22 OTA.11; Jer 20:7-9; Rom 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. Matthew 16:23
Now… Can you imagine being in Peter’s position? Jesus just called you the rock on which he would build his church, and then, seconds later, he is chastising you and calling you “Satan.” What happened?
What we are seeing here is the real-time working of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus’ teaching, Peter was laying new foundations for the way he would think & act … but those foundations took time to build. Peter at a point did grasp that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but not that this Messiah was destined to be a suffering servant.
2 Valerie Price, a few years ago, was in charge of a feeding-center in Mogadishu, Somalia. Many starving children were given life itself. She established a school. Many children were given a future with hope.
Valerie was killed by armed bandits. Her legacy lives. As Jesus said, by losing her life she found it. If Jesus was just a good man, Valerie died & so did her dream. If Jesus is Lord, Valerie’s cross-bearing life will shine in the faces of children for generations to come. Just like Jesus, Valerie will rise to glory after the temporary sleep of physical death. Source: Stories for All Seasons, Fuller, p. 38)
Can we be Valerie?
Can we be the Body of Christ?
Can we be disciples of Jesus?
What would you die for? ….
My friends Jesus had to die: to eliminate all evil from the material world, to absorb every evil stain into his pure person. Anything short of death would have left some residual evil in God’s good creation. That is why the death of Jesus was his time of triumph. Every breath of his life had been an expression God’s wishes. Through every adversity he proved to be his Father’s Son. And in death, Jesus completely returned to his God the life given to him. Success is determined not by doing something,
If we recognized our identity as images of God, the earthy words of God, then we would understand success as becoming who we were created to be. We would see that we received our life from God. Then our death would be
like it was for Jesus: completely handing our whole life back to the Author of life having actively participated in expressing divine reality, in the very work of the Christ - healing a broken world.
At this Liturgy ask yourself a question: why did Jesus die as he did?
And consider this:
The cross is a sign, an invitation, & a revelation:
a sign of the love of Jesus,
an invitation to love as Jesus loved,
a revelation that love entails suffering.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. Matthew 16:23
How does God think?
Perhaps we need to rethink our lives & values.
Suffering can have value?… How ridiculous is that! ...Yet, it has been said:Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls.
Edwin Hubbel Chaplin
Peter & Jeremiah, in today’s readings, feel misled by none other than God, steered in the wrong direction by divine intention! They’ve ended up some place they had no intention of going. Jeremiah literally screams…You duped me O Lord! How often have we felt that one!
And today Peter cannot comprehend this “suffering messiah” – he rebukes Jesus, God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you. Jesus, Get behind me Satan! You are as obstacle to me.” What is happening here? If you want life with God – lose it for others! Again the echo in our minds & souls is: You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do. .
Jesus knew that he would be killed. He even called his crucifixion his hour of triumph. To us, that sounds like dark humor. We know Jesus was under surveillance most his life; he went from celebrity to pariah in a year; his friends abandoned him when things got rough; his own religious leaders handed him over to the hated Roman occupation force who crucified him between two criminals. Surely this was the triumph of evil. Jesus thought otherwise.
And we must believe that he is right. Otherwise, we are not Christians. Just who is this person who thought that his execution was his triumphant hour? If all he is, is a good person, then his death was a clear defeat. But we also recognize him as the divine Son of God, which puts an entirely different spin on his human experience. Jesus is essentially the Word of God. That Word is how God thinks out loud, speaks, & expresses genuine reality. Now… Can you imagine being in Peter’s position? Jesus just called you the rock on which he would build his church, and then, seconds later, he is chastising you and calling you “Satan.” What happened?
What we are seeing here is the real-time working of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus’ teaching, Peter was laying new foundations for the way he would think & act … but those foundations took time to build. Peter at a point did grasp that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but not that this Messiah was destined to be a suffering servant.
And you know what that means….
We too, as the Body of Christ, are called to bear, not only our personal trials/troubles, but everyone else’s too! How…2 Valerie Price, a few years ago, was in charge of a feeding-center in Mogadishu, Somalia. Many starving children were given life itself. She established a school. Many children were given a future with hope.
Valerie was killed by armed bandits. Her legacy lives. As Jesus said, by losing her life she found it. If Jesus was just a good man, Valerie died & so did her dream. If Jesus is Lord, Valerie’s cross-bearing life will shine in the faces of children for generations to come. Just like Jesus, Valerie will rise to glory after the temporary sleep of physical death. Source: Stories for All Seasons, Fuller, p. 38)
Can we be Valerie?
Can we be the Body of Christ?
Can we be disciples of Jesus?
What would you die for? ….
My friends Jesus had to die: to eliminate all evil from the material world, to absorb every evil stain into his pure person. Anything short of death would have left some residual evil in God’s good creation. That is why the death of Jesus was his time of triumph. Every breath of his life had been an expression God’s wishes. Through every adversity he proved to be his Father’s Son. And in death, Jesus completely returned to his God the life given to him. Success is determined not by doing something,
… but by being who you are.
If we recognized our identity as images of God, the earthy words of God, then we would understand success as becoming who we were created to be. We would see that we received our life from God. Then our death would be
like it was for Jesus: completely handing our whole life back to the Author of life having actively participated in expressing divine reality, in the very work of the Christ - healing a broken world.
Indeed, our time of triumph! Not sure?....
At this Liturgy ask yourself a question: why did Jesus die as he did?
And consider this:
The cross is a sign, an invitation, & a revelation:
a sign of the love of Jesus,
an invitation to love as Jesus loved,
a revelation that love entails suffering.
Love transforms all things. Believe. Follow.