SundayGospelReflection.org

Gospel Reflection 20060917

Getting to Know the LordSeptember 17, 2006
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 8:27-35Now Jesus and his disciples set out for the villages of Caesarea Philippi. Along the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" They said in reply, "John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others one of the prophets." And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter said to him in reply, "You are the Messiah." Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and rise after three days. He spoke this openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." He summoned the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it."
Introductory Prayer: Heavenly Father, I believe that you are here present with me as I pray. Help me pray with a lively sense of your closeness, trust in your mercy and love you for all you have done for me.
Petition: Lord Jesus, help me to know your true greatness so that I will never be tempted to leave you.
1. A Pop Quiz. Jesus asks his disciples a question completely out of the blue: Who do people say that I am? Christ really wants to know who his disciples think he is. Yet he leads them by degrees to a tougher and more committing question. The first question – Who do people say I am? – provokes thought and is easy to answer; all the disciples participate in the answer. The second question requires something more. It involves an introspection and self-examination that closeness to Christ always provokes, and for which love for him sustains. Only Peter had the courage to respond. Like the disciples in the Gospel, throughout our own spiritual journey, Christ will give us surprise examinations – pop quizzes –, moments when each of us too will be asked to evaluate who Jesus really is for him or her.
2. Judging by God’s Standards. Just as with the disciples in the Gospel, the closer we draw to Christ, the more he reveals himself. Once the disciples know and accept Jesus as the Messiah, it is important they know the type of Messiah he is. Many misconceptions abound, and all conceive of the Messiah in terms that are all too human. He is not the political liberator who will cast off the Roman subjugation and make life “easy.” Rather he is the Redeemer of the human person. In no uncertain terms, Jesus makes it clear to Peter and the disciples that the Messiah is the Suffering Servant of Yahweh, who must suffer greatly and be rejected.
3. Bound to Christ by the Cross. Peter thought he was doing Christ a favor by trying to dissuade him from the suffering he predicted would be coming. Yet Peter received the surprise of his life. His well-intentioned but completely misinformed attempt got him the worst possible rebuke from Christ: “Get behind me Satan.” Christ makes it clear that not only must his disciples walk the path, but they must be ready to follow in his footsteps. The path to salvation necessarily leads through the sorrow and joy of the cross.
Dialogue with Christ: Lord Jesus, help me love you above all things and be especially ready to follow you when it means a personal sacrifice or discomfort for me.
Resolution: I will accept difficulties today with joy.

REFLECTION:

The Apostles had been privileged to see the Divine Glory of God radiating from Jesus when others were allowed to see only an ordinary carpenter’s son. They got a brief look at what we all hope to see some day. The hardest part for them was that Jesus asked them to tell no one until after He had risen from the dead. It was to be their wonderful secret until they could use the experience to witness to the truth of the glory of God the Father in the Son.
Inspired by God’s Holy Spirit, Peter acknowledged aloud that Jesus is the Christ – the anointed One of God. However, Peter and the other disciples are still struggling to figure out what Jesus wants of them. Finally, however, they all acknowledge that He is the Messiah, even though they do not see the full implications of their belief at this point. They do not understand why God would let evil happen to someone as good and holy as Jesus. Even less do they understand why Jesus will allow himself to be tortured and killed. Peter seems to have permitted himself to think the way Satan would have liked – attempts to discourage Jesus from making the ultimate sacrifice. Peter and the others still have a lot of learning to do before Jesus leaves them!
Meanwhile, Jesus is trying to prepare them for the terrible events that will enter their lives. Was He disappointed that Peter and the others were traumatized when told that He would be harmed and killed? It seemed they did not even hear the last words, that He would “rise after three days.” Like all of us, when we hear some shocking news, our brains shut off our hearing and we are stunned into speaking without thinking, our emotions in charge, demanding that the event be stopped or changed in some way. At such times we “are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” There is nothing wrong with trying to protect our loved ones from injury, but it can be very hard to see that this harm may have a greater purpose for good in the scheme of things. There is a saying that we can have no Easter, the most glorious holiday of the Catholic Church, without a Good Friday, the day of greatest sadness in the Church.
Jesus is no longer talking in parables. He knows his time is short, and there is still much to say. He gives his disciples a profile, a thumbnail sketch, of what it means to be a Christian disciple. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” Jesus is making it very clear that following Him means a commitment so deep that it is willing to endure persecution, hardship, and even death. In return, we will find resurrection and glory that will totally erase all traces of the hardships of this life. It was urgent that the disciples become spiritually mature almost overnight so that they could be toughened by reality for the hard days ahead of them.
Father Alfred McBride has written many books on our faith. His meditation on the Gospel of Mark (To Love and Be Loved by Jesus) contains the following:

The world’s rewards are like the ashes left in the fireplace after the fire of temporary glory is gone. But the ashes of the martyrs, the Christian disciples and witnesses, are transformed into resurrection and eternal life. Love’s victory laughs in the face of death.






