The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today alert us to the choices and lifestyle we are challenged to embrace that are counter to the culture of our time.
In the reading from the Prophet Jeremiah, he denounces his persecutors.
* [20:7] You seduced me: Jeremiah accuses the Lord of having deceived him; cf. 15:18. (Jeremiah, CHAPTER 20, n.d.)
Psalm 63 praises comfort and assurance in God’s Presence.
* [Psalm 63] A Psalm expressing the intimate relationship between God and the worshiper. Separated from God (Ps 63:2), the psalmist longs for the divine life given in the Temple (Ps 63:3–6), which is based on a close relationship with God (Ps 63:7–9). May all my enemies be destroyed and God’s true worshipers continue in giving praise (Ps 63:10–11)!
* [63:4] For your love is better than life: only here in the Old Testament is anything prized above life—in this case God’s love. (Psalms, PSALM 63, n.d.)
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans describes the New Life in Christ and our sacrifice of Body and Mind.
* [12:1–8] The Mosaic code included elaborate directions on sacrifices and other cultic observances. The gospel, however, invites believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Instead of being limited by specific legal maxims, Christians are liberated for the exercise of good judgment as they are confronted with the many and varied decisions required in the course of daily life. (Romans, CHAPTER 12, n.d.)
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus foretells His Death and Resurrection and shares the conditions of discipleship as the Cross and Self-Denial.
* [16:21–23] This first prediction of the passion follows Mk 8:31–33 in the main and serves as a corrective to an understanding of Jesus’ messiahship as solely one of glory and triumph. By his addition of from that time on (Mt 16:21) Matthew has emphasized that Jesus’ revelation of his coming suffering and death marks a new phase of the gospel. Neither this nor the two later passion predictions (Mt 17:22–23; 20:17–19) can be taken as sayings that, as they stand, go back to Jesus himself. However, it is probable that he foresaw that his mission would entail suffering and perhaps death, but was confident that he would ultimately be vindicated by God (see Mt 26:29).
* [16:21] He: the Marcan parallel (Mk 8:31) has “the Son of Man.” Since Matthew has already designated Jesus by that title (Mt 15:13), its omission here is not significant. The Matthean prediction is equally about the sufferings of the Son of Man. Must: this necessity is part of the tradition of all the synoptics; cf. Mk 8:31; Lk 9:21. The elders, the chief priests, and the scribes: see note on Mk 8:31. On the third day: so also Lk 9:22, against the Marcan “after three days” (Mk 8:31). Matthew’s formulation is, in the Greek, almost identical with the pre-Pauline fragment of the kerygma in 1 Cor 15:4 and also with Hos 6:2, which many take to be the Old Testament background to the confession that Jesus was raised on the third day. Josephus uses “after three days” and “on the third day” interchangeably (Antiquities 7:280–81; 8:214, 218) and there is probably no difference in meaning between the two phrases.
* [16:22–23] Peter’s refusal to accept Jesus’ predicted suffering and death is seen as a satanic attempt to deflect Jesus from his God-appointed course, and the disciple is addressed in terms that recall Jesus’ dismissal of the devil in the temptation account (Mt 4:10: “Get away, Satan!”). Peter’s satanic purpose is emphasized by Matthew’s addition to the Marcan source of the words You are an obstacle to me.
* [16:24–28] A readiness to follow Jesus even to giving up one’s life for him is the condition for true discipleship; this will be repaid by him at the final judgment.
* [16:24] Deny himself: to deny someone is to disown him (see Mt 10:33; 26:34–35) and to deny oneself is to disown oneself as the center of one’s existence.
* [16:25] See notes on Mt 10:38, 39.
* [16:27] The parousia and final judgment are described in Mt 25:31 in terms almost identical with these. (Matthew, CHAPTER 16, n.d.)
Michael Cherney comments that Jerimiah is in the current situation because he is listening to God’s call. In the second reading, Paul is calling Christians away from the comfortable ways of the world and toward becoming a living sacrifice through their commitment to the Lord. Similarly, Jesus turns to Jerusalem knowing this difficult path is the one that he needs to take.
At dinner nearly every evening my wife asks me what I did that day. My typical response is “about a third of the things that I had hoped to accomplish”. Where do I put my time and energy? I make more than my share of bad choices in using the limited time and energy that I have. Where is my focus? A person much wiser than I am recently suggested that the reason that Peter started to sink into the sea was that he let his attention go to the wind and the waves rather than keeping his focus on Jesus.
My prayer today gives attention to my choices.
