INTRODUCTION
Today’s readings remind us that once we have decided to say yes to the Lord, then we should prepare to have it tough because it will never be easy. Yet it is in living the tough experience of faith that our true identity as disciples is defined. It requires openess to allow the love of God to seduce us to the point of no turning back (Jeremiah) and the willingness to suffer (“take up your cross”), even when it does not please our human desires, and generosity to surrender our lives to him who first surrendered his to us.
FIRST READING: Jeremiah 20:7-9
The ministry of prophet Jeremiah was dotted with a lot of lamentations (11:18-23; 12:1-6; 15:11:14; 15:15-18; 20:7-18). Already from the first moment of his call, he complained to Yahweh about his incapacity (1:6). This particularity of the prophet earned him the popular appellation as a “weeping prophet”.
Jeremiah lived around 650 B.C.-580 B.C in the territory of Benjamin (located to the north of Judah but to the south of the northern Kingdom of Israel), one of the twelve tribes of Israel and named after the youngest son of the Patriarch Jacob. His ministry took place in Judah’s capital, Jerusalem. In today’s narrative, the prophet reminds God of his earlier hesitation to take up the prophetic ministry and how He (Yahweh) convinced him with the promise of putting his words into his mouth (1:7). The lamentation of the prophet was not just because his enemies wanted him dead, but because he was equally rejected by his friends (v.10). He was seen as a laughing stock because his repeated message of doom over the people seemed to be far from being true as they waited severally for it.
Therefore, finding himself alone and abandoned, he thought of laying down his prophetic mantle for someone else, but Yahweh’s word was like a “burning fire shut up in his bones”; and the more he tried to say no to the voice speaking through him, the more it became stronger and louder. Thus, seeing himself as a helpless ‘pun’ in the hand of Yahweh, Jeremiah described his experience as patah (deceived, enticed, seduced) as a way of charging Yahweh with less-than-honest recruiting tactics who made promises to him but failed to fulfill them. The prophet felt depressed and through his words we feel a perfect description of someone suffering for obedience to his conscience. But a further reading of the passage will reveal how the prophet after all did not end up in depression. He finally gained a new light, a new strength that enabled him to keep focus. He remembered Yahweh’s promise to be with him (v.7), and who as a great warrior will rise against those who persecute him (v.11).
SECOND READING: Romans 12:1-2
In the second reading, Paul advises the Roman Christians that they must live their Christian lives in such a way that they differ both from the Jews and from the pagans. St. Paul calls them to adopt an attitude of sacrifice in their worship of God. In order to do this, they must explicitly reject the behavior of the world around them. Paul tells them, and us (Rom 12:1-2): “Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice” to God. Paul then explains that the sacrifices that should be offered are not the animals or grain of Jewish Temple worship, but their bodies “as a living sacrifice … spiritual worship.” In this way, by non-conformity to their own age, they should differ from the Jews and the pagans, which would cost them suffering and sometimes their very lives, as we, in our turn, must do. Like Paul’s Christians, we, too, must “discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect,”– and then do it! (Fr Anthony kadavil)
GOSPEL: Matthew 16:21-27
The Gospel reading is a continuous narration of the Gospel reading of last sunday. In verse 16, Peter confessed his faith that Jesus was the messiah, the Son of God. He might have been enthused with the praise of Jesus about his brilliance and the grace of having received such a divine revelation. But Jesus knowing fully well that his disciples were still entangled in the jewish messianic conception did not waste time to define the true meaning of his messianic identity and by consequence the true meaning of discipleship.
Jesus mentions going to Jerusalem to die. This was an expensive joke for his followers who had always believed and waited for him to move into Jerusalem the city of David, and the city of the Messiah from where He suppose to start his political exploit of liberating his people. It was a total betrayal of the hope of the people who had long waited for their political freedom.
But Jesus obviously made them to understand that his entrance into Jerusalem is not to mount the political throne because that would limit his mission to the salvation of the jewish nation. Instead his throne is meant to be the cross which is a symbol of liberation for the whole human race held captive by sin and corruption. Thus, not to die in Jerusalem would compromise everything that he has come to do.