In the Old Testament, there are some interesting themes that are repeated over and over in book after book. One of those themes is the Messiah—the great one whom the Jewish people believed would some day come and lead them to victory over their persecutors. . A second theme is the Suffering Servant. Who was the suffering servant? A man or perhaps even a people who by suffering would be a kind of savior for the human race.
The people of the Old Testament never put these two themes together. Nor did the apostles and disciples of Jesus who were actually people of the Old Testament. They never thought there would be a single individual who would be both messiah and suffering servant. In today’s Gospel, Jesus shows that both images are fulfilled in him. He is the messiah, but he is also to be a suffering servant. .
The scene that takes place in today’s Gospel happened about a year after Jesus began his public life. He had performed many miracles; He had cured people who were blind, deaf and lame, and even people who were lepers. It was natural that people would be curious about his real identity, curious about his goal in life. Everybody was talking about him. And so he asked his apostles: “Who do people say that I am?” Isn’t it interesting that nobody thought he was a real live person. They thought he was one of the dead prophets who had been re-incarnated. “Some say you are John the Baptizer, or Elijah, or another one of the prophets come back to life.”
All the more remarkable then, was Peter’s answer to the question. Without any hesitation he said, “You are the Messiah.” The one all of us have been waiting and praying for. And for the first time in his life, Jesus admitted it. Yes, I am the Messiah; but to keep them from thinking that he would lead an army to destroy the Roman rulers, he then told them clearly what was going to happen. I am the suffering servant. I will endure pain. I will be rejected by the chief priests and the scribes, and I will die a terrible death.
And here is where Peter, who had just made a brilliant observation, now makes the simple mistake all of us sometimes make. He tried to tell Jesus that he would not suffer crucifixion, because he was good. “After all, you are close to God; you have performed miracles; you have led a wonderful life; how could God possibly let you suffer?” And the answer of Jesus was “You are not judging by God’s standards, but by your own.”
How often that happens to us. We know someone who has been very close to God; then we see them suffer, we see them in pain, we see life ebbing away when they have so much to give. And we question what is happening. Sometimes we even complain to God and tell Him, “Lord you are making an awful mistake.” When we do that, it is well for us to read again this Gospel story; and it is well for us to remember the words of Jesus: “if you wish to come after me, take up your cross and follow in my steps…for whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
It’s very difficult to deny ourselves, isn’t it? I mean, just look at how our politicians and advertisers try to appeal to our comfort. “Vote for me and I promise to give you heaven on Earth”. Or, “Buy my product and people will know that you have ‘arrived’. Ugh!
Jesus, on the other hand, tells us that, to follow Him means taking up our cross—all of the time. He doesn’t offer us an easy way out but, then again, Jesus also isn’t asking any of us to do something that He, Himself, hasn’t done first.
I’ve got two examples of people taking up their cross in their everyday lives. Oh, maybe not with the greatest of joy, but it was still done because of their love of God and His Church. The first on is from a young woman.
“My faith has made me the loneliest person I know. Since I neither drink nor do drugs like so many of my friends, I don’t get invited to parties. I made a promise to God not to have sex before I got married, so I’ve been dropped by too many guys. I made the choice to be good because that’s what I think God wants and, as a result, I sit home every Saturday night”. This young woman may have lost some of her social life, but she certainly isn’t jeopardizing her eternal life.
The second example is from a man in his late twenties who was an up-and-coming star in his company.
One day, is boss told him that his progress was so good that she was going to take him to a national convention. This was so that he could get a good look at how things worked at the top and also so that he could meet some very influential people who could help him in his career.
