22nd
Ordinary Sunday (Year A)
First
Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-9 Second
Reading: Romans 12:1-2 Gospel
reading: Matthew 16:21-27
“TAKE
UP YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME!”
A
certain
lady who spent her time working for the Lord – visiting the sick
and the bed-ridden, helping the elderly and the handicapped – was
diagnosed of a knee problem needing surgery. The surgery
unfortunately, was not a success and so left her in constant pain and
unable to walk. It seemed that the Lord had ignored the prayers of
this woman and her friends for a successful surgery. This was a woman
who considered herself a personal friend of Jesus. She was utterly
disappointed and her cheerful disposition turned into sadness and
gloom. One day she pulled herself together and shared with her
confessor what was going on in her soul. The confessor suggested that
she go into prayer and ask her friend Jesus why he has treated her
this way. And she did. The following day the priest met her and saw
peace written all over her face in spite of her pain. “Do
you know what he said to me?”
she began, “As
I was looking at he crucified Jesus and telling him about my bad
knee, he said to me, 'Mine
is worse.'”
Today
is
the 22nd
Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture Readings of today tell us that
suffering
is an integral part of our earthly life, but it is also our road to
glory. There is no crown without a cross. In the First Reading from
the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah complains about his
difficulties as a prophet and the pain he experienced to speak in
God’s name. He has become an object of derision and scorn, and all
because the Lord deceived him into this task. He
feels like giving up the work assigned to him but an inner fire
drives him to do what God wants. In the Gospel Reading from St.
Matthew, Jesus teaches his disciples regarding the suffering Messiah
who will suffer, die and rise again. Peter cannot understand why
Jesus must suffer and die and tries to admonish him. He receives the
reprimand from Jesus and also receives the correct teaching about the
cross. Jesus tells his disciples that they have “to
deny themselves, carry their cross and follow him.”
In
the Second Reading from his Letter to Romans, St. Paul appeals to the
Christian community at Rome to not lose their identity as Christians,
to not live according to the pagan customs of the times. They are to
be renewed in their minds so as to live out their Christian identity
as God has revealed it to them and to dedicate their lives to Him.
THE
INTENSE ANGUISH OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH:
In
the First Reading, the Prophet Jeremiah seems to regret that he was
called by God to be his prophet. “You
duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped.”
The call of Jeremiah to be a prophet which is found at the beginning
of his book describes both his initial reluctance and the Lord’s
insistence that he accept the call, as well as a firm reassurance of
Divine protection. However, we know a great many details about the
life and times of Jeremiah which would seem to contradict the Lord’s
promise of protection. In the face of his condemnation of the leaders
and the people alike for their infidelities to the covenant, he
was met with resistance, rejection, and outright persecution. He was
beaten and thrown into a sewer to die, an outcast from his own family
and friends.
In today’s remarkable
text from the autobiographical writings known as his 'Confessions,'
we hear expressed the intense anguish that his sufferings have caused
him. Jeremiah challenges God in bold language one might use toward a
betrayer, and he admits he has even tried not to utter his message of
doom to Jerusalem. But he has been unable to suppress the Word of
God; keeping it in was like trying to shut up a fire burning in his
bones.
Christian tradition has
long
recognized in Jeremiah a figure for the sufferings of Christ and for
the disciples of Christ. The inevitability of the suffering which
awaits a true prophet or disciple of the Lord has found no more
eloquent personification than Jeremiah.
SUFFERING
AND CHRISTIAN DISCIPLSHIP:
We
noted last week the pivotal importance which Peter’s declaration of
faith played in the structure of Matthew’s Gospel. Today’s Gospel
Reading is linked closely to that profession and, in fact, completes
what Matthew wishes to say here about discipleship.
a)
The suffering Messiah:
In
today's Gospel Reading, we hear Jesus telling his disciples that he
must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief
priests and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be
raised. By saying this Jesus is telling his disciples the true
characteristic of Christ – viz. Christ was to suffer, die and rise
on the third day. This, undoubtedly, must have come as a terrible
shock to the disciples. This was not at all part of the scenario for
the coming of the Messiah! Popular Jewish expectation of a Messiah
was a political messiah, a king, who would bring instant glory to
Israel in terms of military success, wealth and prosperity. The
disciples shared this popular belief. And they, of course, as his
followers and companions would have a special share in the glory and
privileges that went with it. What is worse, the agents of Jesus'
humiliation and death will not be some hostile outsiders like the
pagan and barbaric Romans, but the leaders and most distinguished
people of their own community - the elders, the chief priests and
the scribes, the people who formed the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of
the Jews in Palestine. Furthermore, it would happen in Jerusalem, the
holy city, the site of the Temple where God dwelt among his people.
It might be remembered, however, that Jerusalem was the city where
prophets died. The disciples must have felt very disturbed and
confused indeed.
b)
"Get behind
me, Satan!”
