Sunday Lectionary: We were doing so well…
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: 28th August, 2011
In this week’s Gospel we pick up where we left off last Sunday. Last week Peter gave his confession of Faith, but in today’s reading he doesn’t fare so well….
However, I think the real jewel this week is the Second Reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans. Every word of this passage is rich with meaning and worthy of meditation.
Reading I: Jeremiah 20:7-9
The Prophet Jeremiah never had an easy time of it. In today’s First Reading he offers a lament to God about his life… This theme will be picked up again in the Gospel when Jesus tells his listeners that to be His disciple means to take up one’s cross. St. Paul will exhort his readers in the Second Reading to offer themselves as “sacrifices”…
You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped;
you were too strong for me, and you triumphed.
All the day I am an object of laughter;
everyone mocks me.
Whenever I speak, I must cry out,
violence and outrage is my message;
the word of the LORD has brought me
derision and reproach all the day.
I say to myself, I will not mention him,
I will speak in his name no more.
But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones;
I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.
Questions:
- What are Jeremiah’s complaints?
- What happens whenever he proclaims the Lord’s word? Can you relate to this?
- What does Jeremiah resolve to do? Can you relate to this?
- ….but what happens instead? Can you relate to this?
- What is the “sacrifice” that Jeremiah has to make? What lessons can we draw?
Commentary:
“You duped me, O LORD, and I let myself be duped”
The word rendered here as “duped” literally means “seduced” or “enticed”. The Lord had won Jeremiah over – hook, line and sinker…
“All the day I am an object of laughter; everyone mocks me”
Jeremiah’s reward for preaching was mockery. From Sirach:
“My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials” – Sirach 2:1-2
“Whenever I speak, I must cry out, violence and outrage is my message; the word of the LORD has brought me derision and reproach all the day”
The Lord had told Jeremiah to warn His people of impending judgement and, for preaching this, Jeremiah receives nothing but derision and reproach from them.
“I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more”
Jeremiah wants a quiet life. In an attempt to bring this abuse to an end he resolves to no longer proclaim the word of the Lord…
“But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.”
…but God’s word becomes like fire in his heart and bones. This is even harder to endure than the mockery!
St. Paul would later write:
“For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” – 1 Corinthians 9:16
This is a sobering thought. God’s word is not always comforting. It is not always popular. It is something which challenges us and moves us out of our comfort zone. However, it is God’s word and therefore is truth and life.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
In this Psalm David expresses his longing for intimacy with God and describes his worship of Him. In the Early Church is was one of the prescribed psalms for daily prayer.
R. (2b) My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.
O God, you are my God whom I seek;
for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts
like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.
Thus have I gazed toward you in the sanctuary
to see your power and your glory,
For your kindness is a greater good than life;
my lips shall glorify you.
Thus will I bless you while I live;
lifting up my hands, I will call upon your name.
As with the riches of a banquet shall my soul be satisfied,
and with exultant lips my mouth shall praise you.
You are my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I shout for joy.
My soul clings fast to you;
your right hand upholds me.
Questions:
- What are the main themes of this Psalm?
- Explain the imagery of the parched land. Does this remind you of any other parts of Scripture?
- How does David describe his worship?
- How does he describe his dependence upon God?
Commentary:
“…my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water…”
Land needs water for vegetation to grow. Likewise our souls only find their fruitfulness and fulfillment in God. The theme of water is quite common in the exodus and the prophets. Jesus promised to bring us “living water” (John 4:10)
“….shadow of your wings…”
Metaphorical. These are the “wings” of God’s protection.
Reading II: Romans 12:1-2
Continuing on through Romans, we come to my favourite verse of this epistle.
Here beings the final section of Paul’s letter, which is devoted to the subject of morality. Unlike other translations, the NAB does not include the word “therefore”, but this section of Romans is heavily dependent upon what Paul has already said. From here onwards, Paul’s letter is a practical application of the theology he has been constructing in the previous eleven chapters. He covers four main areas:
1. Worship
2. Church life
3. Civil government
4. Scandal
The verses we have this week concern themselves with the first item, worship. This subject appears to come to Paul’s mind as a direct consequence of what he has said immediately before, concerning the riches and the wisdom of God.
I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship.
Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
Questions:
- What components make up worship according to this passage? What does this mean?
- What is Paul’s exhortation?
- What does “conform[ing] your[self] to the world” look like?
- Rather than conforming yourself to the world, to what should you do?
- What does Paul say will be the consequence of doing this?
Commentary:
“…mercies of God…”
God’s mercy was a theme in the text preceding this passage. It is for this reason that most other translations begin this passage with the words “Therefore brethren…”.