Well, unfortunately, he got too good a look. After the daily meetings, he noticed a lot of drinking among the executives and was urged to join in. In addition, he was told to get a woman from the supply of those who had been hired for the occasion.
When he refused both, he got a clear message from his boss that this was not what was expected of an up-and-coming executive candidate. When they returned home, his boss said that she was willing to overlook his strange behavior at the convention, if it would never happen again.
This young man replied to his boss that he wouldn’t engage in such activities under any circumstances. When she asked him why, his straightforward answer was, “It’s because I’m a Catholic who tries to follow what God wants and not what the world wants”. He wasn’t one of these holier-than-thou people. He was just a good husband and father. By the way, he was fired on the spot and still hasn’t found another job in his field. This young man may have lost his joy but not his identity as a follower of Jesus.
So, as we can see, picking up our cross means having to make some very difficult decisions. To truly deny ourselves means that never again will I choose what I want over what God wants of me. That’s what Jesus was trying to get across to Peter when Jesus called him Satan. Peter didn’t want to see Jesus die a horrible death on the cross. And, believe me, crucifixion is a horrible way to die.
Peter just wanted to save his friend. And, Jesus was tempted. But, this time, instead of the devil tempting Jesus face-to-face, like he did in the desert, the devil tempted Jesus through the voice of a friend. And, the temptation was a good one. After all, who wouldn’t turn to a friend during times of trouble?
In today’s gospel, Jesus is talking about more than what we call self-denial. Jesus’ definition of self-denial means more than just giving up something for Lent or going on a diet or having one less beer after work.
Jesus is talking about giving up our control over our own destiny. He’s not talking about giving up going to college or trade school or working hard or taking care of your health.
Jesus is talking about abandoning all of the attempts we make to try and retain total control of our lives. You see, life never really belongs to us in an absolute sense. Life is a gift from God which is entrusted to us only for a limited time.
Most people, before their death, realize that they aren’t the masters of their fate and captains of their souls. The ones who don’t realize this fact find only bitterness and discouragement as their lives go on.
When people drink too much or have sex outside of marriage or conduct shady business deals, they may think that they are saving their lives (or should I say ‘lifestyles’?), but what are they saving them for? As Jesus has so clearly told us, they will lose everything.
People who spend their lives thinking only of their own profit or comfort or security are losing their life every moment of their search for these things. But, people who invest their lives for Christ, like the young woman and man I mentioned earlier, are winning eternal life—the greatest gift of all.
There is only ‘One’ who can save our lives—for eternity. But, He’ll only do it on the condition that we completely surrender control of our lives to Him and Him alone—right here and right now. According to the gospel, that’s the only way that we can preserve our lives.
There is a name for this surrender. It’s called faith. And, our faith in Jesus must be personal. For some of us, it will mean seeing ourselves in a more truthful way. This means that we have to see how our own sins break Jesus’ Sacred Heart. For others, the need might be the exact opposite; to see ourselves as being truly loved and truly beautiful in God’s eyes.
I wonder how many of us have done stupid and sinful things because we thought that we weren’t attractive or wanted by someone. Satan has a field day when we think like that. He’ll tell us that we shouldn’t have to suffer, that we deserve more. He’ll say to us, “Come on, loosen up. Who’s going to get hurt? Have that extra drink. Smoke that joint. What’s a little fooling around going do? No one will ever know. Come on, live a little”. Any of this sound familiar?
To follow God and live in peace and joy and happiness forever, we may have to lose our job and sit home on Saturday night. But, God will honor you, if you honor Him. Do it. You will never regret it—eternally. I promise.