Jesus heightened the scandal by saying that he will die in the hands of “the elders, chief priests, and scribes” who were respected groups of the time.These three groups make up the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews. All these pronouncements caused immediate reactions.
Peter was definitely more disappointed to hear that the One whom he barely confessed as the Messiah will be “killed”; and obviously he didn’t understand the significance of “on the third day be raised.” He quickly acted but prudently by taking Jesus aside to rebuke him. Such a rebuke was certainly friendly. He felt the responsibility of helping Jesus settle his emotion, probably He might have had a temporary depression as a result of oppositions. But Jesus immediately recognizing the voice of Satan speaking through Peter commanded him to get behind Him. This scene reminds us of the beginning of public ministry of Jesus whereby the tempter proposed shortcuts to glory for him. But Jesus knowing that the only way to attain his glory is by suffering (the cross) rejected the lure of Satan (Mt 4).
Origen, one of the Fathers of the Church analyses such a dramatic scene as Jesus telling Peter: “Peter, your place is behind me, not in front of me. It’s your job to follow me in the way I choose, not to try to lead me in the way you would like me to go.” (Barkley)
We notice that after rebuking the voice of Satan in Peter, Jesus spoke a second time to his hearing, forcing the voice of God into their ears. He reaffirmed that the cross is the will of the Father, not just for him but also for those who are willing to follow him: “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” This is a redefinition of the call to discipleship. Jesus made it clear to them and to us that a strict faithfulness to the message of the Gospel must end up in the cross, the cross not as a sign of defeat but a sign of glory. Although it will remain a scandal and foolishness for those who do not believe as St. Paul will later affirm it (1 Cor. 1:23; Gal. 5:11; Rm. 9:30-33; 11:9). Jesus thus challenged the disciples to a firm choice of losing themselves for the gospel. He made them to understand that there is no mediocrity in the way of discipleship: “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it” (v. 25). Jim Elliot who died a martyr on the mission land of Equador (January 8, 1956) affirmed the radicality of following Christ when he said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
LIFE MESSAGE
1. FROM EARTHLY JERUSALEM TO ETERNAL JERUSALEM
Jesus’ announcement of going into Jerusalem must not please Peter, James, John and the rest. It must not please me and you. But it is God’s plan that He mounts the hill of earthly Jerusalem where the precious price is meant to be paid so as to open the way for those on the way to the New Jerusalem. The Lord offers us today the condition of being his disciples if we truly wish to arrive in the eternal city, the Holy Jerusalem.
A. SELF DENIAL
To deny oneself means evicting selfish thoughts, desires and tendencies from our hearts and letting God fill our hearts with Himself. It also means being cleansed of old and evil habits, and allowing God to mount the throne of our hearts. We cannot keep everything about us and still have space for Jesus. We must empty the unnecessary contents of our life that do not give glory to God.
B. CARRYING THE CROSS
Jesus made it clear that a ‘crossless’ disciple is a ‘Christless’ disciple. A true disciple must partake in the cross of Jesus whose cross is our cross. Our personal suffering is the cross of Jesus when: 1) we suffer by serving others selflessly; 2) we give ourselves — our health, wealth, time and talents – to others until it hurts us; 3) we join our physical, mental or emotional sufferings to Jesus’ and offer them with him to the Father in reparation for our sins and those of the world; 4) we work with the Spirit Who is purifying us through our personal sufferings or penitential practices.
C GOING AFTER HIM
To follow Jesus means that, as disciples of Christ, we should live our lives according to the word of God by obeying Jesus’ commandment of love. In the world of pleasure and glory, to follow someone who has asked us to “take up our cross” daily seems foolish. But in the words of the Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen, “to be a fool for Christ is the greatest compliment the world can give. You and I are in good company, because most of the saints embraced the Cross of Christ and were considered fools for doing so.” Unfortunately what we have today are lots of half-baked, medriocre christains who prefer to hide under the cover of the Church while still living a wordly style of life. It is either Jesus or nothing. It cannot be Jesus and some other things combined.
PRAYER
Lord you are the strength of those whom you have called to follow you. Help us to always say yes to you even when our crosses become to heavy to carry, so that uniting them to your cross we may be counted among those to enjoy your eternal glory. Amen.
PAX VOBIS!
