TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
3 SEPTEMBER 2017
Last
Sunday, Simon Peter correctly identified the true identity of Jesus. He is the Christ, the Messiah for whom his
people had waited for centuries. In
response, Jesus pointed out that Simon Peter did not have a lucky guess. He had been open to this inspiration from the
heavenly Father. It was a transforming
moment for Peter, so transforming that Jesus changes his name to Peter (Petrus,
or rock). On the rock (Petra) of Peter’s
faith, Jesus would build his Church.
Firmly established on that rock, the Church would stand firm and weather
any storms.
Today,
Jesus explains what kind of Messiah he is called to be. He is not the Messiah of the popular
imagination. He is the suffering servant. He turns his face toward Jerusalem, to the
city which had rejected the authentic prophets who spoke for God, and announces
that he will save his people not by power or force, but by dying on a cross and
being raised from the dead.
Because we are so accustomed to
artwork which depicts Jesus dying on a cross, it is difficult for us to imagine
what this statement meant to Peter and the other disciples. They had seen the horror of criminals and
insurgents being executed in this most cruel and humiliating fashion. They knew how the Romans had controlled
rebellious people by perfecting this horrible way of dying. Peter cannot imagine that this kind of death
would befall the true Messiah for whom they had waited for so long. So, Peter rebukes Jesus, “God forbid,
Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to
you.”
Jesus
responds to him with anger and firmness.
He calls Peter “Satan,” because the “Rock” has become an obstacle, a
“stumbling stone.” After his forty day
fast in the desert, Satan had urged Jesus to satisfy his hunger by changing rocks
into bread. He had offered to Jesus all
the power and kingdoms of the earth without going through the cross. Jesus had come to know that this is not the
will of his Father. He rejects this same
temptation from Peter and tells him to get behind him. In other words, he is offering Peter the
chance to change. He wants Peter and the
other disciples to get behind him, to continue to follow him on his way to
Jerusalem, to learn the truth of his mission, and to share in the life that
will come from the resurrection. Those
who follow Jesus will have to share in his cross, trusting that self-sacrificing
love will bring life.
Jesus is
not just speaking to a group of disciples a long time ago. Because this is the living Word of God, he
speaks to us. He tells us that we too
must embrace the cross and deny ourselves, even to the point of losing our
lives. Embracing the cross of Jesus
Christ comes in many forms. We
experience the cross when a family member is diagnosed with cancer, or when we
lose our job, or when we are confronted with so many of life’s disasters. We see Christians in Africa and the Middle
East literally embracing the cross of martyrdom. But no matter what form the cross may be, embracing
it is always a commitment to give ourselves in sacrificial love and putting
that sacrificial love at the center of all of our efforts.
That is not
the message of our culture. So much of
our culture urges us to put ourselves first as number one, to surround
ourselves with as many possessions as possible, and to use whatever violence we
need to protect ourselves. Saint Paul
had tried that path, until he encountered the risen Christ on the road to
Damascus. That is why he tells us not to
conform ourselves to this age. He
insists that following Jesus Christ and embracing the cross of sacrificial love
will transform us. Like Jeremiah the
prophet, we may suffer hardship and even opposition. But like Peter and the other disciples, we
will also learn that embracing the cross of Jesus Christ brings a life that we
could never imagine.
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