Same
Peter who a little while ago acknowledged Jesus as Christ was not
ready to accept this picture of Christ. How can this happen to the
Messiah-King of Israel? So, it is not surprising
that at this point, Peter, still flush with his newly-acquired
status, takes Jesus to one side, speaking to him almost on equal
terms. “Heaven preserve you, Lord! This
must not happen to you.” Stronger
still is the Lord's rebuke, which must have come
as somewhat unexpected to say the least, “Get
behind me, Satan!”
Peter was not merely a trifle rude; he was the agent of the devil.
When Christ was being tempted in the wilderness, Satan offered him
the kingdom without the cross. Peter offers the same temptation, and
earns the same title. The devil espouses such worldly and human
values, such things like seeking the glory of the kingdom with lack
of suffering. In adopting such a position, Peter places himself in
league with Satan. Thus, he who is called 'rock'
is
now called 'stumbling
block,'
setting himself in the path of the Savior. Jesus tells Peter that he
is thinking in purely human terms, and not the way God thinks.
c)
The true meaning of Christian discipleship:
Having
put Peter in his place, Jesus now turns to his disciples saying, “If
anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
This passage indeed presents to us the dominant and ever recurring
themes of Jesus' teaching about Christian discipleship.
There
are three things which a disciple must be prepared to do:
First.
'The
disciple must deny himself.'
Normally when we say deny oneself, we understand self-denial,
self-renunciation, i.e. to give up something, a part we use. For
Jesus to deny oneself means in every moment of our life to say 'no'
to self and 'yes'
to God. To deny oneself means once and for all to dethrone self and
enthrone God and make him the dominant principle of our life.
Second.
'The
disciple has to take up his cross.'
This means that he must take up the burden of sacrifice. A Christian
life is a life of sacrificial service. He must abandon his personal
ambition in order to serve Christ. He will have to sacrifice his time
and leisure for him. It means that one has to be constantly aware of
the demands of God and needs of others. He must accept the pains and
difficulties for Christ.
Third.
'The
disciple must follow Jesus Christ.'
That is to say, he must render Jesus perfect obedience
in thought, word and action. That is he walks in the footsteps of
Christ and go wherever he leads him.
In
conclusion, Jesus makes it clear that he is going to the cross and
the disciples must be willing to follow. The way to life is found in
the way of the cross which ends not in death and defeat but in new
life, glorification and exaltation. Discipleship
is not about achieving success, greatness or status. Those provide
only a false sense of security and cannot give real life. It is only
when we get rid of our false life that we discover our real life
which is not centered in self, but in God. This teaching is
parabolic, meaning that it is about reversal. We gain life by losing
life. Suffering and death lead to life and glorification.
OFFERING
ONE'S BODY AS LIVING SACRIFICE TO GOD:
In
the Second Reading from his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul, having
reminded the Christians at Rome of the mercies God has shown them,
exhorts them to prove themselves generous in their self-giving to
God. He urges his fellow-Christians to offer their 'living
bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God' and
appeals not to lose their identity as Christians by living according
to the pagan customs of the times. They are to be renewed in their
minds so as to live out their Christian identity as God has revealed
it to them. They need a 'new
mind,'
the way of thinking which Jesus had and which Peter certainly did not
yet have in today's Gospel Reading.
CONCLUSION:
To
conclude:
In the Gospel narrative today, Jesus makes a direct connection
between discipleship and the cross. The cross was indeed a genuine
and real instrument of abusive torture, suffering, and death in
Jesus' life. It had no happy component. But, for subsequent
Christians it has become a symbol of Jesus' Salvific Death and
Resurrection along with being a
metaphor for fully and freely engaging in real human life, whether
messy and painful or happy and fulfilling.
The discipleship bestowed
by the Gospel message of today demands that each believer embrace
life as fully as possible, and in doing so, that each embrace the
cross. This is a necessary connection. No Cross; no discipleship.
From such faith-filled embrace of life with the Gospel derive for
Christians all the virtues of compassion, mercy, fidelity,
truthfulness, forgiveness, conversion, charity, and the like.
Believers know intuitively that life is indeed worth living, and that
it is good to suffer for a noble and worthy purpose. No disciple of
Jesus Christ would have a life free from suffering and pain.
Again, it is not unfair
to say that the cross has become somewhat glamorous. Crosses are
displayed in Churches, in homes, on jewelery and in other places. The
cross has lost the original significance of its symbolism. Yet this
must not allow us to lessen the profundity of Jesus' call. There are
often times when we would seek to escape suffering, to settle for
being an 'armchair Christian,' satisfied
with watching from the wings. Many people today still die for their
faith. Many people who walk among us, who share our daily lives,
remain steadfast in faith despite great suffering. Often this happens
silently, but it always reflects a similar truth- that the Christian
faith is more profoundly focused when it is seen through the lens of
this suffering. And this is the Good News of today.
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