world followed the teachings of Jesus fully, it would be a much better place to
live. We do so most perfectly in the community of the Church and share one
another’s joys and sorrows; one another’s crosses and resurrections. We may
well be asked to hear that God must be first, that we are not in control, and
that our conversion must be at hand. Is God shouting in our pain?
God of power and might,
giver of every good gift,
put into our hearts the love
of your name,
so that, by deepening our
sense of reverence,
you too may nurture in us
what is good
and by your watchful care,
keep safe what you have
nurtured.
(Collect for Mass)
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