22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jeremiah 20:7-9 Romans 12:1-2 Matthew 16:21-27
Poor Peter! His relationship with the Lord seems to be on a roller-coaster! In our Gospel reading of two Sundays back the Lord called him ‘a man of little Faith’ when he began to doubt. But in the Gospel reading of last Sunday the Lord tells him that he is ‘Blessed’ because of the way it has been revealed to him that Jesus is the Christ. Peter is given the ‘keys of the Kingdom of heaven’ and a new name – ‘Peter, the Rock’. In today’s Gospel Peter is told by Jesus to ‘get behind me! and given another name – ‘Satan!’
In so many ways we can identify with Peter and with his relationship with the Lord. His reaction to the revelation that Jesus was to ‘suffer grievously’ …... and ‘be put to death’ is exactly what our reaction would be. We would ask ‘How could God let this happen to you?’ We would want to do whatever we could to stop it. We would likely make the mistakes that Peter made too. Firstly, he didn’t listen carefully to what Jesus had said. He didn’t hear the second part of the statement – “and be raised up on the third day”. His second mistake was trying to dictate what God’s will should be. In Genesis we are told that we have been made in the image and likeness of God but when Peter expresses his natural reaction to the news of the suffering to come to Jesus, he is told that his way is not God’s way of thinking – his is the way the world thinks!
Poor Peter! Was he not uttering a prayer for Jesus? “Heaven preserve you, Lord, this must not happen to you.” It’s much the same as our often asked questions, ‘Why the Cross?’ Why did Jesus have to go this difficult road and endure this sort of suffering? Saint Paul tries to explain; “When the kindness and love of God was revealed it was for no reason except his own compassion that he saved us.” (Titus 3:4-5) So, the passion of Jesus is not suffering in isolation from all of us. It is COM passion meaning that Jesus suffered in union with the hardship of each and every person who suffers from pain, misery, isolation, desolation and violence. As disciples of the Lord we are called to share this suffering, this compassion. He calls it the ‘Cross’. The Cross was the expression of hatred and violence, of scorn and savagery that the Lord had to endure. It has become for us the symbol of Love and salvation. And as we ask ‘how could a loving, gracious Father permit the Cross’ we might also wonder how poor would our knowledge of God be if Jesus had saved us in any other manner.
Indeed, Peter didn’t hear the second part of the statement by Jesus, “and be raised on the third day” and that’s the important point of this Gospel story. The cross that was once a curse is the now the Cross, the symbol we use to begin our prayers, to bless our food, to sign ourselves and mark ourselves as followers of Christ, the Saviour of the World. It is a sign of Hope and New Life.
Today’s liturgy calls us to take up our Cross and share with Jesus and all God’s people what brought about our salvation and what marks us out as Christians. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.