Walking with Jesus: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

For Sunday, September 3, 2023

Jeremiah 20:7-9, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 16:21-27

God loves each and every person each and every day. Jesus came to tell us this and He showed this in His words, actions, and total sacrifice, dying on the cross. He calls us to listen to Him and follow Him. Have you noticed that Jesus never says, “Imitate Me?” He never tells us or his special apostles to follow His lifestyle ... but frequently says, “Follow Me.” In fact, we hear Jesus invite us to “Follow Me” 19 times in the Gospels. So how do we follow Jesus? Are we on the right track if we go to Church every week, receive the sacraments worthily, follow the commandments as best we can and live the life of Christ? Is that all that we have to do? It is hard, but we try to live this way.

Today Jesus tells His disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after Me must deny himself/herself, take up their cross, and follow me.” [Matthew 16:24] Now when He says this, He isn't referring to His own crucifixion: He has just talked about that a few verses earlier. Actually this is a common expression among Jewish and Greek leaders. From Plato’s time down to Jesus’ day, “take up [your] cross and follow me” means “be ready to offer your life for my cause.” So for Jesus it means to be willing to live or die for the cause of the Kingdom of God/Heaven ... to be willing to live the way of love which is the only way that leads to heaven. It means a whole-life commitment to the way of Jesus. When Matthew writes His gospel, his readers certainly hear these words in light of Jesus’ own suffering and death along with the reality of their own persecutions and brutal deaths. So everyone should be ready to live their lives for Jesus, living His life of love to receive the promise of Heaven.

Chapters 11-20 of Jeremiah add another perspective on divine judgment through the prophet’s voice. These are known as the Confessions of Jeremiah, where the prophet appeals to God. There are seven different laments where the prophet echoes the laments found in the Psalms: a cry for help, a description of distress, and an affirmation of God’s response or trust in a response. Today we hear Jeremiah’s struggle as a messenger of judgment: “You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped.” [Jeremiah 20:7] He has given public witness where he has been sent to preach to the crowds in the temple. He is beaten, shackled, and publicly shamed by one of the Temple priests. Preaching “… brought me derision and reproach all the day.” [Jeremiah 20:8] He does not want to mention God’s name or deliver His message, but he can’t resist it. Does this sound like the times when we've been angry with God for not granting a favor, miracle or desired result, and have given up on Him?

All the previous verses in Paul's letter to the Romans are lavish with praise of God's mercy and wisdom, concluding, “For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.” [Romans 11:36] In so doing, Paul concludes that the Romans should conform themselves not to the present but to the future — God’s kingdom — by being transformed into the age Jesus has ushered in:  living, loving, caring; forgiving in heart, mind and actions.

Today’s Gospel is the first of the four predictions in the Passion in Matthew. Once again we encounter Peter who has just received tremendous praise because he has proclaimed through the grace of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. Jesus says this has been inspired by the Holy Spirit. We can say Peter is on a high. Now he is brought as low as he'll probably ever feel: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to Me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” [Matthew 16:23] The remaining hard words are addressed not to the crowds but to the disciples, to the insiders about what it means to follow Jesus. He tells them that the Messiah will suffer and be put to death. That is what God wants. Not that God wants His Son to suffer, but that He wants to show us the depth of His love for us in and through the faithfulness and love of Jesus, which will cost Him His life. Peter has an important part to play but he has to change … be transformed ... into the person God needs him to be.

Jeremiah doesn't know what he is letting himself in for when he agrees to become God’s prophet. Paul thinks this new offshoot from his Jewish faith is a heresy; that’s why he has persecuted the followers of Jesus. God intervenes and shows Him it's from Him. We do mess up our own plans, thinking the way we're living is the way God wants it. But is it the way of caring, loving, forgiving, helping those in need? Being a disciple isn’t easy, it’s serious business. This doesn’t mean that suffering is something Christians should seek. Jesus did not seek suffering; His agony in the garden makes that clear. But suffering will be a necessary part of Christian life as it was of Jesus’ life.  

So I reflect on:

• What does following Christ mean in my life? In my daily routines?
• The “cross” in the New Testament means that suffering which comes into my life because of the choices I have made for the Kingdom. Do I try to avoid suffering? Can I see Jesus in them?

Sacred Space 2023 states:

“If we are to be followers of Jesus, we need to let Him lead, accepting that He will not lead us away from suffering, pain or difficulty. Instead of seeking our own benefit and gain, we allow every experience — even in moments of distress — to draw us into closer relationship with Jesus, who invites us to lay our burdens on His shoulders. I pray that I may let go and grow in trust of God’s love for me.”