“…bodies…living sacrifice…”
This phrase “living sacrifice” is extremely rich. It builds upon what Paul said earlier in the letter:
“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” – Romans 8:13
“Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness” – Romans 6:13
Therefore, to offer one’s body as a “living sacrifice” means to put to death the deeds of the flesh and to instead become an instrument of righteousness. This will allow bodily virtues, such as chastity, to flourish. An Early Church Father explained it thus:
“The body is made a sacrifice when the eye looks at nothing evil, the tongue says nothing filthy, and the hand does nothing lawless. More than this, the hand must give alms; the mouth must bless the one who curses; and the ear must listen to the reading of Scripture” – St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 20
The sacrifice Paul speaks of is living, unlike the slaughtered animals of the Old Covenant Temple sacrifices. In the New Covenant, not only are these sacrifices living, but they are living with the new life imparted by the Spirit.
The other thought that always springs to mind when I read this passage is problem with living sacrifices: after a while, they often want to crawl off the altar since it is not always a pleasant place to be…
“…spiritual worship…”
This could imply that this is not just an empty physical ritual, but a total involvement of the person.
This text could also be rendered “rational” or “proper” worship. There may be an implied contrast here between the sacrifice of irrational animals under the Law and the worship in the New Covenant.
“…this age…”
The fallen world.
“…Do not conform yourselves to this age…”
At the beginning of his letter, Paul explained the problems with worldly wisdom:
“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” – Romans 1:21, 28
“…be transformed…”
The word that is used here is also used to describe what happened at The Transfiguration. The transformation by the Spirit which Paul describes here will allow us to see things with “Kingdom eyes”, in the light of the light of Christ.
Earlier in Romans, Paul describes the Christian’s destiny:
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” – Romans 8:29
We are to be ultimately transformed into nothing less than Jesus Christ.
“…the renewal of your mind…”
Both thought and will.
“…that you may discern what is the will of God…”
This is what God wants in the life of the Christian. This may not necessarily be what the Christian wants, but it will be what God wants and will therefore will be “good…pleasing and perfect”.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 16:21-27
Oh Peter! You were doing so well last week… After declaring Peter to be “Rock”, Jesus prophesies about His future death. This is the first of three predictions He makes in this Gospel (Matthew 17:22 and 20:17-19). However, Peter has other ideas…
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”
He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”Then Jesus said to his disciples, “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 will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.”
Questions:
- What had happened immediately prior to this Gospel?
- What does Jesus say must happen?
- How does Peter react? What kind of Messiah was he expecting?
- How does Jesus respond? Why do you think Jesus responded with such violent language?
- What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?
- What does it mean for one to “take up his cross”?
- What does it mean when Jesus says “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”?
- What exchange does Jesus talk about?
- What would you be willing to give up for eternal life?
- When will “the Son of Man…come with his angels in his Father’s glory”?
- By what rule does Jesus say people will be repaid?
Commentary
“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you”
Sounds like Jeremiah to me. Sounds like Peter needs to “renew [his] mind”…
You’re probably not going to be right if you’re correcting Jesus…
“Get behind me…”
Get out of my way. Follow behind me.
“…Satan…”
This is a word borrowed from Hebrew which means “adversary ” or “accurser”. Jesus compares Peter to Satan because Satan also wanted to take Jesus away from His mission (Matthew 4:1-11).
This stands in stark contrast to Jesus’ commendation of Peter last week. Last week we were told by Jesus that Peter’s confession was brought about through a gift of the Father. Peter’s attempt to keep Jesus away from the cross demonstrates his natural, human failings. You can’t have a cross-less Christianity…
“…take up his cross…”
Note, this has an active sense, not a passive one.
Jesus begins to reveal that the life to which He calls us will involve sacrifice, self-denial and suffering. We are in no way exempt from these things. Imitation of Christ involves imitating all of Christ, not just the nice bits! In paragraph #681 of the Catechism it explains:
“…In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries. This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering…” – #681
It then offers a quotation from St. Rose of Lima:
“Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven”
It is interesting to note that Jesus uses the phrase “…take up his cross…” right after speaking to His disciples about His future suffering and death. This is a striking image describing the “cost of discipleship” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Yet, in light of Christ’s own crucifixion, we see the symbol of suffering and shame transformed into one of victory and liberation. This is a theme is later picked up by St. Paul:
“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” – Romans 8:17
“Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” – Colossians 1:24
…and even eventually St. Peter gets the point:
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” – 1 Peter 2:21
“…and follow me”
Christians were originally called “Followers of the Way” because they followed Jesus.
“There are two ways, one of life and one of death, but a great difference between the two ways” – The Didache, 1st Century
“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it”
This is the great paradox… If you remember, we had this line quoted by St. Ignatius of Antioch when we read his letter to the Romans:
“All the pleasures of the world, and all the kingdoms of this earth, shall profit me nothing. It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ, than to reign over all the ends of the earth. For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?”
Fr. Robert Barron, when referring to this line, quoted the line from A Man For All Seasons. Richard Rich, in exchange for becoming the Attorney General of Wales, purgers himself and testifies against St. Thomas Moore. After his testimony, St. Thomas says:
“Why Richard, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world… but for Wales?”
“…he will repay all according to his conduct…”
Faithfulness to one’s own cross is connected to eternal reward.
