Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the Time!!! And All the Time!!! God is Good!!!
Jeremiah experienced many hardships for speaking God’s truth. The royal court at Jerusalem was determined to break free from the empire of Babylon which had established control over them some years earlier. Jeremiah opposed the royal court. He warned that any attempt to oppose Babylon would fail and lead to exile (Jer 20:4). It was far more important for king and people to accept things as they were and concentrate, instead, on a right relationship with God. For this truth, Jeremiah was regarded as an enemy. He endured beatings and imprisonment (Jer 20:2).
This is the first of three Passion predictions recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. Theologically, they emphasize that Jesus is aware of the fate that awaits him in Jerusalem. They also point out that his disciples, even Peter, do not understand, at this point, the necessity of Jesus dying on the cross. This Passion prediction has three movements. First, Jesus predicts his suffering, death, and resurrection. Second, there is a misunderstanding and denial by Peter. Third, there is a corrective teaching by Jesus outlining the theology of the cross.
Proclamation. Jesus proclaims to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer greatly, be killed, and on the third day be raised. Jesus is portrayed here as knowing clearly what is going to happen to him once he enters Jerusalem. The point is not to show that Jesus predicted his own suffering and death in detail based on his divine nature as the Son of God. This prediction is a literary device the Gospel uses to show the great difficulty the disciples had in grasping the saving mission of Jesus.
Denial. Peter will have none of what Jesus predicted. A suffering, dead Messiah is a contradiction in terms. It cannot happen and it will not happen. Jesus responds to Peter with a curse aligning him with Satan. The very same Peter, who shortly before this was declared the rock upon which Jesus would build his Church and was granted the keys to the kingdom of heaven, is now declared an obstacle to Jesus’ mission.
Corrective. The corrective teaching of Jesus stresses how the disciples are to link their own sufferings to the sufferings of Jesus. Outlined here is a theology of the cross. Discipleship is following Jesus along the way of the cross. Real life is gained by losing one’s old inauthentic life. Getting rid of that old life, which was actually no life at all, results in one finding real life, life in union with the life of Jesus. The life that results from following Jesus along the way of the cross is ultimate life. Nothing can be given in exchange for it. And the only way that it has been made a living possibility is due to the suffering, death, and resurrection experienced by Jesus as he faithfully followed God along the way of the cross
Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org.©2017. All rights reserved
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius