TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
30 AUGUST 2020
Last
Sunday, Simon identified Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus pointed out that did not have lucky
guess, but a direct revelation from the Father.
In response, Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, which means
“Rock.” On the rock of Peter’s profession
of faith, Jesus will build his Church – not a physical building, but a
community of believers who will be protected from the gates of the
netherworld. Within this community of
believers, Jesus gave Peter authority, symbolized by keys to the kingdom of
heaven. Peter and his successors would
be charged with binding and loosing:
teaching about the authentic identity of Jesus Christ; legislating to
ensure proper order; and giving spiritual guidance to every age.
Today,
Jesus clarifies his mission as the Christ.
He has come as a humble suffering servant who will suffer greatly, as
Jeremiah had suffered greatly for speaking the truth. He will be killed by the religious leaders of
his day. He will be raised on the third
day.
Peter is
horrified when he hears about this mission.
Like his contemporaries who had been waiting for centuries for the
promised Messiah, he expected Jesus to be a conquering hero, like King
David. Peter could not imagine that the
Son of the living God would be exposed to death, especially death on a
cross. Instead of remaining a rock
responding to divine revelation, Peter now reacts as a mortal human and
responds with horror and disbelief.
Jesus reacts strongly to Peter, as he had reacted strongly when Satan
had tempted him in the desert to abandon his mission of suffering and
death. He calls him “Satan” for tempting
him. Peter, the “Rock,” now becomes Peter
the stumbling block.
Even though
Jesus reacts with anger, he does not tell Peter to get lost. Instead, he tells him to get behind him. In other words, he tells him to continue to
follow him and learn how to be an authentic disciple. In following Jesus, Peter and the other
disciples will learn those lessons. They
will learn how to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow him. It is a tough lesson, but they will
eventually learn its truth, including the truth of the resurrection.
It is a
tough lesson for us today. Like Simon
Peter, we often stumble when we encounter the Lord’s command to deny
ourselves. We live in a culture that
encourages us to focus on our own individual welfare and happiness. If we are serious about denying ourselves,
then we must move away from the desire to make ourselves the center of everything. If we choose to bear our crosses, then we will
be more willing to undertake some painful action or sacrifice to make someone
else’s life better. If we choose to get
behind Jesus and follow him, we will learn some very important lessons. We will learn that accumulating power or
wealth or domination or status will not last.
None of these things will produce real authentic life. None of these will win out over the great
equalizer that is death.
At this
time, we are inviting people to consider turning more completely toward Jesus
Christ and become part of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (the RCIA). If you know of someone who is interested in
becoming Catholic, please encourage them to contact Michael Rubbelke. His contact information is in the bulletin. We will work with those who have never been
baptized or who have been baptized in another Christian tradition. We will mark their growth in faith by
celebrating Rites at Mass. In the first
Rite, we give each Candidate or Catechumen a precious gift – the gift of the
cross. It is the same gift that we give to
infants about to be baptized. We are
upfront about the Lord’s demands to deny ourselves, carry crosses, and follow
Jesus. But we are also upfront about the
results of authentic discipleship. We
trust the Lord’s promise that in losing ourselves, we will inherit a share in
the resurrection from the dead.
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