There is an interesting line in the gospel today, one that seems to get overlooked with allthe things going on. It reads: "Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him..."
Let's briefly replay the scene. Jesus asks Peter and the disciples to state who they think He is. They first answer with some popular opinions (such as that he is Elijah). Then Peter says he is the Christ. Jesus says not to tell anyone and then proceeds to describe what his future as Son of Man holds. At this point. Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him. "Rebukes" is a pretty strong word - Peter didn't just take Jesus off to the side and say, quietly and diplomatically, that he thought Jesus had the big picture of the Messiah thing a bit wrong. Peter "rebukes" him; he very forcefully tells Jesus that he's got it all wrong, that suffering and death can't be the end result of this journey, that Jesus needs to get his act together.
Peter says all this after witnessing events where Jesus cast out unclean spirits, cured Peter's own mother of a fever, healed a paralyzed man, restored another man's withered arm, calmed a storm at sea, brought a dead child to life, multiplied loaves and fish and fed 5,000 and made a deaf man hear. In spite of being with Jesus, listening to his words and seeing his actions. Peter just didn't get it! When confronted with a Jesus who did not fit with the way he saw the discipleship deal working, Peter calls Jesus to task for sayingwhat seem like foolish things. In a sense. Peter sees himself a fool for following someone with such foolish ideas.
Where would each of us be if we had been Peter at that moment? Would we bejust like Peter, telling Jesus that it makes no sense for him to be a savior who suffers and dies for us? Would we like to tell Jesus that it would work better if he would just do a few more miracles, preach a few more great sermons? Then, with a few more great events, surely everyone would recognize him as the Messiah!
We are called to be fools for Christ in our world.
The challenge we face from today's scripture includes the understanding that living the Christian life demands that we make choices which may appear impractical and foolish according to human standards...and, that being a follower of Jesus may even mean that we are willing to share in his suffering and death.
In the early days of the church, a real physical death came to many who accepted this challenge. Now, the martyrs didn't have to be martyred. After all, couldn't they have just, for the moment, acknowledged the gods of the state and then walked away, alive, keeping the truth of their belief in Jesus Christ hidden quietly inside their minds and hearts?
Our faith, our commitment to Jesus, as St. James tells us in the second reading, has practical consequences. If it is not made concrete through works of practical love for our brothers and sisters, which may demand death to our comfort or position in society, it is lifeless.
There are kinds of death, other than physical death, that martyrs are called to.. .that followers of Jesus are to "foolishly" embrace. The challenge of commitment to Jesus forces us to take stands which appear foolish in the eyes of many.
.As you strive toward success, why not step on others? It's the way the game is played. After all, if you don't step on, you become the stepped on and people will take you for a fool.
.If you're in a group and someone who assumes you all are alike, starts to tell a racial joke.. .what do you do? Do you quietly listen and keep the truth of your belief hidden quietly inside your mind and heart? Or, do you risk "social death" from the group and speak out?
Moments such as these occur throughout our lives. In big ways and small ways they happen to us. It all takes us back to a single question - can people recognize us as followers of Christ because of the lives we live?
Responding to Jesus' question of "who do you say I am" is the first half of our faith. What we do in the reality of our lives as a result of that response is, as St. James would say, the rest of a living faith.
"He then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer much, be rejected…be put to death…." - and Peter did not like that one bit!
Jesus didn’t mince his words: "Get out of my sight, you satan! You are not judging by God’s standards but by man’s!" Being the first Pope wasn’t easy! Then again, being Peter wasn’t easy either!
What did Peter say to deserve such harsh words from the Lord? He simply wanted Jesus to avoid any suffering. He loved Jesus and could not stand the thought of Jesus’ being rejected and put to death. What’s wrong with that? If anyone but Jesus replied to Peter’s concern with such invective language, we would jump up and defend Peter. But this is the Lord speaking so we better take a closer look.
Peter thought that the promised Messiah would defeat Israel’s enemies; would restore the nation’s power and prestige; would bring about prosperity; would usher in an era of "good times." But Jesus spoke of a future that included suffering and death as the road to resurrection and peace. And just to be sure that Peter got the message, he "hit him upside the head" with harsh words of warning. Maybe that was the day that Peter became a spiritual "adult."
When is a person spiritually mature? Perhaps it is that day when you get up and say: "life is hard." Life is difficult much of the time. Life involves suffering and rejection. In the first reading, we see that the "Good Man" of Isaiah understood this. He did not deny the suffering he faced; he faced it head on with the confidence that God was with him.
Why didn’t God create a world where all was at peace and death and suffering were unheard of? Well, he did. But he loved us so much that he created us in his own image. Therefore, Adam and Eve were created free. And with that freedom, sin and suffering and death entered into the created order. I guess God could have created a world like Disneyland but that wouldn’t be REAL. And God is REAL!
It doesn’t take a genius to see the lesson of the Sacred Scriptures today. More than ever we need to understand that life entails suffering -- that love requires us to "die to self" to live for the other.
We live in a world that does all it can to deny the reality and the value of suffering. Many refuse to face their problems and attempt to distract themselves with work and hobbies. Some "medicate" their problems with alcohol and drugs. Many expend an incredible effort to keep from feeling the hurt of life.
We all have witnessed human disaster stories. Every family can recount stories of tragedies that would have been avoided if people had the sense and the courage to deal with the reality of their lives. Suffering that is not attended to will mount up and explode.
Isaiah's "Good Man" did not turn back from life's difficulties. Neither did Jesus. Neither should we.
Today, Jesus teaches us the necessity of taking up our cross, of facing up to the problems, difficulties and sufferings of our life. He will give us the courage and grace to deal with what comes our way.
By the way, Peter learned his lesson and learned it well. Fortified by the power of the Holy Spirit, he willingly faced the persecution that is an essential part of following the Lord Jesus. He led the early Church with great wisdom and gave his life as a testimony to his love of Christ. May we learn our lesson as well.
Jesus gives us the power to endure and promises to walk with us to the end. St. Teresa of Avila knew that. Here are her words:
Let nothing disturb thee,Nothing frighten thee;All things are passing,God never changes!Patient enduranceAttains all things;Who God possessesNothing is wanting;Alone God suffices.

posted by Mike Young @ 5:57 AM