Dear Lord,
Help me to listen to Your call.
Fill me with the desire for Your grace that I read in today’s psalm.
Grant me the steadfastness in purpose that I see in Jerimiah, Paul and Jesus.
I recognize that paths of these individuals did not get any easier,
but filled with Your Spirit they persevered in the direction of Your call.
I ask that you confer on me the gift of such focus. (Cherney, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “This shall never happen to you,” by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD).
"Peter was examining the issue by human and earthly reasoning. He thought it disgraceful to Jesus as something unworthy of him. Jesus responded sharply, in effect saying, 'My suffering is not an unseemly matter. You are making this judgment with a carnal mind. If you had listened to my teachings in a godly way, tearing yourself away from carnal understanding, you would know that this of all things most becomes me. You seem to suppose that to suffer is unworthy of me. But I say to you that for me not to suffer is of the devil's mind.' So he repressed Peter's alarm by contrary arguments. Remember that John, accounting it unworthy of Christ to be baptized by him, was persuaded by Christ to baptize him, saying, 'Let it be so now' (Matthew 3:15). So we find Peter as well, forbidding Christ to wash his feet. He is met by the words, 'If I do not wash you, you have no part in me.' Here too Jesus restrained him by the mention of the opposite, and by the severity of the reproof he repressed his fear of suffering." (excerpt from the THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 54.6) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 16:21-27 asks how can we get to the point where we can hold onto our peace and our trust in the Lord no matter what happens? The answer lies in today’s second reading: “Be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). We can change. We can learn how to put aside our fallen sinful thoughts and ideas and take on Jesus’ way instead. Or as Jesus told Peter, we can learn to think “as God does” (Matthew 16:23).
For Peter, this meant accepting that the way of Jesus, the Messiah, is the way of self-giving love, not self-preservation. For us, it may mean asking for the grace to embrace Jesus’ call to forgive “seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22), or to turn the other cheek (5:39), or to choose not to be served “but to serve” (20:28), or any of Jesus’ other teachings that we find difficult.
Today’s story about Peter shows us that this kind of change is not a once-and-done event. It happens over time, often with stops and starts. But it does happen, day after day, decision after decision. We can be transformed!
“Jesus, teach me how to think and act as you do!” (Meditation on Matthew 16:21-27, n.d.)
Friar Jude Winkler discusses the challenge to God expressed in the “Confessions of Jeremiah”. Paul identifies the costly Christian vocation that has our bodies as living sacrifice emphasizing dignity that is very different from pagan belief. Friar Jude reminds us that the Cross is the revelation of Divinity and not denial.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, explains that Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) paid attention to different things than the Catholic Church of his time. Eventually, his prophetic witness and emphasis became an “alternative orthodoxy” through the Franciscan tradition.
Throughout history, the Franciscan School has typically been a minority position inside of the Roman Catholic and larger Christian tradition, yet it has never been condemned or considered heretical—in fact, quite the opposite. It simply emphasized different teachings of Jesus, new perspectives and behaviors, and focused on the full and final implications of the incarnation of God in Christ. For Franciscans, the incarnation was not just about Jesus but was manifested everywhere. As Francis said, “The whole world is our cloister!” [2]
Francis’ starting place was human suffering instead of human sinfulness, and God’s identification with that suffering in Jesus. That did not put him in conflict with any Catholic dogmas or structures. His Christ was cosmic while also deeply personal, his cathedral was creation itself, and he preferred the bottom of society to the top. He invariably emphasized inclusion of the seeming outsider over any club of insiders, and he was much more a mystic than a moralist. In general, Francis preferred ego poverty to private perfection, because Jesus “became poor for our sake, so that we might become rich out of his poverty” (2 Corinthians 8:9). (Rohr, 2023)
We are enlightened by the Spirit about the Ways on our journey in which we are invited not to conform with the practices of our age but to model our lives on Jesus' action.
References
Cherney, M. (2023, September 3). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/090323.html
Jeremiah, CHAPTER 20. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/20?7
Matthew, CHAPTER 16. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16?21
Meditation on Matthew 16:21-27. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/09/03/771588/
Psalms, PSALM 63. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/63?2
Rohr, R. (2023, September 3). An Alternative Orthodoxy — Center for Action and Contemplation. CAC Daily Meditations 2023. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/an-alternative-orthodoxy-2023-09-03/
Romans, CHAPTER 12. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/12?1
Schwager, D. (n.d.). Take up Your Cross Daily and Follow Jesus Christ. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved September 3, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=sep3
No comments:
Post a Comment